Tag Archives: community

Partnering With Martin’s for Back to School Success!

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Recently the generous folks at Martin’s Foods donated 250 backpacks filled with cereal, fruit, and granola bars to distribute to local kids.

In partnership with Unilever, Quaker and PepsiCo, The GIANT Company distributed 5,000 backpacks full of food to school kids in the Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Hagerstown, Md. communities.

We received the backpacks from the awesome team at N. Pointe Dr (Penn Ave) Martin’s. Store Manager, Chris (left), and Assistant Manager, Mikel (right), handed over the bags to our Executive Director, Sonny.

We are so thankful for this wonderful donation of new backpacks for kids in our community. And we’re beyond grateful for the continued support we receive from Martin’s throughout the year!THANK YOU, Martin’s, for all your support and generosity and for all you do to make our community better!

If you’d like to learn more about Martin’s, including locations, please visit martinsfoods.com

The Support of our Community is Incredible!

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THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

On Thursday, November 5th we were awarded a grant of $15,000 from Community Foundation of Washington County MD, Inc. in partnership with United Way of Washington County, Pauline K Anderson Foundation and the Alice Virginia and David W. Fletcher Foundation.

We are so beyond thankful to receive this grant money and are so appreciative of these agencies for all the work they’re doing to help our community during this difficult time.

Our Executive Director, Sonny Shank, is proudly holding the check along with Stacey Crawford (right) of the Community Foundation of Washington County, Heather Guessford (left) of United Way of Washington County, and others representing both organizations.

This grant money will be used to help cover costs associated with providing meals and shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. God has continued to supply our needs in every way during this pandemic and we are always excited to see how God works to keep things operational during this crisis. We are so happy that God gave us a community who values helping others like ours does! It’s been quite a year for all of us but God has remained so faithful to the work of taking care of neighbors in need and spreading His message of HOPE.

Again, we want to say THANK YOU to these organizations and foundations for this extremely generous gift. We appreciate this support so much!

Spring is Here!

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Hello Spring

Happy Spring! While it hasn’t been the harshest winter at all the arrival of spring is still a happy moment… especially with everything that’s going on around us. The thought of warmer sunshine, green grass, birds chirping and the return of color to the earth is something to celebrate!

And now that spring is here and we’re more cooped up than ever I’m sure most of you are taking this opportunity to do a little spring cleaning. While we’re currently not able to accept your donations of gently used items we will gladly take your spring cleaning surplus as soon as we can!

Once we get the all clear to reopen our sorting department we’ll let you know. Our trucks will be back out on the donation trail helping you to clear out your unwanted items. We rely heavily on proceeds from the sales generated by our Thrift Stores in Hagerstown & Chambersburg to help fund all of the programs and services at The Hope Center so your donation of items will be gladly accepted once we are back in business.

And did you know that your items could be part of our voucher program too? When people in need ask for various items like clothing or housewares we give them a voucher to use in our Hagerstown Thrift Store. That voucher allows them to pick the items they need without any cost to them. So when you donate your items they very well could end up in the hands of the most needy in our community.

And if your donated items are sold in one of our stores you can know that the money stays here in our community to help feed the hungry, provide shelter for the homeless, and provide after-school activities for at-risk kids in surrounding neighborhoods.

So happy spring – and spring cleaning! We pray for safety and good health for each of you during this COVID-19 crisis. Remember, if you are in need of food or a hot meal please stop by The Hope Center. Our essential services are still open and operating on normal schedule during this crisis. For more info please call 301.739.1165.

If you’d like to volunteer or donate food, medicine or other necessities please call 301.739.1165 or email info@hagerstownhopecenter.com.

Happy Spring!

Chick-Fil-A Brings the Happy (and, of course, some Chicken)

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Who wouldn’t love a lunch provided by Chick-Fil-A for free? It’s basically everyone’s dream. And for our residents and Soup Line guests that dream became a reality last weekend when staff from Chick-Fil-A in Hagerstown stopped by The Hope Center to host lunch!

Thirteen Chick-Fil-A team members helped prepare, serve, and interact with all of the men, women and children who joined us for lunch. Lead by Mary Teal Medina, the Marketing Director, and Matt Roach, Operations Director, the crew served a delicious meal of BBQ chicken sandwiches, chicken noodle soup over a hot biscuit, and a cookie. And to wash it all down our guests enjoyed some of that delicious southern style sweet tea that is wildly popular at Chick-Fil-A!

It was another full house during Soup Line and our guests enjoyed the great food and good company.

We are so thankful for the team from Chick-Fil-A for volunteering and being involved in helping us feed those in need in Hagerstown. We would gladly welcome Chick-Fil-A back any time, and we know our guests would too!

Thank you so much, Chick-Fil-A of Hagerstown, for taking time out of your schedule to share with our residents and guests!

If you’re reading this and craving some great fast food then swing by Chick-Fil-A on Wesel Blvd in Hagerstown for a sandwich, grilled nuggets, waffle fries, and Chick-Fil-A sauce…or just get whatever makes your heart happy on that menu because you know it’s gonna taste great!

If you, your business, scout troop, church, or civic group would like to join Chick-Fil-A and other local restaurants in serving our lunch guests then please give us a call at 301.739.1165 or email hagerstownrescue@verizon.net. There’s a genuine need for food assistance in our community and we’re so thrilled to have restaurants in the area team up with us and our other donors and volunteers to combat hunger and hopelessness in Hagerstown. You can join the fight! Go to http://www.hagerstownhopecenter.com to learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you can be a part of helping neighbors in need in Hagerstown and the surrounding communities!

Yo Ho, Matey! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!

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Everyone loves a pirate and a lot of us would love to be one. But unless you work at Disney World, talking like a pirate on a regular basis might draw some funny looks. Fortunately for all the wannabe scallywags out there, there are two days out of the year where it’s absolutely ok to be a pirate – and one of those days is today! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!!

And the second pirate day, you ask? Well it’s our annual Rock the Run 5K: Pirates vs Princess! One Saturday a year Fairgrounds Park is overrun by pirates, princesses, knights, mermaids, and more running for fun and a great cause.

RTR Pirate Princess

On Saturday, April 27th, 2019, anyone and everyone can dress up, act, and run like a pirate! This is your chance to show your pirate side and raise money for a great cause – helping us combat homelessness and hunger in Hagerstown.

We’re currently in the beginning stages of renovating our kitchen, dining, and pantry areas at The Hope Center. Our kitchen feeds hundreds of men, women, and kids a year. Meals are served to anyone in the community who is hungry – no matter age or housing status. But because of how many people we serve, we need to improve and expand our food services area. With a brand new, up-to-date kitchen, larger dining room and more efficient pantry, we’ll be able to help make sure no one in Hagerstown and the surrounding area are ever without something to eat.

Our sponsors and every person who registers to participate in our Rock the Run 5K: Pirates vs Princess will be a part of helping to feed the hungry in our community.

 

And who says helping those in need can’t be fun? That’s why we encourage each participant to dress up and invite their family and friends to join them. We even have a 1 mile Kids Fun Run for the smaller buccaneers in your family! From our photo booth, to kids activities, themed music and more, Rock the Run 5K: Pirates vs Princess is a legitimate race for hope with a fun twist.

So go ahead and mark your calendars now! Saturday, April 27th, 2019, at Fairgrounds Park in Hagerstown. For more info about our 5K please visit http://www.rocktherunhagerstown.com.

So to all you scallywags out there surrounded by landlubbers, happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! And we’ll see you and your best Jack Sparrow inspired self at Rock the Run this April!

 

Nurses Bring Hope to the Community

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As we all know, nurses are caring individuals. They help make visiting the doctor, preparing for medical procedures, and overnights at the hospital a little less frightening.
Recently, some area nurses showed us just how loving & caring they truly are.
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 On June 19th, some nurses from Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown visited The Hope Center at Hagerstown Rescue Mission. Our visitors are registered nurses working on their BSN degree.
They are all students in a class about community support agencies and their professor, Barbara Friend, R.N., PhDc from Notre Dame of Maryland University, recommended they visit The Hope Center and learn about the various community outreach programs that take place at our facility.
The students were given a tour by Executive Director Sonny Shank, who took them all over our facilities and spent some time with the nurses going over all the programs and services we offer free to the community.
For a majority of the nurses, this was their very first time seeing and learning about the many things The Hope Center does in the community. Our new friends left the tour with a better understanding of The Hope Center and the constant work we do reaching the community.
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 As a result of their visit, the nurses organized a food drive and also requested cash donations from co-workers at Meritus.
In early July they presented The Hope Center with 750 pounds of non-perishable food and a very generous cash gift.
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We are so thankful for these wonderful nurses who, not only help to care for us and our community at their offices, but also want to help feed and care for those in our community who are struggling in other ways.
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Their food and financial donations will help to reach hundreds of thousands of people, including children, families, men addicted to various substances, the hungry and homeless.
It’s a great feeling to know that we have a nursing and medical staff in our area who truly care about helping others.
Thank you Barbara Friend, nurses, and the rest of the staff at Meritus who donated much needed resources for us to continue to provide many basic needs for free to our community.