Haven of Hope Farm & Residence

Annual Report of Activities 2022

 

 

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We celebrated ten years of service to the homeless in 2022.   Our tenth anniversary banquet was an emotional event as we heard from family members of five prior residents, (alumni). Family members spoke of the lifesaving transformations our alumni members have made since their stay at Haven of Hope and the many years of follow up care.  Our motto is once a client always a client, but we consider these women alumni, they have graduated the "school of hard knocks" and have come back to volunteer or have assisted other women by referring them to Haven of Hope or even taking someone into their own home!  We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to know and serve these women.  It was a wonderful night of celebration!

 

Our market stand expansion was completed by year end and the commercial kitchen was relocated to the new addition in January.  Our work experience program is now under one roof!  We have expanded product offerings to include soups and salads among other things, business has been so wonderful we have been able to hire three more women to work in the bakery kitchen!

 

Renovations have begun to convert the old commercial kitchen space into two additional bedrooms with its own living room.  This new space will be ideal for a woman with young children.  This important project is 50% completed as I write this report!

 

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Haven of Hope served 17 women and 14 children in 2022. 

Eleven of those women participated in our work experience program, six as employees.  Our residence has been continuously full.  It is very difficult to transition single women into affordable housing as it is just not available in our area.  The wait lists for low income housing are years long.  Having an income in addition to social security/disability is almost essential, making our work experience program an important component of Haven of Hope.

 

Our goal for 2023 is to make some much needed repairs to the exterior of the farmhouse. We plan to have another farm festival in July (date to be determined) and our annual banquet is already scheduled for October 7th at the Moose Lodge in Johnstown.  These events will be important fundraisers, so please watch for announcements and put them on your calendar!

 

We are very grateful to our loyal customers who patronize our store and organizations that host bake sales!  We work hard to create high quality products at reasonable prices.  Our goal is less about making money and more about providing employment to our women.  We are very excited about the growth opportunities for 2023 with our expanded work experience program and additional living space at the farm house.  With your support we will continue using all the resources available to us to meet the need in our community.

 

May His peace be with you!

Pat Brooking

Executive Director

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