The Children of the Merit Inn

On June 30, 2013 Love INC of the Kenai Peninsula closed the doors on the Family Hope Center at the Kenai Merit Inn. It’s hard to believe it’s been five years. As I look back on the five years we provided transitional living for homeless families with children I see many success stories.

A single dad with two children, struggling for stability has now been steadily employed for over eight years. One daughter has completed her AA degree in Human Services at UAA and the other completed Culinary Training at AVTEC.

A single mom with eight kids was able to get into permanent housing after 4 months at the Family Hope Center. They have remained stably housed for 8 years and mom has full time employment. Four of the kids are now married with full time employment and stable housing. The four youngest are still in school, one is in the Explorer Program with hopes of a career with the Alaska State Troopers, all are active in church ministries.

Four kids whose families all lived at the Family Hope Center were reunited in Middle School, their families are all housed and stable now but these kids have a special bond that will last a lifetime. Two of them attend the same church and are active in Youth Ministries the other two attend different churches but are equally involved in their youth groups and they all attend events at each other’s churches.

A single mom with three kids has gone from homeless and fleeing domestic violence to being an advocate for the homeless. Employed, housed and working towards home ownership.

There are so many stories with positive outcomes that we cannot look back on the program and say it wasn’t successful. Whatever circumstance brought families to the Family Hope Center, we know that many of them left with a brighter future. For the ones who did not, we know that seeds of faith, hope and love were planted.

Our Garage Sale is being held over for another week!! We have had so many great items donated we couldn’t get them all out! New items are coming out daily. The “Garage Sale” will be open from 9 am to 4 pm thru Saturday June 15th.