By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
A community gathering during the evening of Sunday, November 16, at the Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist Church, was a step in an effort to forge a path forward for HOPE Toledo and the thousands of children that the agency has helped and will continue, with the support of the community, to help in the future.
“Our purpose for being here,” said Brandon A.A.J. Davis, DMin, pastor of Warren AME Church, “is to do what hope does … hope means help. We came here tonight to help HOPE Toledo.”
Davis preached his message of hope which he said was a long-time aspiration of those in the African American community to defeat negative forces.
“We are living in an age when our civilization is torn by degradation, it’s torn by hatred,” said Davis as he urged the listeners to “do what we do best in the Black church … it starts right here in the bowels of our sanctuary.”
Urging the audience to “help by hoping,” Davis said “we come here to do what faith has allowed us to do all these years.”
What the attendees came to do on Sunday was to support HOPE Toledo both through good intentions and financial assistance. The cash-challenged HOPE Toledo organization used the event to raise funds to continue its work in educating pre-school youngsters and providing scholarships for college-bound students.
HOPE Toledo supports pre-K programs through a partnership with a number of early learning centers and day cares. The HOPE Toledo Promise program has, since January 2020, provided funds for students’ college expenses.
Davis was followed by stories of HOPE offered by: Mer’Kyah Warren, a Promise graduate; Avionna Burwell, a Promise scholar; Viengvilay Weis, a pre-K parent and Julia Myers, the director of Toledo Day Nursery. All described personal or community success stories that have been the result of HOPE Toledo’s work.
Prayers of intercession were then offered by Bishop Jerry Boose of Second Baptist Church; Ron King, DMin, of Westside Community Church; Pastor John Hobbs, III of Greater St. John COGIC and Elder Neail & Min. Antoinette Goodloe of Acts 2 Fellowship.
After a musical selection by the Glass City Youth Choir, Rev. John C. Jones, president and CEO of HOPE Toledo, took to the pulpit and explained the promise and the success that his agency has had in the past and the reasons why the survival of HOPE Toledo is so essential for the community’s children and families – especially those in the underserved parts of the community.
“The work and the mission of HOPE Toledo is strong,” said Jones at the outset of his talk.
That mission, or at least the pre-K portion of the mission, was created in 2018 when Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz invited his Dayton counterpart, Nan Whaley, to Toledo, along with that city’s pre-K program leaders, to explain their success in providing early childhood education. Two years later, the HOPE Toledo mission expanded when donor Pete Kadens provided funding for Scott High School seniors, and their parents, to attend college or trade school.
“There is more work that needs to be done,” said Jones. However, the fact is that the funding is currently not sufficient to keep those two programs going. Public support is necessary to raise the monies to keep HOPE Toledo’s mission alive, indeed, to expand that mission so that the right number of kids are included.
Currently, Jones noted, about 2,000 area children are enrolled in the early education and childcare programs that are necessary to keep kids in low to moderate income households from falling behind their counterparts from higher income families. However, the need in the Toledo area is to get about 10,000 kids in such programs.
“Every child in our community must have access to a high-quality education,” said Jones.
Preacher that he is, Jones closed his talk with a rhythmic delivery emphasizing the critical importance for the community to stay involved.
“Now is the time for us to do good … HOPE Toledo is strong and we will stay strong with your support.”
