On June 24, a spaghetti dinner was hosted at the Federated Covenant Church in Dowagiac to support Hope’s House, a local women’s sober living home maintained by the Apostolic Lighthouse Church.

As the Hope’s House is in need of a roof, with an estimated cost of $9,000, a spaghetti dinner was hosted to raise funds for the roof repairs. Nearly 100 people attended the event in support of “raising the roof.”

Hope’s House is a sober living home that assists females in transition from incarceration to independent housing. Two former residents of Hope’s House spoke at the spaghetti dinner of the need for the roof repairs so the house can remain open.

Veronica Hetler spoke of moving from a year-long rehabilitation center in Grand Rapids to the Hope’s House sober living home. Hetler talked about the importance of the Hope’s House in learning to apply what she learned in rehabilitation to real life, but with the guidance and rules of a sober living home.

The crowd clapped for Hetler as she talked about her journey from Hope’s House to walking in her graduation ceremony the following day with a master’s degree in social work.

Misty Collett spoke of her time at Hope’s House after incarceration. She described her experience at Hope’s House that included the support and oversight necessary to support living drug free.

Collett described Hope’s House as being a “dealer in hope.”  Collett spoke of her time at Hope’s House and now her employment at Woodlands as a peer support specialist.

Hope’s House was made possible by the vision and financial support of the Apostolic Lighthouse Church.

Volunteers served a spaghetti dinner and desserts, compliments of many volunteers and businesses in the community that contributed their time, food and monies.  The fundraiser was a success, raising around a third of the money necessary to repair the roof.

An additional fundraiser, the Art of Recovery, will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at the Apostolic Lighthouse Church, where local artists, crafters and vendors will set up booths to sell handmade items and goods.

A special thanks to the Apostolic Lighthouse Church, the Federated Covenant Church, Action Ministries, the Honorable Susan L. Dobrich and her staff, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and the many volunteers who made the event a success.

Anyone interested in additional information about setting up a booth or wishing to make silent auction donations for the Art of Recovery event, should contact Valerie Jones at (269) 325-2775.  Anyone wishing to send monetary donations to repair the roof for Hope’s House should contact Sheila Helmuth at (269) 782-3885 for charitable tax deduction information.