Swimming in Change at Hope & A Future

As Autumn unfolds so do the plans for change at Hope & A Future!  Work on our planned expansion is moving forward.  Our goal is to create a replicable model–so we are carefully checking regulations and praying to get this right the first time through!  Planning for this is complicated but it is making good progress!  At the same time we are planning for Karen’s departure.  Karen is such a big part of Hope & A Future that it is hard to think about our Family Of Friends without her!  But she will be leaving mid November–so we must think about it!   Some of our current staff will expand their roles and we have some new people joining us.  Change is part of life and we are swimming in it!

Early fall has been absolutely beautiful!  We have been enjoying every minute of fresh air and sunshine available!  The garden is giving us good things to eat and what a treat to be swimming the first weekend of October in 80 degree weather!  Many of you may remember Rosemarie who lived here during the last years of her life.  She had Parkinson’s Disease and wanted a pool heater so she could relax her muscles enough in the water to really exercise.  One day she announced that she decided to do her own fundraiser to upgrade our pool equipment!  We are so grateful she did and we continue to enjoy the pool and memories of Rosemarie! 

Another great thing Rosemarie did was bring polka dancing into the house and she was the original inspiration for our annual Oktoberfest!   Rosemarie and Karen loved to Polka together and with the help of Rosemarie’s daughter Lisa, they once went to dance at Molly Bee’s Polka Party (of RFD TV fame!).  This year we have made an addition to our tradition–we will host one more outdoor Friday Night Party–Karentoberfest!  

Please plan to join us for Karentoberfest where we will honor Karen’s 20 years with us!  Karen started working with the Krause Family when we moved the first senior into our home in Middleton–in the fall of 2001.  She worked with us through the ups and downs of writing the business plan and looking for support to get started.  It took 9 years to find support and our current property.  We purchased this property in the fall of 2011. For a time Karen helped out at our house in Middleton.  Eventually she joined us here.  Karen has been such a big and constant part of Hope & A Future that it is hard for us to imagine going forward without her.  Her love and hard work has encouraged many people–me, my family, staff, residents and their loved ones.  She will be greatly missed.  We look forward to honoring her work with us this Friday!  Please plan to join us for a Karentoberfest meal and memories on Friday, October 8th!!

We are also planning some new program offerings.  One will start October 26th!  Cofounder, Paula Reif writes about the first offering below;

We are excited to partner with Lighthouse Christian School to provide a bilingual Spanish offering of the “Getting Ahead in Just Gettin By World” workshop.  Getting Ahead empowers participants to take charge of building resources.  Providing a framework to co-investigate the constructs of economic inequality through the lens of economic class, participants work together to better understand how the economy and society impact individual lives.  

This kitchen table style learning experience supports people who are experiencing poverty or struggling to make ends meet to build economic stability to envision a better future for themselves and their community.  The workshop supports the development of visualization of deeply held assumptions that influence how we see the world, to explore the hidden rules of economic class. These mental models provide common language and shared constructs to bring understanding and guide problem solving.

Hope & A Future thanks Forward Community Investments for their generous Capacity Building grant which allows us to offer “Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin By World”.  The workshop begins October 26 via Zoom.  For more information email Paula at [email protected].

Here’s to a beautiful fall and moving forward–together!