Agents of Hope is a unique internship designed for High School seniors. Through a 17 week program the Agents of Hope interns will be employed by Hope for Opelousas, providing tutoring assistance for the after school program, being part of the strategic planning team, and handling clerical duties. Each week they also participate in a job training curriculum using the “Jobs for Life” program to teach them job skills and character building. This program is so unique because it is not just teaching them how to get a job, but it is also giving them the opportunity to apply what they are learning in class to the job they already have with Hope For Opelousas.

Meet the Agents of Hope interns:

Carmen Washington

My name is Carmen Washington. I am a senior at Opelousas Senior High. After high school I plan on furthering my education at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA. There, I want to major in secretarial studies. Although I love to do busy work, I enjoy reading, writing, and listening to music. I love learning and enjoy the feeling of sharing my knowledge with others. The feeling of succeeding in a goal sends magic through my soul. I know, feel, and believe that I can, and will, be the best I can be in life. With love, care, and tenderness around me I know there is a reason for me to believe in myself as well as others. I am Carmen Washington, the future leader of tomorrow’s world.

Carla Rosero

Hello Everyone! My name is Carla Rosero. I’m eighteen years old and I go to Opelousas Senior High School. I love sports, especially tennis, and all sorts of music, mainly rock. I absolutely love to sketch. I adore children and could like to do all I could to see to it that our future generations prosper.

Jaferrius Thomas

Hi my name is Jaferrius Thomas. Im nineteen years old and am a 12^th grade senior at Opelousas Senior High School. I like to play in our school band and march as well. I would like to attend Southern University and go for General Studies. I would like to learn from this job but mainly from the kids. I think learning from kids is a great idea because the children are our future. And in order to have a successful future we must learn about the people that will be in it. With this opportunity I would love someone to say I made a difference in their life.

Renesha Darthard

My name’s Renesha Darthard. I’m nineteen years old and I’m a senior at Opelousas Sr. High. I enjoy reading, writing, and playing sports. I hope that by becoming a part of Hope for Opelousas, I can become even more outgoing and experience life and childcare. I also hope that by God’s grace I can be a great contribution to Hope for Opelousas, the children, the community, and one day the world.

Yesterday afternoon I visited Hope for Opelousas around 4:30pm.   Larry Callier, ex Opelousas Chief of Police, is recovering from gall bladder surgery was with me.  Larry was instrumental in getting HFO’s youth programs started.  I wanted him to see HFO’s tutoring program in action.  All rooms of our facility were occupied with volunteer tutors and young students doing homework.  Larry was encouraged that these kids were getting a chance to succeed academically and be loved by our volunteers.  ”This is great and could be taking place all over the city.  We talked about starting this and now it is happening.”  were some of  Larry’s comments.

Over 3 years ago Hope for Opelousas was just a dream.  Today over 20 Opelousas children are tutored 3 days a week.  Many of these same children have experienced LSU and ULL football, basketball, and baseball games.  They have visited Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, and Houston and some have climbed the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  College students and interns from Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, and Tennessee have come to Opelousas to rebuild houses and love the people of our city.  Local volunteers are sharing their lives with children and families they have come to know through Hope for Opelousas.

“These kids have dreams like you and I had when we were young,”  Larry said yesterday.  Young people dream about a better future.  Hope for Opelousas dreams of a better future for the people of Opelousas.  We believe “Love changes everything!”  Hope for Opelousas needs your support to make dreams become reality.  Many of you have supported Hope for Opelousas from its inception, many, many thanks to you.  Some of you are only now hearing of Hope for Opelousas.  I ask all of you to pray for the people of Opelousas and for Hope for Opelousas.  I also ask you to make a financial donation to Hope for Opelousas.  I know times are tough and finances are tight.  Your prayers and financial support help put “skin on skin”, connects people to people, and makes the dream of “Love changes everything” come true.  Thanks for your time and Happy Holidays from all of us at Hope for Opelousas.

Reggie Dupre’

Board Member HFO

Do you remember the Jr. High years of life? I remember how in some ways it was social torture. Learning how to relate to peers, the opposite sex, and struggling with parents made these years very awkward.

Take those same struggles multiplied with the anxieties of one of our students:

Mom gets engaged to live-in boyfriend

Electricity turned off because can’t pay bills

Eviction notice served

Fiancé arrested for drug and possession of a weapon charge

Evicted from home

Forced to move out of his house to live with Grandmother

What do you think your GPA might be?

These issues and many we may be too frightened to think about are common place for our students. Innocence is lost at an early age for our students and life can seem very cold.

This is why the work we do at HFO is so important. “Love Changes Everything.” First of all this student will be loved through these trying times. If HFO wasn’t here this student would have no outlet to process his situation and no one to walk with him through it. Also, if HFO wasn’t here this student wouldn’t have the example and encouragement to have Hope for his future. We are advocates of Hope for the people we serve and daily we are finding ourselves being changed most by the process.

Love changes everything, even us!

AMEN

Loren Carriere

Executive Director

P.S. Thanks for your support!

God has blessed me with amazing friends. The kind of friends that are ready to pack their bags, jump on a plane, fly across the country, and dive-in to love 8 kids they’ve never met. But this adventurous spirit is common place for Benjamin Spell, a Lafayette boy who after attending photography school moved to New York City, to make it BIG!
Ben currently works with a photography firm and also does free lance work on the side. You are sure to see Ben’s work in magazines and billboards in the future. But we give you the privilege of seeing it here first!

To see more of Ben’s work check out his website:
benjaminspell.com

Tutoring has begun.  This year we have 20 students that are coming to the Hill House after school on Tues, Weds, and Thurs.  These kids are coming to work on their homework and participate in other enrichment activities that will help them in their basic reading, writing, and math skills.  We are now three weeks into tutoring and are beginning to get into a good routine.  Our hope is to get the kids to begin to take responsibility for their education by teaching them good study habits, and helping them discover their true potential.  Most of our kids are very intelligent and just need a little guidance and encouragement to get their work done.  Others struggle a little more to understand the concepts and need more one on one attention.

In order to be able to serve the kids well and get them what they need to succeed we need volunteers.  At this point we still find ourselves scrambling to make sure we have enough volunteers for each day and often have to work with a 3:1 ratio of kids to volunteers.  Ideally each tutor would have to work with 1 to 2 kids a day so the kids get the attention they need.  We have had some faithful volunteers over the years and if you were ask them about their experience with tutoring the kids their stories would be filled with blessings that they have both been able to give and receive from the kids. The kids are full of life and joy, so much so that they are hard to coral sometimes.  But most of the time they brighten your day with just a smile.

If you are interested in tutoring please call us at 337-942-7270.  We ask for our volunteers to commit to one day that they come each week, either Tues, Weds, or Thurs from 4-6pm. Please contact us if you have any questions or are interested in serving.

Blessings,

Kristina