Spring | Summer Issue 2013

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T A S T E H O P E 2 0 1 3 F R I D A Y , O C T . 1 8 t h

Shonta’s Storyof HOPE

E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R ’ S M E S S A G E

(ROMANS 15:13 - NIV)

Grace and Peace,Robin Martin, M. Div.Executive Director

I recently spent the day at the Chick-fil-A Leadercast and I left inspired and

motivated to put some new tools into practice. Throughout the day, I got to

hear from some of the best leaders/authors/speakers in the country and spend

time with many great local leaders in our community.

While the day was filled with great lessons, John Maxwell shared something

that I believe strikes a chord with HOPE South Florida. Maxwell cautioned the

audience to never confuse simplicity with simplistic. He described the difference,

as simplistic answers are shallow while simplicity speaks to a deep truth, and

the process to move from simplistic to simplicity is through the complex.

When we look at the issue of homelessness and the many ways in which HOPE

South Florida partners with churches to serve, we find ourselves right in the

midst of complexity. But when we push through that complexity we can find some

simple fundamentals to all our services: Live, Teach, Taste HOPE South Florida.

It's simple, we provide housing for families through LiveHOPE, child and youth

development through TeachHOPE, and shared meals for the homeless through

TasteHOPE. All very simple, but nowhere near simplistic.

“Ma y the God of hope f i l l you with a l l the jo y a nd peace a s you tru st i n Him, so that you ma y overf l ow with hopeb y the power of the Ho l y Sp i r it. ”

“Ma y the God of hope f i l l you with a l l the jo y a nd peace a s you tru st i n Him, so that you ma y overf l ow with hopeb y the power of the Ho l y Sp i r it. ”

6th Annual Golf Tournament was a sold out success!The

24 teams teed up!This year’s host, Guy Boros began the eventwith a shotgun start. The course was full of

guests; PGA Pro Tour players, Mayor JackSeiler and other special guests. For a full list of

pros and tournament sponsors please visitwww.hopesouthflorida.org/forehope

We want you to know who we are,how we help and why we do it.

Come and learn how peoplelike you are Building HOPE

as you help us meet ourgoal of raising $100,000

in benefit of thehomeless children,families andindividuals we serve.

Warehouse Gala! Friday, October 18th

Join us as we share a meal and showcase our programs: Live, Teach, Shop, Taste HOPE!

Thank you to a l l of our church pa rtners,bu siness supporters, a vid gol fers and fa ithfu lcommittee and volunteers for making thisyea rs’ tournament tru l y specia l!

register or find sponsorship opportunities online

www.hopesouthflorida.org

“I hate the word homeless. Whenyou hear the word homeless, imagesand stereotypes come to mindthat just don’t describe who I am.I am not defined by homelessness.”

– Shonta Taylor

L I V E H O P E A T T H E R I O H O U S E : : S H O N T A ’ S S T O R Y O F H O P E

Shonta’s life changed when she

had her first child at the age of

18. She struggled to learn what

motherhood meant while still

trying to find out who she was

as an individual. Shonta started

attending vocational school and

soon became a Certified Dental

Assistant. But while her career

was starting to come into focus,

her relationship with her chil-

dren’s father turned unhealthy.

She finally realized the best

option for her and her children

was separation.

Shonta worked hard to meet

her family’s needs, but suddenly

lost her job, exhausted her so-

cial resources, and eventually

found herself homeless and in

need of support. It was then

that Shonta found HOPE South

Florida’s LiveHOPE programs

and her story of HOPE began.

In the 2 years that Shonta has

been in our program, she has

experienced a roller coaster of

emotions. Beginning with her

time in our Faith-In-Action

program, Shonta quickly pro-

gressed to The Shepherd’s Way

Family Shelter, and with the

help of the case management

team, Shonta began to look at

her life from a new angle and

started to face some of her real

issues. She engaged with the

other families on the property

and started creating new

relationships that would help

rebuild her trust. She attended

the weekly meetings where she

could openly discuss some of

her parenting concerns and

share her learning experiences

with others. In addition to the

personal progress Shonta was

making, she had also found

employment and was starting

to make long-term plans for her

family. She was soon ready to

take another step toward her

independence, moving from our

Shepherd’s Way Family Shelter

to the Rio House program.

Shonta learned early in the

program that the first step in

helping her reach self-sustain-

ability was to get a job, which

she quickly did. But now she

was at a point where she

“My time at The Shepherds Way and the RioHouse has made me a better person. Throughthe case management team at HOPE SouthFlorida and Rio Vista Community Church teamI have been able to boost my self-esteem, facemy depression, and process my divorce. I’velearned to trust people more and more, lettingthem into my life to help me change and develop as a person.

When I first entered into the LiveHOPE pro-grams, I found myself being so depressed thatI was ready to give up, and even consideredturning my children over to the state. Throughmy time here, my faith has grown, and I havefound not only the space, but the community toprocess through my pain. My future as a per-son, and as a mother is bright. Before this pro-gram, HOPE meant surviving, now as I look tograduate, HOPE means happiness, stabilityand the excitement of a better life! I’m not thesame person I used to be.” -Shonta Taylor

wanted to return to her dental

career. She began working on

her resume and brushing up

on her skills. She received assis-

tance from many areas (friends,

community resources, HSF case

management team, HSF church

partners, etc)…all trying to

help her find a way to return

to her passion. All the while,

Shonta continued to work long

and irregular hours as a cus-

tomer service representative at

a local retail store and of course

being a full-time mom. Her

determination paid off 4

months later, when she re-

ceived 3 different job offers

from places she had contacted

weeks earlier! She is now very

happily employed as a full-

time Dental Assistant and

proud to have set that positive

example for her children. She

continues setting goals for her

future and we are sure that

she will meet them all!

T E A C H H O P E G O D ’ S L I T T L E L A M B S

The restoration of HOPE must begin

with our children and each child that

passes through our TeachHOPE

programs are a gift from the Lord.

The experience of homelessness

and poverty can have a devastating

effect on a child’s selfworth and

educational success. HOPE South

Florida’s Teach HOPE programs

provide professional childcare and

educational activities to children of

homeless and low income families.

Your gift of $25 dollars per month

ensures a week of subsidized child-

care of a child living in our housing.

Please use the attached remittance

envelope or donate online at

Teach

HOPEsouthflorida.org

Our children have

HOPE because

someone like you

gave HOPE!

If you’ve ever been to the ShopHOPE Thrift Store chances are good

that you’ve met the energetic and long time manager, Pat Scalise.

Celebrating ten years in August, Pat has seen fashion trends change,

the age demographic expand, and some very fun finds come

through the thrift shop doors. Some things will never change

including her passion and excitement for the store, helping her

customers feel worthwhile and loved, and explaining why

ShopHOPE exists and how it supports the ministry and work of

HOPE South Florida.The model of HOPE South Florida encourages Building Commu-

nity, a daily goal for Pat and her team. The vision of ShopHOPE is to

create a comfortable, organized and complete shopping experience

with a greater purpose, where the proceeds always benefit our pro-

grams that daily serve children, families and individuals experiencing

homelessness. In fact, the new name was chosen so customers would automati-

cally get a sense of the shop’s purpose. For two months customers

were encouraged to submit names for consideration and long time

customer, Virginia, submitted the winning name. Virginia attests to

the redemptive work done through ShopHOPE. In 2002 she gradu-

ated from a recovery program and attributes part of her success to-

wards independence to having the opportunity to furnish her then

new, and empty, apartment. Plus, every career outfit she’s chosen

from the racks has further propelled her own story of HOPE.

Donations are accepted Tuesday

through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Hi I am Pat, Stop by and ShopHOPE today!Store hours are Tues. throughSaturday, 10a.m. to 5p.m.

S H O P H O P E : : L O C A T E D A T 1 2 4 2 N E 2 6 t h S T R E E T , W I L T O N M A N O R S , F L 3 3 3 0 5

shop

donateQ Pat, what’s the one sale

that sticks out to you?We received a Statue of Liberty! A NY couple carried over the statue between the two of them; it was huge, 8 feet tall! We sold it on the spot to a retired educator who keeps it in her yard for entertaining.

P i c t u r e d ( f r o m l e f t t o r i g h t ) : V i r g i n i a a n d P a t

Pat, do you have a favorite

story about the shop?

All of my customers are

so special! The voucher

customers are incredible –

they are so changed by

what they receive and

feel like a million dollars,

they are confident for

their inverviews

and model their

outfits for us!

A network of organizations, including Second Chance Society, Broward

House, Salvation Army and the Chrysalis Center use a voucher system

so families and individuals in need can shop for necessities.

Donations that come to ShopHOPE will be sold in the store

or, depending on the present need, used in

Live, Teach and TasteHOPE programs.

&A

Q&A

FYI

Most college students come to Fort Lauderdale to

spend their spring break soaking up sun and sand

but this year, the RUF (Reformed University Fel-

lowship) group from University of South Florida

had a different idea for their vacation.

Accompanied by their fearless leader,

Jeff Lee, this group of 12 students

arrived with their sleeping bags and

enough energy to pull an all-nighter!

The plan was to serve at TasteHOPE

Shared Meals and then empty out

God’s Little Lambs childcare center to

give it a thorough scrub, make minor

repairs and repaint the bathroom. The group en-

thusiastically jumped in to serve meals to home-

less guests and distribute clothing where needed.

After the guests left and the clock ticked toward

9:00 pm the group turned to caffeine and dance

tunes to keep their eyes open and bodies working.

Six hours later, at 3:00 a.m., the group packed up

and headed back to their sleeping bags, leaving

God’s Little Lambs spotless and ready to welcome

its 90 + students the next morning.

Without missing a beat, the next day the group

tackled the job of priming and prepping The

Shepherd’s Way property, helping with lawn main-

tenance and preparing an off-site home for crisis

shelter. The group was excited to learn how HOPE

South Florida has united the faith and business

communities to help homeless children, families

and individuals and left with renewed compassion

for those experiencing homelessness. We thank

them for their hard work and servant hearts!

We had a great

week worki ng with

you a l l a nd I ca n ’t

tha nk you en ough

for a l l that you d id

for u s . One of the

th i ngs that ’ s rea l l y

encou ragi ng i s that

the students in RUF

ha ve committed to

servi ng weekl y on

Thu rsda y n ights with

a home les s mi n i str y

here i n Tampa .

USF Spring Break Service

“

”– J e f f , R U F : : U S F

T A S T E H O P E : : S T U D E N T S S P E N D V A C A T I O N P A I N T I N G , R E P A I R I N G , C L E A N I N G = S E R V I N G

P.O. Box 14156, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33302

HOPESouthFlorida.org

For a list of our partner churches and church

affiliates please contact: HOPE South Florida

Office: 954.566.2311 Fax: 954.566.2302

To learn more, please contact our office at 954.566.2311

Live Taste Teach Shop

H O P E : : B U I L D H O P E : : B U I L D H O U S I N G : : B U I L D C O M M U N I T Y

HOPE South Florida is a Christian-based

501(c)(3) non-profit organization, operating

since 1995, with the mission to provide

hope for the homeless and hurting

through services and partnerships with

the Christian community. Serving as the

lead organization in a network of partner

churches and organizations, we are working

together to provide a holistic Christian

response to homelessness in our community.

Over the years we have provided emergency

shelter, housing assistance, and support

services to thousands of homeless families

throughout Broward County.

help@HOPEsouthflorida.org

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HOPEsouthflorida.org