New Around the Mission

Hope House Is Future Home of Full-Scale Mentoring Programs

September 13, 2011

When Donte Ward, Eddrick Clark, Michael Dillon and Megan Poston were brutally murdered in a 2005 drug-related shooting at 1410 Charleston Avenue in Huntington, West Virginia, members of All Saints Anglican Church believed the teenagers’ deaths must not be forgotten. The church, then led by the Rev. Andrew Counts, began praying weekly for the opportunity to buy the house and transform it into a permanent memorial to victims of violent crime and a place for mentoring youth in important life skills.

That dream came true in 2007. With the help of private donations, All Saints Anglican Church bought the property for $10,000 and began the long process of gutting it to the studs and framing. Divided into apartment units, the house needed both funding and manpower for a complete remodel, and many appreciative neighbors wrote checks or pitched in to help. Today All Saints is completing work like cabinetry, flooring and painting in preparation for a threefold ministry strategy: memorialization, mentoring and mission.

“Under the memorial component, we have two community outreaches,” says current rector the Rev. Christopher Beckham. “The first is a Day of Hope every year on Saturday close to the anniversary of the homicides. It’s a community-wide worship service with an award presented to a community leader who is a positive role model for area residents.”

Hope House also hosts an annual candlelight service for the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims on September 25.

“What we really want to stress at that event, for people from all walks of life, is the hope of Jesus Christ found in His gospel,” Christopher says.

Today, the church is exploring how, upon its completion, Hope House can be used for full-scale mentoring projects and literacy programs in the neighborhood. All Saints is already holding mission events like regular prayer meetings for the neighborhood and a Trick or Treat event in October where church members will hand out candy, Bibles and other Christian literature. Christopher has high hopes for future partnerships with a local food pantry and girls’ treatment home.

“We’re a small parish and revitalizing this structure has taken a lot of time and resources,” Christopher says. “But just in that act, the property has been redeemed. We want to be good neighbors, and changing the appearance of the property is a witness of the desire of our church to see the community move away from tragedy to a better tomorrow.”

Learn more at All Saints Hope House.

Posted By: Cynthia P. Brust
Categories: Faith in Action