The House of Hope Society is an incorporated non-profit organization registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The organization was set up in November 1999 to provide care for those suffering with HIV/AIDS.

We propose to provide residential care for a maximum of about three to five individuals who have been rejected by their families. {{more}}

However, this will not be our major focus. Persons living with HIV/AIDS will be encouraged to continue to live with their families in their communities whenever possible. The House of Hope envisages that its major role will be to provide counselling and outpatient care to victims and their families, and education and information to the community at large.

The idea of providing a home for those suffering with HIV/AIDS has the full support of all members of the Christian Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines: the Salvation Army, the Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church. We have also received support from local Pentecostal and Seventh-day Adventist churches. The general public and the local private sector have also been showing increasing interest and support for the work of the House of Hope.

To date we have succeeding in raising almost EC $200,000 for our building fund from local and overseas fundraising and sponsorship. Recently, the Society approached the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the donation of a parcel of land on which to construct the hospice. All indications are that we will receive a positive response.

While our main focus over the last few years has been raising funds for our building project, recently we have begun to turn our attention to our operational and sustainability fund, as well as educational programmes, which we feel should commence as soon as possible, our lack of headquarters, notwithstanding.

Sustainability

The House of Hope Society will take a three-pronged approach to the sustainability of our hospice care and educational programmes:

(i) Ongoing fundraising

(ii) Government support

(iii) Volunteers

We envisage that the main feature of our on-going fundraising will be the operation of (I) a cafeteria and (II) a thrift shop selling “used but good” clothing and other items. We intend to depend heavily on the support of volunteers to assist with counselling, home visits and office, cafeteria and thrift shop work.

The House of Hope Society is cognizant of the great costs associated with running any residential care facility. For this reason, we will limit residential care to persons who can make no alternative arrangements for their care. In addition, from the outset, even before the hospice is constructed, we are beginning work on ensuring that we can meet the hospice’s month-to-month operational expenses.