In the Spotlight Homes of Hope When a local family lost their home and child in a fire in 1998, they felt they had nowhere to turn. Then they approached Tim Revis (founder of Homes of Hope), who owned a modular home business in the area, and asked if he could help them. At the time he couldn’t. But the story doesn’t end there. Tim couldn’t shake not being able to help this family in need, so much so that in that same year, he founded an organization called Homes of Hope. His dream was to provide families in poverty with a housing option they could afford and be proud to call home. At the same time, another idea developed: to restore men’s lives through sobriety and job training as they acquired life-changing skills in constructing some of the homes. The two missions fit together seamlessly, and Homes of Hope was born. Today, more than 22 years later, Homes of Hope has grown into the largest non-profit developer of single-family affordable homes in South Carolina. Based in Greenville, the organization has developed 264 homes in Greenville alone, with another 140 in the pipeline, and employs nine men in their Workforce Development Program. This program helps men overcoming addictions pursue revolutionary change through discipleship, life skills, and construction-related job training. Overall, Homes of Hope has housed and served 921 clients (including 421 children)
and has graduated 315 men from the one-year residential job training program. Homes of Hope has one additional program that is worthy to note: financial wellness. Knowing the importance of achieving economic mobility and stability, Homes of Hope offers classes in financial wellness to all of their clients — including courses in budgeting, banking, and building assets. Spero Financial is a proud supporter of these efforts and is the Homes of Hope 2021 Financial Wellness Champion, contributing sponsorship dollars to fund the financial wellness classes. “The vision for Homes of Hope is generational change throughout SC,” said Don Oglesby, president and CEO of Homes of Hope. “This means that the people we serve in housing, economic and workforce development have been connected to resources that allow them to now build and develop their own success stories, which in turn changes the lives of their children and grandchildren, for generations.”
For more information about Homes of Hope, or how you can be involved in their work in the community, visit their website at HomesOfHope.org.
4