Okay, I know this looks bad. Let me explain. . .

This picture was taken yesterday at a DARE program where I had the opportunity to speak to the 5th grade class of South Street Elementary. No, I was not arrested yesterday. But the fact is, 11 years ago I was arrested. Those shackles were the grand crescendo, the “EPIC FAIL” of my young 18-year-old life.

Yesterday’s program let me share my story in a way I haven’t before. It was surreal. I distinctly remember in junior high a DARE presentation was made at my school where an inmate in an orange jumpsuit shared his own “epic fail” story about drugs ruining his life, and ultimately landing him in jail. That junior high version of me thought I was so different from that inmate, and that I would never go to jail.

Yesterday it all came full circle.

I was the one standing up in an orange jumpsuit, pleading with these young people for their futures. I feel like I am a lifetime away from my experience with drugs. The spell of deception has been broken and all I see is the reality of the death it carries! With stories of friends’ funerals and images of families broken to pieces in my head, my passion to fight the war for the hearts of these young people is fueled by everything I know is at stake.

As I look around Opelousas, I see a deep oppression the dope game has had on the people that live here. A self-inflicted slavery, it is championed by music, culture, and especially those trapped in it. Misery loves company.

I’m praying for the liberation of souls in this city. I am ready to go to war for it, my brothers and sisters.

Would you pray and fight with me?

-Loren

There is nothing quite like an early morning, a cup of coffee in your hand, and thirty teenage girls standing on your lawn. On such a day, we began to chip away at the list of projects attached to our recent property purchase. Before bids for roofing could be compared, before the handicap access ramp could be poured, and even before we could repaint the big empty rooms, some dirty chores were calling across the lot.

And so it was that one fateful Friday, three staff members, one teacher, and a whole crew of high school girls went to town . . .

“The feeling of getting something done to help people in a way that they needed without expecting anything in return impacted me the most.”

HFO has been experiencing the development of a rich friendship this year between the Academy of Sacred Heart and our tutoring program. Every week, Miss Ali Purpera brings several of her students to volunteer—to sit on the steps and talk with our interns, to keep up on the basketball court, and to coax 7^th graders into studying for impending biology tests.

“… not really knowing what it was or who was involved. Now I see how much soul there is in this project and helping out that day made me want to do more.”

Ali teaches, along with several other religion classes, a course in social problems. Amid discussions on poverty and economical struggles, Ali includes a day dedicated to working in the community in hopes of connecting her students with some of the topics on a more personal level.

“The thing that impacted me the most was about halfway through the day, I realized that while I usually have a strong aversion to manual labor, I did not have one thing to complain about. Also, at the end of the work, to see that not one girl had anything to complain about either, even though they all had just spent the day working and getting dirty.”

This year, HFO gratefully hosted the work day. For about four hours we cleaned floors, scraped paint, pulled carpet, hacked at bushes, and wrenched old nails, doors, and fences out of stubborn holds.  Who knew that 11^th grade girls carry such a penchant for destruction?!

“I had so much fun, probably the most fun I’ll ever have ripping up old pieces of a house. Everyone just came together for this big movement, it was amazing.”

In the afternoon, the girls were treated to a lunch hosted by the Opelousas Lighthouse Mission. There we heard about the unexpected situations that lead to poverty, spoke to some heavy demographics in our country, and shared the gospel truth of caring for our neighbors.

“They really opened my eyes to the fact that poverty can happen to anyone no matter the background.”

It is always hard to relate one short-term experience to the reality of another person’s life, but I think that those conversations proved compelling.

“…it helped me realize stability is fragile…”

This day proved to be surprisingly sweet, and not just because we were set upon by a reckoning workforce! We shared our hearts and made new friends. HFO is so grateful for the blessings of that day, and for the chance to work alongside such giving young women.

 “I really hope we do this again soon.”

So do we!

 “…the Good Samaritan parable taught me not to judge the men who did nothing because I probably would have responded similarly. It also taught me that service is one of the most central requirements of being a Catholic Christian. Having a lot of faith isn’t enough, and service without faith isn’t enough either.”

Friends,

We hope this post finds you refreshed and grateful at the close of another year! HFO experienced some incredible growth in 2011–in the depth of our programming, scope of fundraising, and student relationships. As you may know, each blessing brings more responsibility, challenges, and hope along with it. Thankful for these opportunities, we would like to re-cap some of the highlights—

• HFO excitedly received our first and second grants from the Pugh Family Foundation to fund the ‘Agents of Hope’ high school internship program, which launched with the hiring of five seniors from OHS to work with our after-school program.

• Spring Break mission teams visited Opelousas once again! We played host to thirty college students for a week, serving all over Opelousas in the name of Christ. This work included helping to raise $13,000 with ‘A Night on the Town’ homelessness awareness event, with more than 600 attendees.

• Two interns helped support us this year—the ‘2011 Summer Internship’ program brought Nadine Lundgren to HFO to serve as our summer intern. HFO also hired our first ‘Grace Corps’ member, Hannah McBride, to have our dream for a year-long internship position realized.

• HFO brought twenty-three kids to the ‘KAA Summer Camp,’ a week long Christian sports camp, instigating a new summer tradition. What a blast!

• Eight students traveled with us to the 9th Ward in New Orleans for the first ‘HFO Mission Trip’ to work, pray, and play with new friends.

• ‘Adventure Crew 2011’ canoed the Buffalo River and Heber Springs in Arkansas for forty miles of cliff diving and fishing adventures.

• And last, but not at all least, HFO purchased a second home next door to our current property to expand our after-school program, looking to double the amount of students we serve by 2013.

We share our joy with you—our supporters, mentors, and family—in these milestones and the restoration they bring. We are thankful to all of you who have walked with us these last four years and we are trusting to God’s loving provision to overwhelm our family, and yours, in 2012.

Peace!

For the past two Christmases, several HFO families have been blessed by the generosity of a program facilitated by Westminster Christian Academy entitled “Jesus Cares.”In the spirit of giving, with the intent of spreading the love the Gospel, several classes at WCA “adopt” a family for Christmas. Students set out to meet these families’ needs by collecting money, food, toys, clothes and household items.

 This year I had the privilege of delivering the gifts from WCA to our HFO families. How exciting for me to see the faces of those moms! I pulled up bearing gifts for their children, food for their tables, and a check to help them finish Christmas shopping. Sitting down with some of them sifting through the boxes of donations was like Christmas morning right then and there. I watched Tremika, mom to three HFO students, find the family-sized rice cooker she had needed. I saw the look of relief on another mother’s face as she opened a check that would get her family through the month. These women were full of disbelief, and great appreciation. Aren’t those what our emotions should be over Christmas every year?

 The Savoy family was one of the families blessed by the kindness of WCA students. Ravin Savoy and her five kids were adopted by Ms. Vis’ first grade class. The first-graders excitedly presented toys, new dishes, and silverware. A few weeks ago Ravin approached me about thanking Ms. Vis’ class. Knowing what her own kids enjoyed, Ravin initiated a class party. Last Friday, the two of us headed over to WCA with cupcakes, ice cream, and little goody bags for each of the students.

 When we pulled up, those little first-graders looked like they were meeting superstars, without even knowing what was going on! While Ravin passed out the treats, Ms. Vis remarked, “you now have twenty-five new best friends . . . they will be talking about this for weeks.”

 It was so much fun to share this experience with Ravin. Not only was she blessed by the generosity of those kids, but she was blessed by their little spirits of thankfulness when she visited that day. Ravin has a beautiful, wide smile, and let me tell you, that smile was all you saw in the time we spent at WCA. She commented afterwards that visiting the class made her want to get back into substitute teaching. I hope she does. Ravin has so much to offer her community, and it’s a joy to know this working mother of five. What a beautiful reminder of how valuable relationships are, and what precious gifts to experience year-round.

-Kristina