The first mission of Hope Connexion came after Perry and Senior Pastor Adam Perry were made aware by County Judge Jerry Crane of the lack of a county jail ministry. The Perrys took this up and then focused on filling other needs they learned of.
“We had looked at all the organizations here in town, including [the Hope Lions], and then churches and … we didn't want to repeat what was being done,” she said.
So they started their jail ministry and then set up an addiction recovery group called Overcomers in Christ. “It's Christ centered,” Perry said. “So it doesn't matter if you are addicted to drugs, you're addicted to alcohol or whatever your addiction is. Some of us have an addiction to our phone. You can be part of this group.”
The work with inmates led to the realization that those released often lacked resources to get their lives back on track. “From there, we realized when people are coming out of jail, they need clothes, they need food, they need mental help, they need a place to stay. They need their IDs. They need their Social Security card. They need résumés. They need jobs. And so from that, everything else blew up with our ministry,” Perry said
Now Hope Connexion works to provide those services. For the food, the location is equipped with its own kitchen. This helps in the preparation of meals for those in need, often from donated food—Chicken Express has been among the businesses that have helped, but often the food has been grown at the facility’s own Blessing Garden just across the street.
“We wanted to provide fresh fruit and vegetables,” Perry said. “And we knew the importance of providing nutrition, not just shelf stable processed food. So we started that because we were looking at the holistic approach to helping everybody.” The facility has even invested in bee-keeping, using the insects as pollinators mainly but hoping the year after next for a bounty of honey.
The most widely visible of Hope Connexion’s efforts can be seen around town, the Blessing Boxes that have been placed across from Super One, at the Hope-Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce and in the Parole Office at North Hazel. These contain non-perishable food items that people in need can take. They are then replenished with donated food.
Perry named other functions of Hope Connexion that she said could not be undertaken without help from volunteers, churches and other organizations. One example of this is the Clothing Closet, which was taking up too much space in Hope Connexion’s building. They then partnered with Rainbow of Challenges so that the need for professional clothes for job-seekers could still be covered.
“What they do is, if somebody comes in and needs an outfit for court, for a job interview, or just needs another pair of pants because the pants they're wearing are falling apart, we give them a voucher for a pair of pants, a shirt, a coat, a jacket, accessories and shoes. [We] put it in a database. They take that voucher, they to go to Rainbow of Challenges, and they don't have to pay for that outfit. It’s given to them for free.”
Chicken Express is another partner, providing food that is used for Hope Connexion’s Wednesday meals. Barry’s Grocery helps provide the facility with an at-cost source of the free bottled water being given out now that Hope Connexion’s building is a community cooling center. “I'm actually on my second pallet of water since June, because we go through probably about two or three cases of water a day,” Perry said.
The charity is 100 percent staffed by volunteers. And more volunteers are always welcome to help provide the many services Hope Connexion offers, from helping veterans to providing resume and job application help, to setting up a post office box for those without a stable address, setting up bank accounts and balancing checkbooks and even steering those struggling with addiction toward rehabilitation centers. Those in need of employees even contact the charity to inquire about contacting possible applicants.
“They will contact me and say, ‘We're hiring for this position.’ When you walk into our building, in the foyer, there's a whole job posting board with all the jobs available here in our community,” Perry said.
As to numbers, Perry said about 70 to 80 people are helped per week. Volunteers work about 250 to 300 hours a week. There are also public school students working their community service hours at Hope Connexion. “We've actually had the teachers bring their class to the Outreach Center to learn about volunteerism, what it means to the community, how to lift the community and what the benefits are, not just to the community, but to self.” Right now, Perry said, there’s a need for a volunteer with carpentry skill.
Hope Connexion Outreach Center is at 401 South Washington Street in Hope.
