In 1973, Donnalee Velvick saw a need for a home that would benefit "hard-to-place" kids. Children who have mental, physical, and/or emotional challenges often "fall through the cracks" in our society. Her dream grew and
developed into Hope House Home For Children.
Hope House was originally located just west of the city limits of Nampa, Idaho, on approximately 75 acres in six different homes according to age, gender, and ability. In 2004 we relocated to Marsing, Idaho. We provide a home for approximately 40 youths under the
age of eighteen and approximately 20 disabled young adults. Our staff consists of twelve full-time volunteers who live on the premises, miscellaneous college Interns and student helpers, as well as teachers, cooks and support personnel.
Hope House accepts children whom state agencies
and other private homes and local organizations are unable or unwilling to care for. Many of our children come to us with varying degrees of physical, emotional and educational difficulties. Some come to us with abandonment issues ( RAD, reactive attachment disorder, AD, attachment disorder ), FAS ( fetal alcohol
syndrome ), ADD ( attention deficit disorder ) learning disabilities, abused, and in some cases, with reports of nothing more than bad behavior and stamped as incorrigible. Some come to us from loving, supportive families and some come to us with no families. We believe that all youth deserve the opportunity to succeed! In some cases this means moving from their dysfunctional situation to live in our 'structured' home. All
of our young people are required to be in school and/or developmental services and/or vocational training as needed. The children and adults of Hope House….whether they stay several months or remain for years...learn to live, love, and share as a family.
Just as in a 'normal size' family, all of our young
people have responsibilities. The older children help our little ones and our 'special needs' children to get ready for the day. Everyone is responsible for keeping their own room in order. After school, we all get together for 'family meeting' where chores are assigned, ranging from special projects, to vacuuming,
dusting, laundry, and all the other average duties a family has.
We do the same kinds of things most smaller families do, just on a larger scale. One example of this is summer vacation. Each summer the entire family loads up into a couple of buses, a van or three, and maybe a couple of cars and a pickup and
heads for the hills. We spend three or four weeks exploring the great outdoors in Idaho and/or surrounding states. We camp out in tents or under the stars in our sleeping bags, cook, hike, swim, and stand in a never-ending line to the outhouse.
What does it take to keep our family going for a month? We use approximately 224 gallons of milk, 86 dozen eggs, 1200 pounds of fruit, 1200 pounds of vegetables, 750 pounds of meat, 600 pounds of flour, 300 pounds of laundry detergent, 600 rolls of toilet paper, 60 tubes of toothpaste, and the list could go on and
on. As you can see, we are just a family on a large scale.
Our goals are simple: To provide a safe, loving home for children and youth; to provide a non-institutional atmosphere for our developmentally delayed and disabled young people; to promote the general welfare of disabled children and adults, both in
and out of our home; to provide appropriate care and training in proper social, educational, economic, and intellectual skills; to provide for the spiritual needs of our young people; to provide for the special needs of our young people such as medical/surgical services, eye correction, counseling, physical therapy,
speech and hearing services, and developmental training services; to teach basic skills such as simple cooking, doing laundry, washing dishes, sweeping floors and other household tasks; to teach personal hygiene and grooming; to teach the value of work; to work with the parents willing to learn how to cope with and
meet the special needs of their disabled young people so they can be reunited as a family. Some of our young people just need someone to love them and accept them, and let them know they are valuable.
We attend church together as a family, and all the children who join our family, even on a temporary basis,
understand that we do things as a family, with everyone participating and following house rules. Because we are a family, everyone participates in camping, swimming, bowling, and other activities. Within the protection of the family, young people are encouraged to try things they may have been afraid or were too
self-conscious to try. Within the protection of the family they have the freedom to fail without being labeled a failure. The key word in all that we do is FAMILY. We are a family unit. We live, love, laugh, and worship as a family. HOPE HOUSE IS A HOME TO COME TO!
Hope House
has been incorporated as a non-profit organization (501-(c) 3) since 1980, and accepts no local, state, or federal government funds, except those
directly paid as benefits to individual young people. Our main source of support comes from individuals like you, churches, businesses, and grants. |
