I didn’t give up!

My name is Vlairis, I am a single mother of a three-year-old, and I was a full-time dental hygiene student. My dream had always been to work in healthcare since I was a little girl and that dream continued as I went through high school.

I found out about the dental hygiene career, and I fell in love with it. Since 2009, when I graduated from high school, I had been working towards that dream. Because my parents did not have the financial resources to enroll me in college, I was not able to enroll in post-secondary school right away and had to get a job instead. Yet, my desire to accomplish my dream never wavered.

Years later, with great excitement, I was able to finally enroll in college! However, before I could accomplish my goal of becoming a dental hygienist, I became a mother to my now three-year-old little boy. Some women may have given up due to the known hardships of being a single parent, but I didn’t give up! I knew that I had an even bigger reason to accomplish my goals.

As a single mom full-time college student, it was impossible to make daycare and rent payments. Thankfully, that’s when you came in! You were right on time to help me achieve a better future for my son and I. You gave me help with daycare, rent, and even paid for three months of swimming classes for my son during the summer. In addition to financial assistance, you provided training and seminars to help me make better financial decisions in the future. I will forever be thankful for the assistance and help you gave me throughout my journey.

Now you have the opportunity to help more single parents like me make a difference. There are seven more single mothers waiting to graduate from college behind me, and they need you to do it. H.O.P.E, Inc. is trying to make their dreams come true with it’s Global Giving: Empower & Equip Single Parents Enrolled in College Project. Won’t you click here and give today to affect change in seven more people’s lives?

Thank you for all you did for me and will continue to do for others!

Proud Graduate,

Vlairis E.
Dental Hygienist

P.S. Make sure your donation counts by going to our Global Giving Project page to give your gift! Help more single moms like Vlairis beat poverty. 

Today is the Day!


It’s March 9th! Today is the day that we kick off our Global Giving Project that we told you about a couple of days ago.

The purpose of this project is to help seven single parents complete their college degrees this year and increase the number of single parents we assist. Now we know that sometimes you may feel like there’s always a need and you just can’t help everyone, but we would like to offer another perspective.

Yes, there is always a need, BUT you have single-handedly met the needs of 195 people SUCCESSFULLY! In Gwinnett County alone, less than 30% of single-parent students are graduating, but YOU have an 80% graduation rate! You aren’t making a small difference, you are making a HUGE difference!!

This project will give you the option to keep doing what you’ve been doing and impact more lives, but it will also open the opportunity to others that may want to help too!

What do we need you to do? (1) We need you to go to our Global Giving Project: Empower & Equip Single Parents Enrolled in College and commit to offering one of the following gifts to our single parents…

– $10 to help a single parent open a savings account
– $25 to provide financial training for a single parent
– $50 provides counseling for a single parent
– $100 provides a full weeks worth of childcare
– $250 shelters a single parent and their children for one month
– $1,000 secures childcare for a year!

REMEMBER YOU HAVE TO DONATE THROUGH OUR PROJECT SITE, NOT OUR WEBSITE FOR THE GIFT TO COUNT.

(2) Become our ambassador and share your donation on your social media sites, encouraging others to join you. They say child-rearing takes a village, well I’m convinced that fundraising does too. The great thing about our village is that you’re always there!

We have two weeks to reach our goal of $5,000 from 40 different donors! Will you make it happen? I’m confident that you will.

Sincerely,

Kenita Smith, BBA, MBA, MBA
President/CEO and Founder
H.O.P.E, Inc.

P.S. It’s kick-off day! We need 40 donors to go to our Global Giving Project: Empower & Equip Single Parents Enrolled in College and help us reach our project goal of $5,000! 

In less than 30 days…

Hey there,

In less than 30 days, my world as I know it will change. You’ve heard stories about how I became a single mom at age 21, and have raised my two biological sons, and stepson, Deon Jr., to beat the odds. Well, within 4 weeks there will be a new addition to my family, and yes, it is another BOY!

We wait with anticipation because Ronald Jr. (RJ) has been longed for with faithful prayers for 25 years by my husband, Ron. RJ will be his very first biological child and the very first grandson on his side of the family! It’s no wonder that our families and friends are so excited for us, as evident by the 100 people in attendance for our baby shower last weekend (and that was a reduced list).

I feel privileged and honored to give my husband this great gift, and in thinking about what it means to have a dream fulfilled, I thought about the great gift you and I give to the single parents we serve every day. Of course, being a conduit of something so special changes one’s life and perspective.

I think about how you helped give Dominique (pictured on the left) her long term dream of becoming a Dental Hygienist. After twelve years of hoping to achieve this goal, she graduated in December 2019, along with nine other graduates! Not only that, she was THE FIRST MEMBER IN HER FAMILY TO GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE! Of course, as a teen mom, she wasn’t expected to accomplish much. The odds were stacked against her, and society stipulated her abilities and worth. Yet, she graduated with a high G.P.A, had job offers in hand before walking the stage, passed her state boards, and increased her salary from $18,000 to $35,000! She took advantage of our financial training programs, increased her credit score by 32 points, and established an emergency fund of $600.

In the months to come, we’ll be sharing your impact in 2019. Life change, like what you just accomplished through your work with H.O.P.E, Inc., is not something to take lightly. Ten lives were changed just last year because of you, and in 2020 seven more graduates will walk across the stage due to your continued support!

So, as I wait for my bundle of joy, I hope that you are filled with joy. The joy of knowing that you not only changed one life last year but ten and you have seven more to impact this year!

Sincerely,

Kenita Smith, BBA, MBA, MA
President/CEO & Founder
H.O.P.E, Inc.

You don’t know my story….

 My name is Marion and I am the Treasurer on the Board of H.O.P.E, Inc. Most of you don’t know my personal story, but I would like to share it with you today.

I became a mother at the young age of 17, which could have made me a statistic, and not only a statistic but not such a positive one. So many reports don’t paint teen mother’s in successful light, but through the grace of God and my family’s love and support,  I was able to beat the odds. I finished high school, my bachelor’s degree, and MBA all before the age of 30

I share this because I know how important it is to complete a college degree as a single parent first hand, which is why I joined HOPE Inc.’s Board in 2015.  The organization’s mission of helping single parents complete their college degrees resonated with me, and I personally desire to help other single parents complete their college degrees as I did.

Today, we both can do just that by clicking here today,

Thank you in advance for allowing more single parents to make it as I did!

Sincerely,

Marion Q.
Board of Director, Treasurer
H.O.P.E, Inc.

P.S. It’s game on! Let’s keep making a difference by clicking here today!

We don’t just help single mothers…

Did you realize that your donations don’t just support single mothers in need, but they help single fathers who are often forgotten about in our society?

The number of young men with sole custody of their children while attending college is larger than many of us believe. Often times, support services offered by single parent organizations are not directed at single fathers, and they are often turned away when they need help the most.

But not so with H.O.P.E. Your support actually makes sure that all single parents working towards a college degree have a chance to get out of poverty.

Watch this 60-minute video of how you have helped one young man not give up!

Shakar Lee’s H.O.P.E Story

Your donation this GA Gives Day will help us reach our $1,000 goal to make sure that one single parent keeps going like Shakar is able to because of your help. Although this campaign supports a single mom, her story resonates with Shakar and she will ultimately be affected by what you decide to do in 1 more day! Click here to encourage Destinee to keep going!

We’re counting on you!

Sincerely,

Kenita Smith, BBA, MBA, MA
President/CEO & Founder