Hope* was living life without an anchor.
Her mother and father were gone, and she didn’t know what would come next. She had nothing to call her own, only a quiet, persistent desire to belong.
But her story didn’t end there.
Hope found her way to a home led by Israel and Katarina. And for the first time since she lost her parents, she wasn’t facing life alone.
The early days weren’t easy. After losing the only two people who felt safest to her, Hope carried grief she didn’t know how to name. She didn’t trust anyone. She had already learned what it felt like when the people who were supposed to stay didn’t.
Then her life started to feel different.
She started school alongside five other girls. For the first time in a long time, she had her own backpack and clothes that fit. She ate without wondering where her next meal would come from.
Safety stopped feeling unfamiliar.
She finally had someone who would listen as she talked through the pain she carried every day. She started to heal, inside and out.
New rules, expectations, and surroundings made school difficult, but she kept going. There was something in front of her worth moving toward. And through it all, Israel and Katarina reminded her of something she hadn’t felt in a long time: She was safe. She was loved.
Today, Hope is a university student studying psychology.
She wants to give back what she once received: unconditional love.
“I want to be the best possible version of myself,” she shared. “I want to give back to my community and family. I couldn’t have done this without support and safety, or without my God, who never took His hand off me.
Hope’s story didn’t have to end this way. And without intervention, her future would look very different.
No school.
No stability.
No one to protect her.
Just another child trying to survive, and doing it alone.
And tonight, children are facing that same reality. They’re grieving, alone, waiting to see who, if anyone, will show up.
A different future is still possible. It begins the moment you decide not to look away. It begins the second you decide to interrupt the distress. Will you be the interruption for a child like Hope?
