Wallace Helps Hope Ministries

By Corey Meints
News Reporter
ALDEN

God has led Becky Wallace through her own troubles. Now she is following his word to help others through Hope Ministries.

According to a 1999 study, more than 4,000 people were recorded as homeless in Iowa. Among that count were more than 2,550 children. Women accounted for more than half of the remainder. Today’s Hearts for Hope Women’s Tea in West Des Moines is the major fundraiser aimed at helping that population of homeless.

Wallace, herself homeless for a time, has been a supporter and volunteer since 2004 when she attended her first tea. She and her husband, Robert, volunteered last Christmas to help serve Christmas dinner to the homeless men and women at Hope Ministries Bethel Mission in the heart of Des Moines’ inner city. They also helped with a coat drive, giving hundreds of donated coats to those in need.

“My husband and I volunteer as often as we can because 16 years ago this organization saved my life,” Wallace explained.

The Hearts for Hope Tea is extra special to Wallace as she will be hosting a table for nine other people. “It is a major fundraising event benefiting homeless women and children of central Iowa,” she noted. “A table hostess has the pleasure of inviting nine of her friends, co-workers or church members to fill her table of 10. We invite women who have a giving heart for homeless mothers and their children.”

Wallace’s association with Hope Ministries began in 2004 when she was asked to share her story of how she became homeless 10 years earlier. It is a story she has shared with thousands since.
 
“I was asked to share my story of how I had become homeless myself, and how an invitation to attend a Christmas dinner with another homeless person at Hope Ministries Bethel Mission turned my life around,” she said. “Hope Ministries proclaims and demonstrates the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ, meeting the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of men, women and children who are homeless and in need of hope. It is the same today as it was nearly 16 years ago when I walked through those doors and was in need of a hot meal. Not only did they feed me a delicious Christmas meal, the staff there fed my soul and gave me hope.”
Today Wallace tries to help others the same way she was helped, by sharing the Gospel. “Hope Ministries helped me by sharing the Gospel with me, and letting me know that God loved me so much he took the time to create me just the way I was,” she stated. “They showed God’s love in their actions when they treated me with love, respect and dignity.”

The upcoming tea will help Hope Family Center, a Des Moines long-term healing and recovery center for homeless women and their children. Wallace said the center offers spiritual healing and drug and alcohol recovery programs as well as life skill programs. It is a two-year program that demonstrates the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ, meeting the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of men women and children who are homeless.

Hope Ministries runs strictly by donations, and does not accept government funding. They also offer drug and alcohol recovery programs along with classes on life skills, housekeeping, communication, anger, health and hygiene, nutrition, financial, parenting, family therapy and victory in Christ.