Fall Newsletter 2024
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Dear Friend, Thanksgiving is coming! It’s a joyful time, kicking off the holiday season that brings our year to a close. At Hope Gospel Mission, this year, we expect to serve Thanksgiving dinner to all of our residents and many guests from the community. Everyone gets a warm welcome and a place at the table. The food is wonderful, and we make sure there’s plenty for all! Sometimes we wonder where we will find the means to do that. People need food and shelter. They need help through hard times they cannot deal with alone ... struggles with addiction, abuse, homelessness. These can be overwhelming problems that only God can help them overcome. And He does, in ways that are better than we imagine. He takes what we have and multiplies it. The love, the energy and the dollars go further. God always provides to get the job done. He answers every prayer, understands what every person needs and provides the means to bless people accordingly. There really is a modern-day miracle happening at Hope Gospel Mission. You give — and God provides. He brings people who teach, counsel and encourage. They do what they can and God makes it work. It’s like the boy giving his few fish to Jesus and watching Him feed a multitude. Thank you for your partnership in this heavenly work, filling plates with food ... and hearts with hope. Sincerely,  Sandi Polzin |
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New Hope Learning Center Serves More Residents, More Efficiently
The Hope Learning Center is the true heart of Hope Gospel Mission. Here, men and women in the Renewed Hope program do the heavy lifting in their healing and recovery process. When the previous facility proved insufficient for our residents’ needs, we broke ground on a new Hope Learning Center, right next door to our Hope Renewal Center for Men.
Now we will be able to meet the increased level of need, with 50 brand-new workstations, additional meeting rooms and classrooms, and private areas for our residents to meet with their counselors and chaplains. All of our professional staff will now be together in one building, making collaboration much more efficient.
“When we have residents in a space that feels adequate, trust develops more quickly.
We want our residents to be well cared for in every way here.”
— Sandi Polzin, Executive Director
“I’m so excited that our residents will have an experience that reflects their worthiness to be invested in.”
— Chris Hedlund, Program Director
When you enter our new Hope Learning Center, you will see our dramatic centerpiece wall, featuring black walnut and copper with a beautiful patina.
When copper is exposed to hard elements, the damage may express a new kind of beauty to fresh eyes. Our residents are changed in a similar way. They come to us broken or damaged. Then, one day, someone will see them — scars, scratches and all — and recognize the beauty of their patina.
The pristine beauty of the cross represents the light of Christ shining through the hurt and pain, bringing hope to all who enter here.
Jimmy says he was living like most people: working, looking forward to the weekends, drinking a little. But he felt empty inside. And something worse lay just below the surface. "I didn't realize it at the time," he says, "but I was going insane."
One frigid winter night, Jimmy wantdered shoeless down the middle of the freeway, gripped in a psychotic episode. "I thought I was literally in hell," he remembers. "I prayed to God to save me and soon after, I was picked up and taken to the hospital." There, Jimmy was treated for frostbite, but the effects of his mental illness were harder to overcome.
Jimmy moved in with his mother. "It was one of the hardest periods of my life. I was lost, clinically depressed." Then his mother decided to move to Las Vegas, and she told Jimmy to look into Hope Gospel Mission for a place to live and get well.
"I could barely speak," Jimmy says of his early days at the Mission. "But God has been healing me, and I give Him glory and praise for that."
The Renewed Hope program gave Jimmy much-needed structure. He enjoyed the Hope Learning Center. "It helped me work on things that held me back, how I interact with people. I'm learning to trust again."
Far from that night when he thought he was in hell, Jimmy says, "Being in a community of men who are focused on God, who intentionally encourage one another, is like a dose of heaven! I feel God's spirit in this place. At the end of the day, it's really a good life."
For the first time in years, Jimmy feels stable and healthy. He undergoes treatment for his mental illness and no longer suffers from delusions. "I'm in a really good place now, and I'm getting better every day. I prayed for my sanity to come back, and my prayer was answered," he says.
Asked what message he had for friends like you who support Hope Gospel Mission, Jimmy says, "Sometimes when I pray, I don't have the words. I feel like that now, but I just want to say thank you and God bless you!"
It won’t be long before our residents and guests gather for our annual Thanksgiving Day Community Dinner. Together, we will give thanks and enjoy a traditional feast of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, veggies — even pie for dessert.
We have a lot of plates to fill, so we are already planning for the big day. That means stocking up our pantry and making sure to have plenty of turkey to satisfy all our guests. We also need to get our kitchen staff and volunteers ready to handle all the preparation, cooking, serving and cleaning up.
Thank you for all you do, not just during the holidays, but all year round. Your gifts, support and prayers give our residents so much to be grateful for as they work through our life-changing programs. God bless you!
Our Thanksgiving Day Community Dinner
will be held on
Thursday, November 28 | 11:30 am - 1 pm
at our Hope Renewal Center for Men,
2650 Mercantile Drive, Eau Claire.
Everyone is welcome to dine in or drive through!
Dan found Love and Acceptance at Hope Gospel Mission.
Dan grew up feeling like "unwanted baggage" in his own home. Looking for acceptance, he stole marijuana and alcohol from his stepfather and partied in the woods with friends. By the time Dan was 18, he had flunked out of college and was living in a roach-infested apartment. His addiction was just getting underway.
Over the next 26 years, Dan went through 50 jobs. He was homeless numerous times, "couch surfing" from one friend's house to the next. By the time he hit rock botton, Dan was drinking a liter of vodka every day.
"I lost my job and wasn't able to find another one," Dan recalls. "I couldn't pay my rent." Having exhausted all his housing options with family and friends, Dan moved into a homeless shelter. He tried to detox, but soon found himself drinking again.
Then Dan heard about Hope Gospel Mission and decided to get serious about charge.
"I came to Hope Gospel Mission as a non-believer," Dan says. "But I wanted to submit myself entirely to the sobriety program, and I knew believing in a higher power was part of that." Dan read the Bible every day. He attended church. And soon, he experienced the change he had longed for.
Before coming to Hope Gospel Mission, Dan says, "I had no purpose, no goals, no dreams. I was just alive, not really living. Now I feel renewed and full of hope." He credits his new-found faith with his transformation. "I had never looked into Christianity before. It answered a lot of my questions and gave me purpose."
Dan also benefitted greatly from the Renewed Hope program. "I'd gone through a lot of state-funded counseling, but not until I came to Hope Gospel Mission did I get a counselor who did a deep dive into why I ended up like this. You have to be fearless to recover."
A year after coming to Hope Gospel Mission, Dan is thankful for several things. "I thank God for sacrificing His only Son for everyone willing to accept His grace. I thank all the staff and residents at Hope Gospel Mission for their love and acceptance. And I'm grateful to all the donors, who keep this place going!"
Gifts Given in Honor of:
(Persons being honored are listed on the left, gift givers listed on the right.)
| Ludwig Gagnath | Marann Gagnath |
| Ronald H Tucker, Jordan Lee Tucker | Jeff and Wendy Tucker |
| Owen Merritt Farris | Sally Farris |
| Barbara Garner | Joseph Baiocco |
| Bernie Abrahamson | Bill and Jennie Stewart |
| Benjamin Davis | Steve and Susan Gould |
| Andy Gould | Troy and Tina Petry |
| Rodney Buenger and Daryl Buenger | Judie Blandin |
| Randy Ecklund, Julie Hoeschen | Tim and Jacqueline Nelson |
| DJ Pophal, Dan Swedenborg, Steve Walker, Norma Ausman, Joe Ausman and Mary Ann Stahnke | Richard and Teresa Van Gelder |
| Louanna Steiner | Art and Susan Reeder |
| Steven | Julie Gullikson |
| George Szotkowski | Judy Szotkowski |
| Henry Bosman, Jr. | Terri Aaron |
| James Sendelbach | Rita Sendelbach |
| Gordon Hong, Sr | Angie Hong |
| Doris Zimmerman | Sharon Jurjens |
| Joseph Johnson | Bill and Jennie Stewart |
| Arlan Helstad | Kevin and Sharon Severson |
| Bert and my son Joe | Becky Lokrantz |
| Dave Lendle | Samuel and Patricia Soper |
| Christopher Caudill | Jenny Woodruff |
| Greg Gruman | Kathryn Lee |
| Kassidy, Matt and Leen Geske | Jerome and Gladys Geske |
| Gayle Murphy | Laurie Long, Kathleen and Andrew Roberts |
| Fred Gee, Dennis Neuser | Louise Koxlien |
| Robin | Deanna Sosalla |
| Auntie | Lori and Vic Tonelli |
| Philip Manor | Perry and Vranna Manor |
| Anna Capizzi | Mary Anne Minton, Edward and Carla Ahneman |
| Les & Rosemary Davis | Lester and Rosemary Davis Estate |
| Elana Hageness | Mr and Mrs Howard Hanson |
| Carol Porn | Richard Porn |
| Millard, Shirley and Danne Sivertson | Robyn Sivertson |
| Pat Sparks | Richard and Nancy Sparks |
| Nancy Gearhardt | Sally Kallenbach |
| Arnie Schlough | Mark and Denise Stuber |
| George and Merna Johnson and Bill and Mary Lee Stewart | Bill and Jennie Stewart |
| Vern Larson | James and Nancy Peterson |
| Mavis Gunderson | Ann Thornburg |
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