Hello from the Hope First team, and happy back to school month! We have been busy helping our children and grandchildren prep and get back into the routine of school. It is always an exciting time of year, a new beginning! Hard to believe it is almost fall!

It has also been a busy summer at Hope First. Many of you were able to attend our open house this past spring and see the new building. Since then, we have completed almost all of the furnishing and decorating of the building! And one of the most exciting things to share, our shelves are stocked with donations! We have been overwhelmed, in a good way, with the number of people who have donated clothes, baby gear, new maternity clothes, and more. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. As we give items out, we will need to replenish our stock. We will keep you posted on any critical needs.

Here are some of the things we have been working on:

• Furniture purchased for the men's meeting room, men's director office, counseling rooms, and more.
• Store stocked with donations and organized. 
• Technology purchased and installed- computers, phone system, etc.
• Training software purchased and currently being set-up to train volunteers.
• Continued improvements in and around the building, parking lot, etc. Making new keys for all the doors and more.
• Meetings with churches and organizations. We continue to spread the word, and people are very excited for what Hope First is bringing to the community.

Hope First Current Needs:

We often have people ask- what do we need right now? Here is a list of ways to help or things we need!

• Board of Directors and Governing Board- We continue to seek volunteers and individuals who want to be a part of our board of directors or our governing board. If you feel this being placed on your heart, please contact us! You can email us at info@hopefirstfrc.com or call our Board Chairman: Gigi Owen: 720-654-6075. Thank you for your consideration.
• Volunteers- We have 5-6 people ready to go through our training. We are so excited to have them on our team. Have you wanted to be a volunteer at Hope First? Contact us today! Volunteers are such a critical piece to what we do. Along with our Board members, volunteers are needed each and every day to help support our cause! We need more volunteers for the following:
  • Admin support
  • Help in the material services store- organizing, washing clothes, stocking shelves
  • Tech support- would you enjoy helping us with our newsletter and website? Please let us know! 
  • Mentor/Client Advocates- volunteers who will meet with clients who come in, support and counsel them.
  • Outreach team- do you enjoy fundraising, spreading awareness, helping at church events, speaking, etc? We would love to have volunteers who want to join us in spreading the word of Hope First. 
• Funding- We continue to increase our monthly donor base, which will help us with hitting what we need to meet our monthly operating expenses. Reoccurring, monthly donations help us to predict and sustain what we need to pay salaries, bills, buy supplies for the center, and more. Would you consider being a part of the monthly donor team? You can follow the links at the end of this newsletter to set a donation up! No donation is too small, every little bit helps. Thank you for your consideration.
• Supplies- we are doing well right now with items for our store! We are starting to put together bags that will go home with our clients when they have a baby. As our team has started putting the bags together, here is what we have found we are in need of:
  • Baby Shampoo/baby lotion
  • Small board books
  • Boys socks
  • Girls long sleeve onesies for fall/winter- 6-9 months and 9-12 month sizes
  • Girls fall outfits- 6-9/9-12 sizes
  • Girls fall/winter dresses 6-9/9-12
  • New bottles
  • Baby washcloths
• Do you shovel snow? Do you own your own snow removal business? We are looking for someone who can plow our parking lot and shovel our sidewalks when the snowflakes start falling! Do you know anyone who owns their own company who provides this service for organizations like ours? Please contact us!

The big question: When will Hope First open it's doors?

We are so excited to share that we are starting the training of volunteers. Once we have a trained staff, we will be opening our doors 2-3 days a week. We are aiming for late September. We have already been getting many calls for material services from clients, and we are ready and able to start serving them. We just need to train up our volunteers. Opening part time, for now, will allow our team to continue to work on everything that needs to be done in order to hire a director and admin, continue talking to churches and organizations and provide tours for those requesting it, increase our funding, etc. Your support and dedication to Hope First has gotten us to this point and for that we say a big THANK YOU! 

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to our email or phone number listed at the bottom of this newsletter!

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