Accessibility at Hope’s Home just got better.

Thanks to a couple very generous donors, we were finally able to purchase new vans that will help make our children and staff’s lives even better.

It was hard to tell who was more excited on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jacque, our staff, or our kiddos. Jacque, our lovely CEO, looked like a kid going to Disney land. After a full year of being unable to travel to the different Hope’s Home locations due to COVID-19 restrictions, she was so, so happy to see everyone again. Jacque has the biggest heart, and her staff and kiddos mean so much to her. This was a hard year for everyone, but especially for her. So to be able to finally see everyone again, AND be able to deliver something to our staff that was so highly requested, meant a lot to her.

All possible because of some generous donors.

Hope’s Home has been waiting patiently for a generous donor to come along and be willing to help out with the purchasing of these two new accessible vans that cost almost $70,000 each. These are something that are vital to making our children’s lives easier, while helping Hope’s Home bring down costs in the long run. So when a very generous couple reached out to us and asked us where we needed help, the answer was easy. It’s absolutely surreal when a personal donation of $80,000 comes in. That type of generosity and kindness is hard to come by, and we can’t possibly express our gratitude enough for this family.

To help us with the remaining costs, we had two other donors that helped us out, and who always seem to be there for us when we need them most. Affinity Credit Union and Canadian Tire (Malcolm Jenkins) are constant supporters of Hope’s Home. Our community is definitely stronger with them in it, and our kids and staff are forever grateful for all you’ve done for them over the years. So we are sending all the love and thanks your way, because we don’t know what we would do without you.

And we can’t forget to give a shoutout to Sleek Signs for the incredible job they did on the wraps for the vans. They needed a Hope’s Home touch and now everyone will know it’s our kiddos who are riding in STYLE.

It was a great day.

Both days held so much joy. The kids couldn’t wait to hop in and try out the new van. One little boy hopped right into the driver seat and was already testing out all the buttons so he could play his favourite songs. Another couldn’t wait any longer for his first ride, so one Auntie took him for a test drive right away. The staff and kids made welcome home signs for Jacque and everyone couldn’t wait to snag an infamous Jacque hug. So many tears and smiles, it was a perfect two days.

Days like today remind us that it really does take a village sometimes. Without the support for our community, we wouldn’t have been able to provide these accessible vans to our homes. Now appointments in Saskatoon and quick trips to the store are so much easier, and all staff will be comfortable driving a van, versus the bus we had before.

These vans will be so well loved. Sending all our thanks to everyone involved.