House of Hope

Our Heart:

• To remove barriers for children in foster care who are awaiting placement in a loving and safe environment. 

• To support Dept. of Children’s Services (DCS) staff who oversee children in foster care on a daily basis. 

• To be a resource for local foster families.

Our Purpose:

There are over 1,500 children in Tennessee DCS custody within our Mid-State region; over 200 of them are from Lincoln County and four nearby counties (Bedford, Coffee, Marshall, and Moore).House of Hope serves all of these children plus any children from other Tennessee counties that were a part of our former South Central DCS region. House of Hope provides a comfortable, safe home environment as they wait for foster placement. Youth staying at House of Hope enjoy and receive a comfy bed, home-cooked meals and snacks, new clothes and laundry services, opportunities to shower and receive lice treatments if needed, a Backpack of Hope, comfy furniture to watch TV, a basketball goal and privacy fenced in backyard with swing set, and friendly, certified volunteers who interact with them, from playing board games to teaching them how to cook.

Additionally, House of Hope supports local foster and kindship families through providing needed items from our Foster Closet, distributing filled Backpacks of Hope to youth in care, leading the Lincoln County Foster Parent Support Group, starting and supporting the Lincoln County Foster Friendly Coalition through our partnership with Tennessee Kids Belong, and opening House of Hope to be used for supervised visits for biological families and their case worker.

Our Need:

Funds are needed to operate House of Hope, so we can continue serving youth from Lincoln County and counties throughout our Mid State DCS region.

• Online donations can be made here on our website on a one-time or recurring basis. Be sure to select “House of Hope” in the Select a campaign drop down menu!

• If you want to bypass the online processing fees, checks can be written payable to Always Endure with House of Hope on the memo line and mailed to P.O. Box 904, Fayetteville, TN 37334.

We need individuals to sign up to deliver dinner when youth are staying at the house. If interested, there is a meal train that you can join.

In-kind donations of brand new items such as blankets, Children/Teen Bibles, school supplies, toiletries items, and more are needed for House of Hope, our HOH Foster Closet, and Backpacks of Hope.

Our Story:

In late 2022, two of our advisory board members approached us with a need for transitional housing for youth in foster care. They had been foster parents and knew firsthand the needs for youth in state custody. We committed to pray to see if the Lord willed for us to expand our organization by opening a transitional home. After praying for six months, the Lord answered our prayers with an open door to move forward.

As we continued to pray, the Lord began to move to bring House of Hope to fruition. We prayed for land if the Lord desired for us to build, and the Lord answered when a local church sold us land for $1.00. We prayed for a local builder to donate their time because he was passionate for kids in foster care, and the Lord answered by moving a local builder to donate his time because of his passion for kids in foster care. We prayed for the Lord to provide all of the funds and materials to build the house, and the Lord answered by moving businesses, churches, and individuals to donate funds and discount/donate labor and supplies. We prayed to be debt free by the time the house opened, and we were debt free by the time we opened House of Hope in 2025. We have prayed for ongoing support as we care for youth at the house, and the Lord has moved churches, individuals, and families to help us meet the needs of youth in care and foster/kinship families through financial and in-kind donations, prayer, and volunteering. All of this is for God’s glory!

The youth we serve have endured so much trauma. Some youth arrive on suicide watch or with a runaway risk - some were just removed from their home or are in-between foster placements due to a disruption in their care. We have celebrated a youth’s birthday and provide each youth with special moments and memories throughout their stay with us. Ultimately, we’ve provided every youth HOPE through meeting their needs and showing them the love of Christ.

Volunteering:

Please complete our volunteer form as the first step to volunteer with the youth staying at House of Hope.

*** Our Board of Directors has discretion on who volunteers with our organization, including those who have completed the required DCS volunteer training to serve at House of Hope.

Our Contact:

For more information, please contact Brittany Buckner at brittany@alwaysendure.com.