Kare 11 - March 01, 2020

On March 01, 2020, Kare 11 News re-broadcast a story about Mobile Hope!  Below, is a link to that story, followed by some updated information about what has happened since that story first aired back in 2015.  

A lot has happened since the Hope Center opened in May of 2015! 

• In the last 5 years, we have seen over 43,000 people check in at the Hope Center to participate in the activities and events that are held there!  
• We have hosted more than 5700 activities such as our Homework Help after school program, arts and crafts, our TreeHouse teen program, sports camps, VBS/AWOL camp, English language classes, Getting Ahead classes, fitness programs and more!
• Over 800 volunteers have served here, putting in over 22,300 hours of time!  
• Hundreds of people have had a place to host family celebrations and gather together over meals by renting the Hope Center nearly 100 times! 

Mobile Hope partnered with TreeHouse three years ago, in 2017 to begin offering their evidence-based curriculum proven to impact at-risk youth and families.  Through this programs, teenagers are gathering together in a casual and fun atmosphere to enjoy a meal together, discuss the real challenges of life, and have fun together!  They also engage with one another through Peer Support groups and spend time with caring adults through our one-on-one and group mentoring programs.  

​Mobile Hope has expanded!  We are now hosting programs in a second location in Dayton, MN which means Mobile Hope is operating out of the two largest mobile home communities in Hennepin County.  The vision of Mobile Hope includes plans to assist new communities to launch that are interested in offering these programs in the future.  

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Our staff and volunteers have expanded!  Back in 2015, the team consisted of just our family and Ashley and Gama Xitumul who had joined us by moving into the park along with us to live intentionally with our neighbors.  Since that time, we have had additional staff join the team to help out with the details, we had Cathy Walter come on as our Dayton site director, and we have had two young ladies step into our Hope House on-site residential program to be a part of the outreach work with teens.  We are grateful for the many (over 800!) volunteers who have made Mobile Hope and this community a part of their lives!  

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And finally, our family has continued to learn and grow throughout the years as well.  In watching the Kare 11 story, it was fun to see how our boys viewed the work of Mobile Hope at that time.  Our boys are now both in High School, have built friendships with our neighbors, and learned many lessons of life as a result of being a part of the work.  The story is far from over, and has had its many ups and downs, but we press on, doing the best we can to be faithful to what God has placed before us and what we have grown to love.