The Rev. Juan Carlos Huertas placed a sticky note on his office wall two years ago, a subtle reminder of what he hoped to accomplish for the neighborhood surrounding First-Plymouth Congregational Church.
This week, that chicken-scratched idea to create a “a welcoming place for real help, real people and real hope” became a reality.
First-Plymouth officially launched its latest community outreach program Thursday morning with the opening of the Hope House, a place where people in need can receive connections to food assistance, health care services, job training and other support.
“I am just so thankful for the way that this congregation dreams and visions, the way the congregation hopes, the way the congregation goes after these kinds of experiments so that their neighbors can experience good news,” Huertas said. “I’m thrilled, and I look forward to the many encounters we’ll have with neighbors and friends in the decades ahead through the Hope House.”
Tucked inside an old brick home with white trim and strings of ivy crawling up the exterior, the Hope House will be available to residents of the Near South neighborhood who need assistance connecting with resources throughout the city.
The program is located in a house owned by the church on the north side of First-Plymouth’s campus at 2045 E St. and will be open every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. No appointments are necessary. Volunteers from the congregation will help run the program.
The house has a living room for people to relax in and two offices where volunteers can meet with participants. It also has a small kitchen where coffee, tea and snacks will be served along with an upstairs and a basement.
Huertas hopes the program will become the primary resource center for the largely low-income neighborhood with a wide variety of needs.
Many people in the area are juggling what can feel like a hundred things at once, he said, whether it’s fighting food insecurity, overdue bills, transportation barriers or mental health issues combined with work, families, kids and personal lives. With all of that on their minds, searching for resources can often be extremely overwhelming.
That’s where the Hope House comes in.
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Through the center, First-Plymouth will connect people in the neighborhood, regardless of whether they’re members of the congregation, with nonprofits such as the Food Bank of Lincoln, Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach, CenterPointe and Community Action.
People can come to the Hope House, share their stories and be assured a volunteer at First-Plymouth is working to connect them to the appropriate resources in Lincoln.
In a way, the Hope House is the “middleman” between those in need and the nonprofits that can help them.
“We’re that bridge,” Huertas said. “We’re creating a pathway in community, in companionship.”
Jim Keck, the senior minister at First-Plymouth, hopes it also will be a hub for the community, offering a wide swath of services beyond just providing connections to outside resources. Keck imagines a space with well-rounded, in-house services and opportunities right in the neighborhood, starting with a library of sorts.
The basement of the house, which was previously used as child care offices, will soon be transformed into a library of tools, like hammers or chainsaws, for neighbors to check out as needed.
First-Plymouth is also partnering with a local credit union to offer zero-interest loans to those in need.
“People are strivers, they want to lead a better life. They want to be a good person. And this is helping provide pathways to leading a more flourishing life,” Keck said.
First-Plymouth, which has been at its central location since 1931, has long strived to be a leader in community service by offering a variety of resources to the neighborhood, including supports for mental health, medical debt and child care. The church currently houses Las Abejitas, a bilingual child care center.
While it’s the latest in the church’s mission to serve the community, the Hope House won’t stay stagnant. Huertas hopes it will grow, expand and adapt over the years based on the neighborhood’s ever-changing needs.
“It’s still incomplete. We, together, are going to pay attention, hear the stories together. We’re going to dream dreams and see visions together,” he said. “There’s no telling what the Hope House will look like in a decade or two or three or 10, because it’s a working, living organism.”
Reach Jenna Ebbers at 402-473-2657 or jebbers@journalstar.com.
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Jenna Ebbers
K-12 education reporter
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