Last week, I went down to Hephzibah Children’s Home with Nicole where we met up with a group from her church, Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church. They came down to work for the week and I joined them.
Hephzibah is getting ready to open Hope Haven which will offer survivors of human trafficking a safe place to stay. We had the honor of helping paint & decorate one of the apartments that the girls will stay in.
It turned out quite well if I do say so myself! Luckily we had a professional painter in our midst! Joe, Nicole & I made up the painting team. Joe was very patient with us and passed on a lot of his wisdom.
When they weren’t decorating, the women worked in other rooms cleaning & organizing everything from the kitchen to storage rooms to closets. They also cleaned out and replanted several flowerbeds around a couple of the buildings! We were lucky to have an electrician/welder/handyman on the team who could also do pretty much anything you asked him to do. So by the end of the week, we had all put in a lot of work in different ways.
But we still had time to treat ourselves!
We also got to see the original Hephzibah which has been restored and moved onto the campus! 2 ladies eventually cared for more than 20 kids in this house!
My favorite thing was their campus wide speedlimit. Because 15mph is a bit too slow. 20mph is a bit too fast. But 17mph is juuuuuust right!
It was really a great week working alongside great people with a great organization. I grew up in the Wesleyan church so I’ve always known about Hephzibah but this was my first time visiting.
One of the things I enjoyed most this week was getting to hear from different staff members the goals, dreams & visions for the future. I had always heard about Hephzibah the Children’s Home but I realized this week that the children’s home is just a small part of what Hephzibah is doing & wants to do. It was inspiring to hear what they are dreaming up – including some pretty big things for the distant and not so distant future.
Hope Haven is one of those dreams that is in the process of becoming a reality & it will be perfectly situated on Hope Lane.
I’m so very thankful that I got to be a small part of a greater ministry that will be bringing hope to each girl who comes through those doors.