Hope from Hope College

Hope College - Investing in the next generation

In mid-March we had the pleasure of helping to host Hope College students during their Spring Break Immersion Trip at Community First. Dustin had connected with their chaplain months ago and after striking up a conversation, she asked him if he’d like to help put together a week-long trip for the students to experience life around our village. The college has come several years before, but they’ve never had a specific coordinator onsite to help with logistics, serving opportunities, and relational connections.

Dustin decided to go for it, and what a week it was! This group of nineteen students rented out the Community Inn tiny homes and hit the ground running, diving right into serving, volunteering, and most importantly, building connections with our neighbors. They brought such energy, curiosity, and authenticity. It was a fun, full week together.

They served several meals, landscaped, played LOTS of pickleball, showcased their talents at open mic night and karaoke, explored Austin, toured some partner organizations who also come alongside those experiencing homelessness, asked insightful questions, and listened to our neighbors’ stories. In one week, we watched their lives be radically impacted. It was really a beautiful experience to be part of, knowing that this trip could shape their view of what it means to be a good neighbor to everyone. They also made an impact on our village by bringing their full selves and a desire to get to know our neighbors.

Many of our neighbors immediately expressed missing them when their week was over. In fact, one of our most social neighbors really wanted to keep up his connections with them. This is a neighbor who has had a radical transformation while being part of Community First. He was once incredibly isolated, and for a couple of years lived here as a shut-in, rarely interacting with anyone in the community.

But now, he is one of the most encouraging, present neighbors in our village. He knows so many names, attends all of the events, and really bonded with this group of students, so they decided to have weekly Zoom updates to stay in touch. Dustin has been coordinating these calls and being part of the conversation as students ask him how his week has been going, and he asks the students: “how are finals? what are your summer plans? any jobs or travel or internships? where is your family from?”

For his birthday, the students sent our friend a “HOPE GRANDPA” shirt to represent the bonds they’ve formed just by being open to relationships with people coming from a different stage and vantage point in life. He told us being a grandpa-figure to them is the biggest honor of his life, and he already plans to attend the wedding of one of the students (who isn’t even engaged yet!).

This unexpected connection has been so beautiful to be part of, and it goes to show us that long-term and meaningful relationships only take a tiny spark to get started.