Acres of Hope seeks more buildings to help families

Acres of Hope, a non-profit organization that focuses on helping women and children break the cycles of homelessness and trauma, is hoping to assist more families through the addition of two buildings to serve as welcome and children's centers on its campus. Through the holiday season, the organization is hoping to fundraise to initiate an expansion to obtain buildings to serve as the centers. "The biggest struggle for us is just finding someone who has the building to sell us and getting it here," said Jackie Turner, minister of communications and church relations for Acres of Hope. Acres of Hope provides the women with a two-year communal intensive program of supportive services ranging from parenting instruction and counseling to job training and learning life skills like cooking and obtaining a driver's license. "These families have seen a lot of darkness and this is their one breath of fresh air and their ray of light," Turner said. "So when we see that, we just really want to bless and honor them and give them a place where it's like they get to breathe again; they get to experience hope and healing." The campus includes cottages for the families to live semi-independently during the program. Turner said each cottage is made with love, prayed over and specifically decorated for the family that will live in it. The cottages include cleaning supplies, towels and the books the women will use in their classes. Turner said the organization celebrates accomplishments that to others would seem like small feats, like someone obtaining their driver's license or a child finally feeling comfortable enough to take off his shoes. Marnel Sexton, Acres of Hope's executive director replacing Lisa Risdall, said her biggest takeaway in the past year of her position is seeing the transformations that take place from the start of the program to the end. "It's such a beautiful thing to see and it seems like a long period of time when they're here for a year to two years," Sexton said. "But in the scope of things, it's not. It's just a blink of an eye for them and it's completely transforming their lives." Turner said the organization is working toward having 20 families on its campus, but two cottages are currently being used for the children's center and another for staff offices. Turner confirmed the addition of a children's center would not only free up the cottages to house more families but would also provide the kids with more space to run, play and participate in programming specifically geared toward their needs. "One of the things we're working toward is a new children's building on campus," Sexton said. "Right now, our children's building is separated into two of the cottages, which isn't ideal for staff or volunteers, so what we're trying to do is unify it into one cohesive space and that'll free up two cottages so we can bring in more women and children." Sexton said the community can assist Acres of Hope through monetary gifts, donations of clothing and housewares or volunteering at the campus or the ReNew Stores, a thrift boutique that supplies 40 percent of Acres of Hope's financial support for the Auburn campus. According to Turner, the ReNew Stores will kick off its holiday season on Thursday, Nov. 9. The Acres of Hope ReNew Stores is located at 1725 Santa Clara Drive in Roseville and is open from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.