Hope4Miamisburg
Located south of downtown Dayton, Miamisburg has always been a community of deep roots and deep connections. Many of its neighbors have seen the community ebb and flow through the times. And the Miamisburg community has seen a revival of its economy, education, and of its pride in recent years. Leaders and neighbors of every stripe came together to invest in their community together. And Hope4Miamisburg has been at the center of it, starting with its local faith leaders and churches.
As Hope4Miamisburg grew in size and capacity, it learned of the greater, heavier needs the community faced, particularly in its schools and families. And Hope4Miamisburg went to work, serving the community, providing healing and reconciliation, and meeting physical needs big and small.
Today, Hope4Miamisburg comprises local business leaders, non-profit leaders, church leaders, school administration, local officials, and even parks and recreation leaders. Together, these leaders mobilize in specific ways to meet specific needs in the community, such as Empower, which is an initiative that serves single moms and their children.
And together, they strive to meet physical, emotional, educational, fiscal, relational, and spiritual needs throughout the community: homelessness, drug addiction, food and clothing insecurity, lonely youth, school-supply needs, families wrestling to make ends meet, and joblessness.
And Hope4Miamisburg could use someone like you. We would love for you to participate in transforming one of the Miami Valley’s most exciting communities.
Stories
Hope in the Midst of the Crazy
Schools provide students with more than a place to learn. They provide necessary intangibles such as consistency, community, safety, and security. So when the leadership of the Miamisburg City School District discerned that the best thing for its students was to open the schools for the 2020-2021 school year, they did so focused on those intangibles.
In the late summer, Hope4Miamisburg (H4M), an MVLF Hope4Community (H4C), received a call from school leadership. They needed water. Health protocols meant the schools’ drinking fountains were still turned off, but the water the school ordered was backlogged. It would arrive in October, weeks after school’s start. So, Sarah Pelphrey, the H4M director, contacted area nonprofits, including BOGG Ministries, area churches, Planting Seeds (a ministry that provides furniture to the homeless), and others to come together to meet the schools’ needs.
Soon, cases of water arrived to the schools by the hundreds in a moving truck furnished by Planting Seeds, packed by H4M volunteers. As hallways filled with cases of water, masks and microfiber towels began to be donated. Google Chromebooks also began arriving as churches and area nonprofits organized alongside each other. And in the middle of it all, Kettering Health Network called: they had boxes of hand sanitizer they wanted to donate.
When the dust of generosity settled before the school year began, the schools’ needs for water, masks, hand sanitizer, computers, and more were met. It didn’t matter which nonprofit gave what or how much of it; what mattered was that each utilized its resources, came together, and delivered hope.
“I can truly say that H4M has been a life giver to me in 2020,” said Sarah. “Watching people put themselves aside for others is powerful to watch as people love and meet their communities’ needs and bring hope in the midst of the crazy.”
