Thank You!

I remember how it all started so clearly. Two months ago I went over to the Garrett's house to learn how to make laundry soap. There was Michael and Julie, hunched over the laptop, working fervently on something. They had just seen Demi Moore on TV talking about a grant program from Pepsi and were trying to submit the application for Homes of Hope for Children to be in the contest for March. Little did I know how that one morning would change the next two months for our ministry.

Homes of Hope for Children has a staff of 4 people- Michael Garrett, the Executive Director, the man with the vision and plan; Sarah, the Communications Director, the lady that keeps it all going; and Mike and Jaimee, one set of House parents, new to the area with 2 weeks of being on the job. We're located in Purvis, MS which is all rural as it sounds. Purvis has a population under 3,000 but combine it with the Hattiesburg area and it's around 60,000. It's the type of area where everyone knows everyone and even the Wal-mart cashiers are friendly. We have much community support through local businesses and churches. They sometimes find it a surprise that a children's home is being started in their area and are always on board looking for ways they can help out. However, to think of this small ministry in rural Mississippi winning a national competition from Pepsi just seemed far-fetched. I remember at first thinking "Does Michael really think this is possible?" but the more we talked about it I saw that it really could happen.

After the application is submitted you don't actually know you are accepted into the contest until the first day you are actually in the contest. But from that first day the application was in we talked and planned like we knew we would be in the running come March 1st. Michael and Sarah began having meetings with community supporters telling them about the grant and getting them on board. Have you ever had to plan for something that you weren't sure how or even if it would happen? What a HUGE risk that totally paid off in the end.

On March 1st at 6am our name appeared on the Refresh Everything website in the competition to win $250,000. We were ranked around #147 (out of 287). But by later that day, votes had been cast and the true rankings started to form- we were in the top 10, the place we wanted to be in. Over the next few days we bobbled around #3 before reaching the #2 spot which we held for about a week. On March 9th we went to #1 and held that spot for about a week but went to #2 and stayed there consistently for the remaining 2 weeks of the month. I remember when we first started Michael saying "We don't have to win, just be number 2" and sure enough, that's what happened.

The month of March seemed to be eternal. We spent the month busy, busy, busy trying to recruit people to vote but also in a state of constant fear of dropping in the rankings. When the clock rolled from March 31st to April 1st the celebration was joyful and relieved. We now have to complete a vetting process for Pepsi before getting the money but have already begun lining up the work that needs to be done to complete the girls cottage so we can start serving children this summer.

I wanted to take the time to say "Thank you!" though it doesn't seem to do it justice through the type of this email. Without your support this would not have been possible. There are people out there who not only voted but recruited others to vote that we will never know about. People took this cause to heart and shared with us through this whole experience the excitement of reaching the top and the fear of seeing it slip away. So from the bottom of all of our hearts we say thank you for all that you did. Thank you to our friends and family who supported us this month and thank you to their friends and family. We will never know how far this reached and we will never be able to express how much we are truly grateful.

This summer, because of your support, 7 girls in need of a loving and safe environment will have a place that they can call home.

If you are interested in continuing to support the ministry or just want to stay updated on the progress of the cottage please visit our website at www.hohfc.org. Also, if you have a story to share about this contest- how it affected you, how you helped recruit voters, or about someone who took voting to heart, etc., please email me at jaimee.lafave@hohfc.org so we can include them in our Homes of Hope scrapbook.