Congregation Beth Yeshurun

Wow!!! The Congregation Beth Yeshurun brought it today! We had 30 volunteers who served up salmon, boudin stuffed, bacon wrapped pork, steak skewers, and fried chicken as entrees!

In addition to that, they offered up an array of delicious sides and non-perishables, and our volunteers distributed new socks, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, body lotion, wool blankets, coats and other essentials to just south of 150 of Houston’s homeless population compliments of Cub Scout Pack 11.

We LOVE that the kids ran the show today. We have so many youth volunteers that are leaders in their communities and they LOVE volunteering for Direct HOPE because they can really experience the difference they are making in the lives of others.

Well done to all!!! Thank you to the adults who donated non-perishable and trusted us enough to engage their most precious possessions, and we want to thank all of the young adults that donated blankets, coats and toiletries to our indigent population.

If you would like to volunteer for, donate to, or partner with Direct HOPE, please pm us at @directhope.

Campbell has turned his life around.

Today was a great day. The weather was gorgeous, the 183 meals served were delicious and everyone was engaged and happy.

Our sweet friend, Campbell Haven, joined us today. You may remember Campbell from a recent story we posted. We met Campbell when he was homeless and on the receiving side of buffet line. Through a lot of hard work and the gift of a strong support system, Campbell has turned his life around and he’s giving back to his community in abundance, including volunteering with our organization.

We also enjoyed a surprise visit from a couple whose apartment we furnished yesterday. Despite having a cozy pad to hang out in, they took multiple buses to get into town simply to say thank you for turning their empty apartment into a home.

We want to thank all of our volunteers for coming out today to spread cheer and encouragement to our homeless friends. Our volunteers who come out week after week build the foundation that is required for our homeless friends to trust us and allow us to help them.

We also want to thank everyone who participated in our campaign to help Campbell obtain everything he needed to turn his house into a home. You guys never stop giving and your generosity is really appreciated.

Finally, a HUGE thank you to the Holt family who donated every last thing in their late father’s home to #directhope. We were able to furnish a 1 bedroom apartment and a 2 bedroom apartment for two of our friends who transitioned out of tents and will be spending Thanksgiving in their own homes this holiday season.

We are so blessed to have such strong community support. Thank you for all that you do. Always.

Kendra

Last week at Sunday Brunch, we couldn’t help noticing a young lady who was calmly balancing, for herself and her 5 children ages 3-9, plates of food, bags of non-perishables and a number of other items that we were distributing.

Upon approaching this lovely family, one our volunteers learned that Kendra, a single mother, and her 5 children. (Keniya, Anthony, Charlie, Denver and Peyton) were being evicted from Star of Hope since she had been late to pick up her 2 youngest from daycare 3 times.

The bad news is that she applied for housing at the Star of Hope Family Center, but won’t be able to secure housing until December 27.

The great news is that WITH THE KIND DONATIONS OF OUR DONORS, Direct HOPE was able to fund the cost of providing a hotel room for her and her 5 children until her move in date — and the hotel is close to her 3 oldest children’s school which worked out very nicely.

We cannot thank you enough for giving the gift of roof over our adopted families head this holiday season.

If you would like to donate new toys to this family so that have a little something to open on Christmas, please let us know in a comment box. You can also make a donation to our PayPal account. Our email address is directhope15@gmail.com.

Kendra has 4 girls ages: 2,4, 5, 9 and 1 boy age 7

Thank you for all that you do to support our organization and, ultimately, our community members in need.

#directhopenation #compassionisaverb #helpingothers