Hope House marks 35 years

FINDLAY — Hope House for the Homeless is celebrating its past, present and future. The agency turns 35 in 2025. The celebration will last throughout the year, according to development director Laurie Poland. Although the official anniversary date is Nov. 19, Poland will be posting Hope House history and/or trivia on social media on the 19th of each month. "We're just reminding people about some of the things we've done, some of the things we're doing and maybe some of the things for the future," she said. The annual auction — Hope House's major fundraiser for the year — will be April 4 at the Hancock Hotel. Poland said the silent auction part of the festivities first went online during COVID. "So we have kept the silent auction online, so you bid from the auction or you can bid from anywhere you have a computer," she said. "We have a couple of donors who live in Texas. This way they can participate at the auction and support us, but you don't have to physically be there." Those donors will miss some of the elements like the live auction and raffles, she noted. There's also an inspirational speaker. This year Sarah Stockwell, a senior director with Battelle for Kids, will talk about the science of hope. Everything connected with the auction is now digital, Poland said. There will be a link on the website to sign up for the auction, and a QR code on social media will direct supporters to the registration page. "We always get a wide variety of items, but it's also a really good evening to meet donors in person and to talk about homelessness and the hopefulness that we see through our clients," Poland said. One of Hope House's clients recently graduated with her associate's degree and is already working on her bachelor's degree, she said. "So it's great to see the successes our folks have," said Poland. "We'll have folks that will come in and say, 'I've been using your program for a while now. I'm OK. I don't need to do that anymore.' So those successes are always something we can celebrate." Poland said it's also fun to see clients leave the shelter and move into a place of their own. "We think a lot of that is due to our professional case managers and our social workers who just walk alongside our clients to help guide them to a better life," she said. She said moving from homelessness to stability is hard work. "But our people put in the hard work and they really transform their lives," she said. "So when I say a donation to Hope House changes lives, it really does. And all of our money is right here in Hancock County." The house A 35th anniversary celebration will be held in September at Gillig Winery. Then, on the actual anniversary date, an open house is planned at the agency's transitional shelter, which is located in the former convent behind St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church at the corner of West Main Cross Street and Western Avenue. "We'll invite people to come and just take a tour if they haven't been there a while. We've made a lot of changes over the years," she said. Poland said grants have allowed to install more user-friendly flooring. Rooms have been painted a new furniture and window coverings added, making it feel more like a home. "And last year, because of a grant we got from Marathon, we were actually able to add air conditioning to the building for the first time," said Poland. "So with that 100 degree temperature, that was really fantastic." A grant also paid for a new fence that makes the building look nice and provides more safety and security for residents. "There's no way to adequately thank our community for what they have done for us and what they do for our clients. They really have embraced us and you just don't get that in every community," Poland said. "We are very fiscally responsible and try to stretch our money as much as we can. We are very frugal when it comes to frivolous expenses. We want to make sure that every dollar that can go back into serving our clients goes back into serving our clients." Who needs help A total of nine households can stay at the shelter at a time. These women are transitioning from homelessness back to a place of their own, Poland said. "It's not emergency services," she said. "If you called today and said I'm sleeping in my car and I need a place to stay tonight, I'm going to direct you to City Mission. That's emergency service." She said a background check will be done. There will also be a lot of questions before a family is accepted into the shelter. "We're going to make sure these nine families that are living together can live in harmony," she said. "We want to make sure that it's as smooth a transition as possible because all of our clients are coming from some place of trauma and we want to make sure that trauma is the least dramatic as possible for our clients." The agency's rental assistance programs started in 2003, supported by state funding. At the time, they could serve 12 households for up to two years. Those programs continue today, she said, and help both men and women. Poland said the biggest increase they've seen locally is the number of people who need help with eviction prevention. "They may have an eviction notice and they need help. They need just a stopgap and it would be a short-term bridge. Maybe they were sick. There's so much sickness. If you miss two weeks of work, it can really put you behind in all of your bills including your rent," she said. The agency has seen an influx in the number of newcomers coming in for help, she said. "They're not coming to us for financial assistance. They're coming to us to be linked to resources. Like they might not know how to go about finding a place to live," said Poland. Recently some people came in who didn't understand how to work the thermostat in their home. "These are folks, some of our modern conveniences which we take for granted, they might not be familiar with that. So mostly what our housing navigator has been doing is exactly that, helping them navigate into this community and how things work and where they go for resources," she said. Poland isn't a case manager or social worker, but said she's learned so much from staff members. "I thought I knew a lot about homelessness when I started here. I didn't know much," she said. "We have a great staff here. We have people that care about the people that we serve. They can be compassionate but also honest and guide folks as best they can and help them understand how did you get here and how can we keep you from staying here."