Press releases

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney
to visit House of Hope

PRESS RELEASE DATE: FEB. 12, 2009

Freshman U.S. Congressman Tom Rooney is scheduled to visit the House of Hope on Feb. 17 to see first-hand how people are being impacted by the economic downturn – and how one agency is dealing with the increasing demand for basic human needs.

Rep. Rooney, R-Tequesta, is expected at the main House of Hope location, 2484 SE Bonita Street in Stuart, from 10:15 to 11:15 on Feb. 17.

House of Hope, which is marking its 25th year of service to Martin County, is on the front lines of the economic crisis. During the past year, House of Hope’s client base has swelled, with so many people newly unemployed or unable to stretch low wages to match increases in food, gas and housing prices.

Rep. Rooney will tour the agency’s Stuart facility, which includes:

• A Food Pantry that is the largest provider of food to Martin County’s hungry.

• A thrift store that doubles as the agency’s Clothes Closet program. The program distributes thousands of garments and household items to people in need.

• The agency’s case management and Emergency Financial Assistance programs, which offer resources to help families stay in their homes, find work and services, and climb toward greater stability.

For more information about House of Hope, call (772) 286-4673 or visit www.hohmartin.org.

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Here are the agency’s service figures for 2008 in Martin County:

• The Emergency Financial Assistance program gave out $96,615 in 2008, helping 379 families make critical bill payments. This program helps people who have fallen on hard times and need help meeting housing, utility, medical or other critical expenses. As the economy has soured, requests for assistance in this program have increased 55% over 2007 and 86% over the past two years. With donations unable to match the soaring demand, House of Hope stretches its resources by partnering with other agencies, working with landlords, and helping clients obtain other services. The average help per family is about $250, which can be life-changing.

• The Food Pantry distributed 126 tons of food, the equivalent of about 296,000 meals. This program is the largest provider of food to people in need in Martin County and regularly helps senior citizens who subsist only on Social Security payments of a few hundred dollars a month as well as families and individuals in crisis. The Food Pantry saw a 46% increase in requests for food in 2008, and an 81% increase in food requests over the past two years.

• The Clothes Closet program distributed 35,871 garments and household items free to people who otherwise would go without. The Clothes Closet programs at each service location – Stuart, Hobe Sound, Indiantown and Jensen Beach – double as income-producing thrift stores, which provide House of Hope with about a third of its income for operating other programs, including a growing case management program to help people climb out of crisis and live with greater stability.

House of Hope is marking its 25th anniversary in 2009. Over the past 25 years, House of Hope has given out 1,567 tons of food – the equivalent of about 3.7 million meals to more than 43,200 families. It also has provided more than $1.4 million in direct bill payments to assist more than 7,500 families who might otherwise have become homeless or without utilities or prescription medications or other critical needs.