Project Hope lauded for its excellent work

If anyone ever wanted to do a study on cities, communities and regions throughout the United States that have succeeded in addressing the problem of homelessness, they should include Lake County in Northeast Ohio as part of their analysis.

After all, this area has been served very well for the past 25 years by Project Hope for the Homeless.

Recently, Project Hope celebrated its silver anniversary of providing emergency shelter for homeless adults and children in Lake County.

The Painesville Township homeless shelter — the only one of its kind in Lake County — on Feb. 11 commemorated a quarter-century of serving Northeast Ohio’s less fortunate with a worship service at Willoughby Hills United Methodist Church, which was the very first host site of the shelter when it began in 1993, followed by an open house at the shelter itself, at 25 Freedom Road.

We’re impressed by all that Project Hope has accomplished over the past 25 years, and believe that the organization’s success stems from a variety of factors.

First, Project Hope makes an effort to help clients improve their lives beyond the time they spend at the shelter. If you’re looking for proof, ask Felicia Anderson, who sought help for herself and her 15-year-old daughter at Project hope from September through December 2016. Anderson said Project Hope played a role in giving her the tools and the traits to rise up from the challenges life’s thrown her way and become a better person.

“It was just a wonderful experience,” said Anderson, who also spoke at the Feb. 11 event. “They give you the tools you need to be successful.”

In addition, Project Hope offers an optional one-year aftercare program that attempts to address the needs of individuals and families transitioning out of the shelter.

According to Project Hope’s website, the aftercare program, which started in 2007, “offers financial support through administration of federal funding, but also regular home visits and phone calls, monthly support groups and in-kind help, as needed.”

Another key to Project Hope’s long-term success, in our opinion, is the organization’s commitment to thoughtful planning and envisioning future needs of its clients.

According to a news release about the shelter’s 25th anniversary celebration, Project Hope was born “in the early 1990s, (when) an ecumenical group of leaders from churches, community governments, and area leaders were called to a meeting by the Catholic Commission of Lake and Geauga Counties to discuss the growing problem of homelessness in Lake County.”

Project Hope Executive Director Judy Burr said the organization was about five years in the works before it took on a brick-and-mortar presence, thanks to a group of churches and other interested parties in Lake and Geauga counties, who studied the need and built the program from the ground up.

“They had a task force and just got together, discussed the need and tried to figure out what group of services would be appropriate,” she said Feb. 28.

Over the years, Project Hope has displayed steady growth and effectively adapted its operations to enhance services.

Project Hope’s staff has expanded to include key positions such as a volunteer coordinator, daytime services specialist and aftercare coordinator.

After moving to its current Painesville Township site in 2000, Project Hope conducted a capital campaign four years later to add 800 square feet to improve services. Project Hope increased the number of its beds to 35 from 25 in 2007, and then to 50 in 2015.

In terms of new programs, Project Hope in 2013 unveiled its Families Moving Forward initiative. Families Moving Forward was launched, in leased church space, as a daytime offering to help homeless families and their kids by giving them access to a place to be and other resources outside area shelter hours.

The program has grown by leaps and bounds and since January 2015, Families Moving Forward has been operating out of a 5,200-square-foot expanded section of the Painesville Township site.

During its first 25 years, Project Hope for the Homeless has helped more than 5,000 people who at one time or another ended up homeless in Northeast Ohio.

When you look at Project Hope’s body of work over the past quarter-century, you can’t help but come away impressed. We believe that homeless adults and children in the region have been served more effectively and compassionately thanks to Project Hope for the Homeless.

We congratulate Project Hope on its 25th anniversary and wish the organization continued success in the years to come.