In April, we launched our 'Focus on Hope' initiative at Place of Hope. Among other exciting communications, we are highlighting selected “scriptures of the month” to read, consider, pray about, apply, and show gratitude toward. We are referencing scripture coinciding with our specific mission focus each month. April was National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and we chose Mathew 18:10 and James 1:27 as the foundation of our April reflections and efforts.
May is National Foster Care Month (a time to engage youth, continue building support, and strengthening opportunities).
May 1st is also our 23rd anniversary! We are entering our 24th year of serving those who need us the most. We opened May 1, 2001 at our Paxson Campus with our first Family Foster Cottage (Casa del Padre). On that day, our first resident moved in and later her siblings arrived! It feels like yesterday when I met her on the sidewalk, as she arrived with her little pink suitcase on wheels. What a blessing to receive her and her family!
Consequently, I have chosen the following two scriptures as the foundation of our May 2024 celebrations, efforts, and 'Focus on Hope' reflections.
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow."
-Isaiah 1:17 (Place of Hope Founding verse)
“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
-Psalm 82:3-4
This month is a particularly important and foundational time. Please continue to support and pray for our growing and expanding mission at Place of Hope, and those we together lift and serve, as we regionally plan, develop, and dedicate more critically needed foster care and other housing opportunities, for the fatherless, the widowed, and the needy. Since that day in 2001, together, we have served over 40,000 children, youth, and families. Onward!
Focusing on Hope,
Charles Bender
Place of Hope Founding CEO
