Adam Prudhomme
Editor
This month marks 13 years for Helping Cope Through Hope and the non-profit Christian outreach organization is still growing.
Founders and Napanee natives Tom and Cheryl Martin are still heavily involved with running the volunteer based organization, having recently returned from an extended stay in Zambia (January into February) and Uganda (February into April). Previous to that, they were in Peru in mid-October.
As they’ve always done since establishing the charity in June of 2005, the Martins make the trip firsthand to ensure all donations get to the right people. They stay right in the heart of the impoverished villages, assisting single mothers escape abusive relationships, funding education for kids who otherwise couldn’t afford it and providing shelter for young families.
“We’ve really grown,” said Tom Martin. “Especially in Peru and Uganda. Last year we went to Peru and had a number of new sponsored children and in Uganda. That’s five more (sponsored children) in each country, 10 more total. That means there’s people who want to sponsor children. Some, when their sponsored child finishes university of gets married, they decide to sponsor a younger one. We’ve got three people who sponsor the children of children they sponsored, which is neat.”
Helping Cope Through Hope derives its funding through donations from people across North America. They also invite volunteers who are willing to pay their own airfare to come to the countries to help out and get an up close look at the families they’re supporting.
“What we do in a lot of cases, it’s life and death,” said Tom, noting they will often pay for surgeries and medication for people would go without otherwise.
They also make great strides to get people out of unsafe situations, such as that of a young mom who had nowhere to go to escape an abusive ex-boyfriend. Just a month before delivering twins, she was sent to hospital following a violent outburst by her former partner.
“We get pretty involved in their lives,” said Cheryl, noting they took the young mother and her kids in and set them up with a home of their own. “Now she has a reason for living and knows she can’t be controlled by him or be beaten by him.”
That’s just one of dozens of examples of where they had reached out to help completely turn around someone’s life.
Helping Cope Through Hope has always been about more than just helping in the short term, going the extra step to lift people out of the cycle of poverty whenever they can.
“The way anybody’s going to change the culture is through education,” said Tom. “We’re seeing so many cases of how people are starting to sire children at a lot later date. The girls are waiting until they finish university. Instead of having children at 15 they’re waiting until they’re at least 23 or 24, some even after that.”
Not only are they waiting, but they’re also having fewer which allows they to provide for all their children, rather than having upwards of 10 kids per family.
Now back in Canada for the summer, their work doesn’t stop. They’re already planning for their next trip to Peru in October and are always accepting donations. Anyone interested in travelling with them and volunteering to help build homes or assist in any other way is always welcome. For more information visit www.HelpingCopeThroughHope.org.
Their annual fundraising auction, which features several donated items as well as those collected from Africa, will take place Oct. 19 at the Strathcona Paper Centre.