ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME; LET ANGELS PROSTRATE FALL!
Today we report some extraordinarily good news from Vitoria. A few weeks ago we began a conversation of how we would share the devastating news that we were closing Hope Mountain. Ongoing economic challenges in the United States coupled with lack of local funding support had made this difficult decision inevitable. On February 12th, the Board of Directors of Hope Unlimited voted to close Hope Mountain unless provision could be found to take the financial responsibility for the facility and program. Absent alternative funding, operations would cease by May 1st, meaning that all employees would have to receive termination notices by Friday, April 15.
On Friday, April 15th, Hope leadership met with the Vice-Governor of Espirito Santo, and, as our final decision deadline was literally minutes away, he made this three-part proposal:
1. For the next four months the state will fully fund Hope Mountain at R$60,000, a figure $10,000 above what we are currently investing there.
2. After this initial “emergency” period, Hope and the government, along with state business concerns, would work to develop a model whereby the state and local businesses would pay 2/3 of the operational costs and Hope would cover 1/3 of the costs.
3. Hope Unlimited will prepare for the Vice-Governor a proposal to operate a fully state funded correctional facility for children using the transformational model in place at Hope Mountain. Already aware of the Organization of American States condemnation of Brazil because of prison conditions for children, we had heard something like this might be coming, so it did not catch us totally by surprise. In fact, we had already been in contact with Ron Nikkel of Prison Fellowship International about a partnership in such a project.
With a slight modification or two, we accepted the proposal and the Vice-Governor announced, “It is concluded.”
We had known 5:00 on Friday was the final deadline a decision could be made. It was then just a few minutes after 5:00.
We had the great privilege of watching the Hand of God directly intervene in the work of His people. The details of this extraordinary week can be read in a letter sent to Hope’s Board which tells the full story of those remarkable days. You can access the letter at: http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101812517372-142/Board+letter.pdf
Today we report some extraordinarily good news from Vitoria. A few weeks ago we began a conversation of how we would share the devastating news that we were closing Hope Mountain. Ongoing economic challenges in the United States coupled with lack of local funding support had made this difficult decision inevitable. On February 12th, the Board of Directors of Hope Unlimited voted to close Hope Mountain unless provision could be found to take the financial responsibility for the facility and program. Absent alternative funding, operations would cease by May 1st, meaning that all employees would have to receive termination notices by Friday, April 15.
On Friday, April 15th, Hope leadership met with the Vice-Governor of Espirito Santo, and, as our final decision deadline was literally minutes away, he made this three-part proposal:
1. For the next four months the state will fully fund Hope Mountain at R$60,000, a figure $10,000 above what we are currently investing there.
2. After this initial “emergency” period, Hope and the government, along with state business concerns, would work to develop a model whereby the state and local businesses would pay 2/3 of the operational costs and Hope would cover 1/3 of the costs.
3. Hope Unlimited will prepare for the Vice-Governor a proposal to operate a fully state funded correctional facility for children using the transformational model in place at Hope Mountain. Already aware of the Organization of American States condemnation of Brazil because of prison conditions for children, we had heard something like this might be coming, so it did not catch us totally by surprise. In fact, we had already been in contact with Ron Nikkel of Prison Fellowship International about a partnership in such a project.
With a slight modification or two, we accepted the proposal and the Vice-Governor announced, “It is concluded.”
We had known 5:00 on Friday was the final deadline a decision could be made. It was then just a few minutes after 5:00.
We had the great privilege of watching the Hand of God directly intervene in the work of His people. The details of this extraordinary week can be read in a letter sent to Hope’s Board which tells the full story of those remarkable days. You can access the letter at: http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101812517372-142/Board+letter.pdf