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House Of Hope, Which Fed Poor, Closes
The Capital Times :: METRO :: 1C
Saturday, March 12, 2005
By Bill Novak The Capital Times
The House of Hope is gone.
The Christian outreach organization started by co-pastors Stuart and Brenda
Click provided food and comfort for 1,500 people a month, but it shut down
Friday night at the warehouse it called home for the past six months at 2823
Index Road on Madison's south side.
"It was a very hard decision," Brenda Click said Friday night.
"We put our heart and soul into it for 2 1/2 years."
The House of Hope distributed 100,000 pounds of food every month to
low-income and homeless families through their Friday night food pantry and
mobile food trucks run in collaboration with Second Harvest.
The food truck will make its last stop today at noon at Lincoln Elementary
School.
In making their decision, the Clicks said they are going into a "season
of rest," a time they want to devote to their own family, which includes
four children.
"This is not an end, but a new beginning for our family and what God is
preparing us for," the Clicks said in a statement announcing the closing of
the House of Hope.
Sharynn Schloemer, a volunteer at the House of Hope who ran the pet food
pantry, told The Capital Times the work done by the Clicks for the needy in
Madison will be sorely missed.
"They are great people," Schloemer said. "I hate to see them
go, but they are burned out, really tired."
The closing of the House of Hope ends a tumultuous year for the organization.
The House of Hope was forced to move from its former facility at 1017
Applegate Road when the building was sold. The Clicks found a new home for the
House in a warehouse on Index Road and completed a move into the facility within
three weeks.
The last church service at the House of Hope will be Saturday night.
All of the equipment, freezers, coolers, tables, chairs, etc. will be sold at
auction March 26 at 10:30 a.m. The auction is open to the public.
While the House of Hope closes its doors, Brenda Click said the food and
fellowship shared gave some glimmer of hope to those most in need in Madison.
"We built a lot of relationships with families," she said.
"God touched a lot of lives and we saw lives improve. I feel the hope we've
instilled in others can be brought to the next group of people so they can carry
on." | 
