“May God bless them.” Racheal Reech’s words, punctuated by her megawatt smile, reflect her gratitude to the volunteers at BHITC’s The Hope Center (The Center) and its staff who helped her become an American citizen earlier this year.
“May God bless them.” Racheal Reech’s words, punctuated by her megawatt smile, reflect her gratitude to the volunteers at BHITC’s The Hope Center (The Center) and its staff who helped her become an American citizen earlier this year.
A little more than five short years ago, the staff and board of BHITC dreamed of what else God could do through its ministries for the people and the city of Cleveland. In March of 2016, BHITC signed a lease for 22049 Lorain Road in Fairview Park with a dream of supporting the organization through businesses that do good – social enterprises – the first of which would be a thrift store located in this space.
Bringing people from all walks of life into a family, a home and a church. Meet church planter, Josh Miller, and his family who lead Cove City Church in University Circle.
Q: Tell us about you. Were you born and raised in Northeast Ohio? If not, where?
A: I was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. Shortly after marriage, my wife and moved to North Carolina. While we lived there, God began to place in our heart a desire to move back to Northeast Ohio to plant a church.
Watch for even more great things happening at The Hope Center (The Center) now that Building Hope in the City (BHITC) purchased the building! That’s right, as of February of 2018, the building at 15135 Triskett Road in Cleveland, which the organization began renting two days a week just three short years ago, now officially belongs to BHITC!
The Hope Center (Center) seeks to hire a Facilities Manager, who will serve as the overall coordinator for Center facility and property operations in support of ministry program and activities. Duties include the operation and maintenance of equipment systems, interior and exterior property maintenance, and oversight of service contracts associated with the operation and maintenance of Center properties.
God has an amazing way of weaving people’s stories together, doesn’t He?! Take the stories of Ran Maya Basnet and Stephanie Labovitz. The two originally met in 2010 when Labovitz was a brand-new volunteer tutor with Building Hope in the City (BHITC) and Basnet’s family was newly resettled to Cleveland from Nepal. At that time, BHITC ran a tutoring program at St. Colman Catholic Church on W. 65th St., where week after week, the two began getting to know each other.
Dynamic, Jesus-loving leaders, such as Pete Pinkowski, a church planter shown here with his family, are the men BHITC supports through this effort. He spent a few minutes sharing with us about how God is at work in his life and the vision he has for leading people closer to Jesus.
Great deals on top of greater deals was the theme all weekend long to celebrate the one year anniversary of Common Threads! Throughout the weekend of June 23-25, shoppers enjoyed stacking coupons on top of daily deals on top of already low prices at BHITC’s first-ever thrift store and social enterprise, scoring the store’s biggest deal opportunities ever.
On an unsuspecting day in December 2015, Executive Director Brian Upton received a phone call that Parma resident and lifelong Lutheran, Jean Gschwend, had left a generous estate gift to BHITC. No one in the organization had heard of Jean, let alone known her. BHITC was shocked and overwhelmed by the tremendous blessing
“Everyday, I walk into this store and I feel like God made this job just for me,” says Jeff Stredney, BHITC’s Director of Social Enterprise, describing the experience of launching Common Threads. The store, located in Fairview Park, opened in June of 2016 as the first business venture of HopeWorks.
