Faith Encouragers are a critical part of the holistic approach we provide at HopeWorks. These volunteers focus on supporting and encouraging our students as they learn new job skills and habits, finish their educational training and are challenged to live a responsible, Christ-centered life. Our faith encouragers are assigned to a specific student and spend one lunch day per week eating and interacting with the student in our fellowship hall during the class semester. This is not a time to give money or additional assistance, but a time to build up and sustain our students during this period of transition in their lives.

We’ve seen participants and students in this brief one-on-one experience turn into life long friends. Once our students graduate, “faith encouragers” can turn into “work encouragers” when a job is found and the process continues! We are in the process of developing and fleshing out this aspect of our volunteer offerings to provide some helpful guidance in encouraging our students. If making a personal connection with a HopeWorks student is something you are interested in, please contact us at volunteer@whyhopeworks.org or by calling 901.272.3700.