CenterforHopeAZ.org 1

THIS ISSUERecovery is Possible ............. 1

Leading by Example ............ 2

Nursery Update ..................... 2

Reuniting Families ................ 3

CFH Innovation ..................... 3

CFH Staff Highlight .............. 4

How You Can Help ................ 4

Recovery is possible… In her own words

My name is Sarah and I am 22 years old. I am nine months pregnant with a beautiful baby boy. I have no other children and I knew nothing about motherhood or recovery until I entered Center for Hope’s program five and a half months ago. I first heard about Center for Hope a few years ago from a friend who had been in the program and told me she wouldn’t have had a healthy baby girl if she hadn’t found Center for Hope.

A few years later, I found out I was pregnant when I was experiencing the worst part of my life that I had ever experienced. I was using drugs, battling a serious heart condition and looking at over a decade in prison. In my darkest moment, I remembered my friend talking about Center for Hope; so I called. I was almost four months pregnant at the

time. In the short time that I have lived here, I have made myself and my baby healthy. By the grace of God, I have been granted probation instead of mandatory prison time. I am almost finished acing my high school equivalency test to receive my GED, along with a several other miraculous things I never thought possible.

My future is bright all of a sudden, when I couldn’t see a future at all before. I thank God for Center for Hope and the staff , especially my therapists that work exclusively with me making it possible for me to reach my goals and become whoever or whatever I want to be. Recovery is possible. I have learned so much and have come so far. I strongly believe it’s because of Center for Hope and I am grateful.

You can help those we serve reach their greatest potential and reduce your Arizona taxes! By giving up to $400 (married couples filing jointly) or $200 (individuals) by December 31, 2014 to Community Bridges, Inc. (CBI), you can claim the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit on your 2014 taxes. Learn more on page 3.

Charitable Tax Credit Season is here!

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“I have learned so much and have come so far.

I strongly believe it’s because of Center for Hope and

I am grateful. ”Sarah, Center for Hope

CenterforHopeAZ.org1

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After years of planning, fundraising and having numerous inspections and reviews, we are finally breaking ground on the 1,100 square foot nursery for the infants at Center for Hope.

The plans for the nursery were developed by Saemisch+Di Bella Architects in Mesa. Vince and his team have helped us navigate the permits and challenges of building a nursery in the middle of campus, that not only provides us with an infant bathing area, and sick child care room, it also addresses a drainage issue that causes significant damage to our campus when it rains like it did this past fall.

Soon we will go from a very small nursery which is less than 400 square feet to a large open space for the Center for Hope ‘lil ones. LW French Construction is the general contractor that has been awarded the project. We anticipate that we will be hosting a grand opening in May of 2015.

A special thank you to all family and friends who have contributed to the project, as well as Community Bridges Board of Directors and CBI’s Foundation Board and its members; John Mckindles, Todd Noel, David Shumway, Kerry Ramella, and Dr. Frank Scarpati for your support of this project. Also a special thank you to Chris McCrosssan from AMERIPRISE who donated cribs and cradles for our new nursery.

You have all made this project possible. We still have fundraising to do before we are finished. Please consider helping us to raise the remaining funds by using your Arizona Tax Credit in 2014.

Nursery Update

Architects rendering of the nursery

202 babies have been born to women residing in

the program since 2005, including 3 sets of twins!

Women In Our CommunityLEADING BY EXAMPLE

Leisure World QuiltersThe website for Leisure World Arizona states it’s like Disneyland for adults - more activities than you could possibly enjoy in just one day; but these ladies do more than just have fun, they give back and help Center for Hope families in a big way!

Center for Hope sends out a big thank you to Leisure World Quilters for their continued support of our program and the beautiful quilts they have made for our women and infants over the past 10 years. There are really no words to describe how beautiful these quilts are or what they mean to the women who receive them. Each woman in our program receives a quilt, either as a welcome gift in her new room, at a baby shower or sometimes as a gift to open Christmas morning.

The time and care put into each quilt is felt by those who receive them. A big thank you to Leisure World Quilters for their time and beautiful quilts that are made for Center for Hope women and infants!

Apache Wells Women’s Group

Center for Hope also thanks Apache Wells Women’s Group who hosted their 10TH baby shower in honor of Center for Hope this year! Baby blankets, onesie, teddy bears, cute outfits, sleepers, just too many beautiful gifts to name.

Since 2005, this group of dedicated and caring women has helped Center for Hope host more than 202 baby showers, for expectant women in our program. We appreciate your support very much and look forward to providing you with a tour of our new nursery when it’s finished in the spring!

Homecoming Event P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

Oh what a day it was , June 8th, 2013, Center for Hope host-ed its first ALL CLASS Homecoming event. We were thrilled to have over 125 in attendance . The day was full of family fun activities reconnecting , story telling and the filming of a new CFH promotional DVD. We were honored to have alumni representatives from all of our early graduates starting with the class of 2006 to current day. The day included door prizes provided by Philosophy Cosmetics and skin care , enjoying lunch and room full of women sharing their inspira-tion strength and hope . More pictures of the event are avail-able on our website , centerforhopeaz.org and our face book page/ Center for Hope of AZ. Thank you to all Center for Hope families for making this an event to remember and one we must repeat, although we will need a bigger venue next year. Stay tuned.

working women and mothers. They are broken , hopeless and helpless when they enter our pro-gram, but they gain their self es-teem, self respect and dignity while they are here.”

In her role as Residential Recovery Support Specialist Shawnelle assists the clinical team in overseeing all aspects of service delivery for the women and their children in their assigned cottages, Her responsibili-ties include everything from doing a transport to an important prenatal appointment to facilitating a life skills activity with the women on campus.

In 2011, CFH received a SAMHSA Grant for our Pregnant and Par-enting Residential Program. This grant allows us to provide services to and engage the family members or those receiving services at CFH . Shawnelle stated, I really love

Shawnelle Cooper a Residen-tial Re-covery Support Specialist ( Peer Support ) at CFH

since Novem-ber 2010 has

this to say about CFH’s program and families.

“Substance abuse and mental health services for pregnant and parenting women are very hard to come by . As a parent also in recovery , I know this first hand, I would have given anything to for a program like CFH when I was pregnant” I think the most rewarding thing about working at CFH is seeing the wom-en go from being very “needy” to becoming strong independent ,

working at CFH and I am particularly happy we have the PPW grant, I had a tremendous amount of support from my family which made all the difference in the world. I am happy to see the women in our program develop their own support system. “

Center for Hope’s Family

Shawnelle Arizona's Qualifying Charitable Organization Tax Credit allows a a dollar-for-dollar tax reduction of up to $200 (for individuals couples filing single) and up to $400 (for married couples filing jointly). If you have already con-tributed to Center for Hope this year, thank you. Be sure to take credit for your 2013 contributions when filing your Arizona tax return. We also ask that you please consider maximizing your tax credit if you have-n't already. To learn more information or to make a donation to the Center for Hope please visit our web-site. Donations must be post marked or submitted by December 30, 2013 to be eligible for 2013 tax year. .

Did you know..

More than 300 women , families have received services in one of our pro-grams sine 2005.

Arizona’s Qualifying Charitable Organization Tax Credit allows a dollar-for-dollar tax reduction of up to $200 (individuals and up to $400 for married couples filing jointly). If you have already contributed to Center for Hope this year, thank you. Be sure to take credit for your 2014 contributions when filing your Arizona tax return. We also ask that you please consider maximizing your tax credit if you haven’t already. To learn more information or to make a donation to the Center for Hope please visit our website. Donations must be postmarked or submitted by December 31, 2014 to be eligible for the 2014 tax year.

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Center for Hope opened its doors in 2005 with a primary goal to expand the services available to pregnant women in Maricopa County. We will be celebrating 10 years of operations in January of 2015, and will be expanding our services again. In collaboration with Mercy Maricopa Integrated Care (MMIC), Center for Hope is implementing an innovative program to meet the needs of more families in our community. We will now offer a day programming model to women, children and families.

Our program will still specialize in serving pregnant and post- partum women, but we will no longer be limited to that. The goal is to provide services to all women, their children and/or family members in a campus-like setting that will meet the entire family’s needs. Those that are homeless and needing additional support and structure will still have the transitional housing available to them on-site. Those that do not need transitional housing, can be placed in one of our Permanent Supportive Housing Units or live independently in the community and still benefit from our program.

The new model allows for increased flexibility in truly meeting the needs of anyone in our community. We are thrilled with the support we have received for this and look forward to further program growth and development in the year ahead. This new model begins in December, 2014.

Recovery is possible & reunites families Latisha and Daylen’s beautiful family are living proof that recovery is possible and families can be reunited. Alec (pictured in front) is now age 6 and was born at Center for Hope. Their three children (in back, from left to right) are Gabby, age 15; Charles, age 13; and Harley, age 11 who resided at the Center for Hope campus in 2007-08. Latisha and her family reside in Mesa and are active in their church and community. They also enjoy fishing, hiking, and according to Latisha, “anything that revolves around food.” Seven years later, Latisha now works at Center for Hope and has the opportunity to help others as a Recovery Support Specialist. Welcome home Latisha and congratulations on your family’s success!

Innovation allows us to serve more

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Sponsor a “ I dressed casual for Center for Hope Kids”, day at your work.

Center for Hope is also looking for strong, influential women to serve on our advisory board.

If interested please call Kimberly Craig at 480-262-1539 to learn more.

How can you help?

See more fun Center for Hope updates online

Search Center for Hope AZ

554 S. Bellview • Mesa, Arizona480.461.1711

Carol FarmerLicensed Associate Counselor & Licensed Associate Substance Abuse Counselor

Carol began her career in the field of accounting and worked as a CPA in various capacities for over 25 years.   After struggling through an alcohol addiction and receiving the gift of sobriety, she chose to return to school and earned a Master’s degree in Counseling. 

Prior to joining the CFH team, she worked as an intern for a women’s treatment center in San Antonio and as an outpatient substance abuse counselor for Tempe Valley Hope. In her previous employment she assisted in the development and implementation of an online program designed to engage individuals on an outpatient basis. Carol is a highly motivated individual with a strong desire to share the gift of sobriety to women struggling with addiction and she also pursuing a Doctorate Degree in Organizational Management with a focus in Behavioral Health. Fun Facts: Carol has two adult sons and two grandchildren:  Aiden-4 and Kinleigh-15 months.  She is active in the recovery community and her hobbies include going to Aerosmith concerts, hiking, taking care of her 6 month old long haired miniature dachshunds, working out and scrapbooking.   Carol was raised in central Kansas and is very happy to be away from the cold winters! 

Chrissy Reade Licensed Associate Counselor

Chrissy’s career journey up to her arrival at CFH has included working with adults and children. Specifically, she has had the opportunity to work with the following: at-risk youth on a ranch, pregnant women in substance abuse treatment facilities, and

women suffering from severe eating and anxiety disorders in a residential setting and has had the privileged to work as a supervisor in an outpatient program for individuals with serious mental illness. In her previous position with Easter Seals Blake Foundation; she served as a therapist to children aged birth-five years old who had been removed from their primary caregiver due to neglect and/or substance exposure. Chrissy has also provided individual, family, and parent-child relationship therapy during the re-unification process to facilitate attachment/bonding. Chrissy shares that she enjoyed her previous position very much, but missed having the opportunity to do more direct 1:1 counseling with parents/mothers as well as work with their children in the same environment. CFH encompasses all the things she is most passionate about! Chrissy joined Center for Hope’s clinical team in October and will be working with women, children and families in our newly created Day Program. Fun Facts: Chrissy is the proud mother of two handsome, amazing sons that inspire her to be better on daily basis. She loves basketball and was a USA today All-American and All-State player during high school. Chrissy also received a full scholarship to play basketball in college and had the opportunity to coach basketball at the collegiate level. Besides her home state of Washington, Chrissy has also lived in Australia and Hawaii.

Center for Hope Welcomes Two New Staff Members