Each year amid the lights, carols and decorations of the holiday season, many people are overcome with a spirit of generosity. New Hope for Families, a Bloomington nonprofit that strives to provide shelter and resources to families with young children who have been impacted by homelessness, seeks to channel that holiday spirit into good.
Founded in 2011, New Hope began as a shelter for emergency and support services for children and families experiencing homelessness. The organization quickly found that early childhood care and education was essential to its mission, expanding with an Early Learning Center in 2015. The center takes on children from as young as 6 weeks to 5 years old.
Jim Olsen, development director of New Hope, said the organization focuses particularly on providing children with high-quality care and resources.
“The intention is to help families provide quality programs and daycare for children until they’re old enough to go to kindergarten,” Olsen said. “We didn’t want to just have a safe place for kids, but we wanted to make sure that if a child comes to us needing daycare, that we could provide them with a high-quality learning service that would prepare them for school when they get old enough.”
New Hope executive director Emily Pike said the organization receives its biggest donations during the holiday season. Currently, it is accepting donations to purchase gifts for parents receiving help from New Hope to give to their children or spouses. The project prioritizes the dignity of parents and their right to choose the gifts their children will receive, Pike said.
“Everyone has different gift-giving traditions, and so this allows parents to make sure they feel good about the gift their child is receiving,” Pike said. “So, then we ask people to deliver those gifts unwrapped to our agency, and then the parents themselves will wrap the gifts and give them to their children according to their own family’s traditions. I’ve learned there’s a great diversity in how people like to do that sort of thing.”
Another vital aspect of the New Hope holiday season is its annual “Hope for the Holidays” Christmas tree charity auction in collaboration with IU Credit Union. The event showcases over 50 Christmas trees, each uniquely decorated by local businesses, artists and organizations that donors bid on. After purchasing a tree, donors choose to either take it home or donate it to one of New Hope’s families.
Retired opera singer and Jacobs School of Music alumna Sylvia McNair has attended “Hope for the Holidays” for the past several years and participated in this year’s event, which was held Nov. 17-19 at the Pavilion at Switchyard Park. Since making her first donation in 2019, she has become one of New Hope’s most frequent donors.
McNair said she was drawn to New Hope because of their focus on keeping families together.
“I think the primary reason I love them so much is that they work very hard and spend a lot of money making sure that families are not divided, not broken up because of financial problems,” she said. “The Early Learning Center at New Hope is something that I am passionate about.”
Pike encouraged people to channel their seasonal generosity toward nonprofits like New Hope.
“Like many nonprofits, we see tremendous increase in giving toward the end of the year,” Pike said. “That giving at the end of the year helps sustain us through months where less giving happens throughout the rest of the year. Anyone can make a donation.”
For those wanting to donate gifts, New Hope asks that all gifts be delivered by Monday, Dec. 22. Pike urges prospective donors to reach out as soon as possible, and they can do so by contacting holidays@newhope4families.org.
At any time of year, prospective donors can visit newhope4families.org for information about how to make monetary gifts or provide volunteer service.
New Hope’s next major fundraising event is “100 Cooks Who Care,” which will be held Feb. 21 at the Monroe Convention Center. Proceeds from the event will benefit New Hope and Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana.
