Hope House provides a safe place for foster kids

Morgan Smith, Faith Editor

OBU students are encouraged to be a source of ministry around the campus, but also off-campus. 

For students who are hoping to get involved in off-campus ministry, the city of Shawnee has plenty of volunteer organizations. One of these organizations is Hope House.

Hope House was established in 1971, and has been at its present Shawnee location since 1993.

It houses children who are in-between foster homes, or who otherwise have nowhere else to go.

“We just serve kids from our community that need a safe place to stay,” David Colvin, Hope House’s shelter supervisor, said.

Each week, two groups of students visit Hope House.

The first group visits on Monday, and the second group visits on Thursday.

Colvin said OBU students are able to help the kids in Hope House by, “just being there.”

“They just come play with them, they play games, there are some times they took them to the RAWC and let them hang out in the gym with them,” Colvin said. “In the past we have had OBU students that help them with their homework, things like that.”

He also said he believes the students from OBU have a positive influence on the kids in Hope House.

“I think it’s important for OBU students because a lot of times these kids don’t have any time in their life they’ve had contact with Christian folks and that gives them that contact,” he said.

In the 22 years that Colvin has worked with Hope House, he said that OBU students have been visiting students for at least ten years.

“OBU’s special to me, but it’s also special to this place,” he said. “They do a lot for us and the kids really look forward to when the OBU kids are coming.”