Hope House DC

Hi, everyone! It's been a while since we've posted, so to remind you about the work we do, here's a wonderful video about our Father-to-Child Summer camp. This was featured in the Washington Post in 2013.

Summer with dad, behind bars Housed in the same prison as Maryland's worst criminals is a one-week camp for children. It's a radical approach that its proponents say will help reverse some of the long-reaching effects of incarceration on communities. The Fold's Gabe Silverman takes us inside.

while i'm preparing to retire in a month and 22 days, i'm working on helping hope house organize our fall fundraiser. we usually do a mural show to display the art created by our kids and dads at camp. this year we are working on the same theme -- art, but hoping to add to that by doing an art sale.

we are looking for artists willing to donate a piece for us to sell at this event. proceeds from the sale will help to underwrite the cost of camp 2024. are you an artist or know someone who is an artist who would be willing to donate a piece for this sale? thanks for your consideration.

https://conta.cc/3Vydv9Q

Wishing you a Happy New Year Cheers to a prosperous New Year.     Happy New Year to you and your family. As we head into 2023, at Hope House we are reflecting on the busy year it has been for us. Let me share some of the great th

i have awakened most days thinking today is the day i will post on facebook all that has been happening here with me and with hope house. then i get up and start work and get too busy to do that. so today is the day i have a little bit of time. i have had the flu twice. i have been to two prisons to record dads and moms reading to their children. we did a book mailing at hogan lovells (thanks to them for getting the books and recordings home in time for christmas). we had a major shortage of gifts for hope house kids, but many good friends and donors came through and all of our kids and moms will get some great gifts. i was so busy i didn't even have enough time to let all of you know we were desperate for gifts. but it all worked out. now we are getting ready for a children's day at the prisons in cumberland on saturday. a team of hope house friends are headed over on friday so we can be there first thing on saturday to head into the prisons. we will be taking some craft projects and books for kids and dads to choose and read together. picture frames to decorate along with polaroid family pictures; christmas balls to fill and decorate,; and lots and lots of books from which dads and kids can choose and read together. the prison is providing cookies and hot chocolate and other treats for the kids. it should be a nice day for everyone. then on sunday is our drive-by christmas party for our families. we hope to be working with the masons again to have santa and his 6ft elf there to put bags of gifts into the cars along with the italian christamas dinner of frozen lasagna and garlic bread. it will be a great day if anyone wants to help us. and in spite of my best plans to retire at the end of this year, it has been postponed for about 8 months. so there it is. my life.

Hope House is a proud partner of NBC 4 and Telemundo 44's Food for Families, helping to alleviate hunger across the DC Region. Learn more here:

Food 4 Families 2022: How You Can Help Alleviate Hunger You can help people in need through NBC4’s Food 4 Families campaign.

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IT'S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME ALREADY! Make A Contribution Connections News From Hope House CAMP 2022 IS IN THE BOOKS On Sunday we after testing everyone for Covid we loaded 13 kids and 13 staff into vans and headed to camp with 11 incarce

photos from camp

we just got approval from the prison to do this wonderful project at camp this year. we are so excited to be able to do this with our dads and kids.

We are proud to announce that for the 5th time we’ve been selected as a trusted and critical small nonprofit in the Greater Washington region! Congratulations to our peer
nonprofits, who we’re excited to meet and partner with alongside the Catalogue for Philanthropy - The Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington

are you interested in putting your hands to work to assist the children of ukraine? please mark your calendars. the ukrainian children's art project is about to kick off. we need volunteers starting this wednesday to help fill 500 bags with 13 items from pads of paper and coloring books, to glitter and scissors to ship to ukrainian children in refugee camps.. we will provide a continental breakfast and lunch for helpers. if you want to join us message me for more details.

n the summer of 2020 at the height of the pandemic we were all stuck in quarantine. it was harder on none more than the kids who couldn't go outside. That summer we sent out cases of art supplies to help the children and their moms pass the time.
now there are other kids who are stuck and could use some of those art supplies that we provided to hope house kids. they are Ukrainian refugee children in camps who need help staying occupied.
we are working with a Ukrainian Church to get packages of art supplies to these children who are in such horrible circumstances. We need help paying for these supplies. i am already starting to purchase the items we want to send.
if you can help us with a donation you can make a tax deductible contribution by mailing it to us at po box 60682 washington, dc 20039 or visiting our website at www.hopehousedc.org
to make an online gift.
we will also need volunteers to help us package all of the crayons, markers, glue sticks, coloring books, pads of paper and so much more into individual bags so each child will have a gift of their own. we hope to create 500 of these bags. it isn't a lot, but it is what we can do.

we confirmed some dates for camp, rented the campground, the prison is taking applications and we are busy hiring staff. that is a piece of good news for the week.

earlier this year i made a very difficult decision. at 72 and after more than a year of the pandemic i am just exhausted and have decided to retire in early 2023. by that time i will have lead hope house for 25 years. it is kind of shocking even to me. but it is time. so we are searching for a new executive director to take hope house through the next 25 years. after 45 years in dc, i'll be moving to my cabin in the mountains of west virginia. aside from growing my food (i gotta eat, right?) i'm not sure what is next for me. so stay tuned.

today was a busy one! we got thanksgiving baskets ready to deliver to some of our boost baskets families. thanks to nbc4 we will have turkeys to include with the baskets we deliver tomorrow.

harrison came over and helped me set up the christmas shopping tables and we will start shipping christmas gifts after thanksgiving. no party this year due to covid. so we will ship gifts home to kids. we still need more gifts.

this week i was really happy to be able to go to philadelphia to record books with mothers at the federal detention center there. there are only 79 women there and half signed up to read a book for their kids for the holiday season. this is a new prison for us and we are still one of the few groups if not the only group going into federal prisons to provide programs. also summer camp is featured on the front page of the bop website.

he national park service has opened an exhibit about mass incarceration in the united states at alcatraz island nation park (who knew it was a national park?!). I am so excited that hope house is included in the exhibit as a part of the positive things happening within the prison system. our little video by stone soup films is included. we had to wait a long time for it to open but it is a pretty amazing exhibition. https://www.nps.gov/alca/index.htm

Alcatraz Island (U.S. National Park Service) Alcatraz reveals stories of American incarceration, justice, and our common humanity. This small island was once a fort, a military prison, and a maximum security federal penitentiary. In 1969, the Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz for 19 months in the name of freedom and Native American civil...

finally able to post pictures from camp.

we had a difficult and beautiful week at camp last week. i'll post some pics after i get caught up. now onward to our back to school party on sunday.

hi ho, hi ho it's off to camp we go!

OK ALL: HERE IS OUR BIG SUMMER CAMP NEWS!!

INCARCERATED FATHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN
TO PARTICIPATE IN SUMMER CAMP
MISS USA TO JOIN FAMILIES FOR TWO DAYS OF ACTIVITIES

For the 22nd year Hope House will host its innovative summer camp for incarcerated fathers and their children. The camp will be held at The Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland on August 16-20. This year the families will be joined by the current Miss USA, Asya Branch for two days of activities on August 17-18. Interested media outlets should contact Matthew DeMurcurio, Executive Assistant at FCI Cumberland for more information.

During the week, the children will be with their fathers each day from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM. They will be involved in arts, crafts, games and other parent and child bonding activities. The camps are sleepover camps and the children and camp staff stay at a nearby camp ground, and in the afternoon participate in a host of recreational activities including swimming, sports, and crafts.

“FCI Cumberland is delighted to host another successful summer camp in partnership with Hope House. FCI Cumberland staff embrace new approaches in REENTRY programming and work to break down barriers that prevent offenders from rehabilitating. Allowing incarcerated fathers the opportunity to develop bonds and positive memories with their children is an important part in the REENTRY process. This camp, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Prisons First Step Act programming offers offenders new opportunities to develop and become productive members of society.”
– H. Allen Beard Jr., Warden

“This represents a huge commitment on the part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to embrace new ideas and break through societal barriers that tend to ignore fathers in prison,” said Carol Fennelly, Director of Hope House

“The United States currently has more than two million people in prison or jail, more than any other nation in the world. Between 2 and 5 million children deal with the incarceration of one or more parent,” continued Fennelly. “As a country, we must recognize the impact on these littlest and most forgotten victims. A partnership with the Bureau of Prisons presents a tremendous opportunity to reunite families and offer even more parenting programming for offenders.”

Hope House was established in 1998 to serve the needs of the D.C. inmates transferred to prisons outside the Washington area. Hope House works with the inmates to enrich and enhance family relationships, and provide advocacy for the inmates and their families. In addition Hope House the Father to Child Reading Program that allows incarcerated fathers to record children’s books and send the book and the recording home to their child; and support groups for mothers and kids left behind.

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we are looking for a nurse for camp. anyone know a likely candidate?

yesterday we had our first meeting with camp dads this year. most have not seen their kids in more than a year and are thrilled to have the chance to spend five days with them. all but one are new to camp and were joyful at the end of the meeting as they began to plan their program for the first day of camp. smiles are sometimes hard to find in prison. but there were lots yesterday.

After a very long year with no access to the prisons and our dads we are so thrilled to be headed back into two facilities in August for summer camps. Our staff and families are all excited to be back for another year of fun, art, fishing, and of course lots of hugs for kids and dads. 💙

Also, we are now on Instagram! Have a look:

we are in full camp planning and preparation now. we have had two visits to our prisons and next week we will head over again for our first meeting with our camp dads. i have to say that camp calls have never been easier with little to no convincing of mothers to let their kids join us. can't wait to meet our new dads (all are new but one) and hear more about their children.

the other night i got another one of those calls that make all of the hard work over the last 23 years all worth it. one of our boys has a learning challenge. with remote learning he was falling even farther behind in school. so we were able to get him a great tutor (we helped a few of our kids in this way over the last year). he called to say thank you and then he almost shouted with glee "....and i graduated!" i have never heard so much joy in his voice over the many years we have known him. congrats to jaquan.

last night i got a very sweet call from one of our former campers (2004 - 2006). she told me that she and her brother often talk about how important camp was to them and how much fun they had. she called because she wanted to give back to hope house and volunteer at a camp. how sweet is that?

WE ARE PLANNING SUMMER CAMP!

WE ARE PLANNING SUMMER CAMP! Make A Contribution Connections News From Hope House THE QUARANTINE QUILT Last spring when the pandemic hit and we were locked out of prisons we had to figure out a way to continue to serve our famili

we are planning another drive-by party to celebrate the end of this very difficult school year. it is set for saturday june 12, 12-2pm. these parties have been a lot of fun (christmas was the all time best!). once again we will be distributing boxes of art supplies to keep the kids busy this summer and a box lunch. the lunch will include some bbq chicken, an apple, a roll, some potato salad, cookies and a bottle of water. we need runners to take lunches and art boxes to cars, people to assemble the lunch boxes, people to make cookies, and some expert grillers willing to take some chicken and bbq sauce we will provide home to grill for us.