What if you could support people with disabilities, save the environment, and feed the hungry, all in one simple act?

What if a program brought together creating jobs for people with intellectual disabilities, enormous recycling efforts, and natural gardening enterprises to help people develop sustainable gardens of their own in a food desert?  What if the program also delivered affordable fresh produce door-to-door at a reduced cost to others in that same food desert?  AND what if all of this was done with zero food waste?

Home of Hope is doing all of that and more. 

Home of Hope’s services for men and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Northeast Oklahoma include an incredibly robust recycling program with a substantial environmental impact that includes collecting and recycling cardboard, mixed paper, aluminum, glass, plastic, scrap metal, electronics, and textiles.

In the meanwhile, Home of Hope has also developed a thriving horticultural program.  In 2017, the Cresap Family Foundation funded a 900 square foot greenhouse that helped us launch a brand-new part of our programs.  Due to its success, Home of Hope is investing to build a second greenhouse along with outdoor gardens, more than doubling its level of production and planting the seeds for an even more exciting future.

Today, Home of Hope is raising funds for its most ambitious new horticultural enterprise yet. 

In the coming year, the plans are in place to build 17 raised bed gardens for members of the Vinita community to plant, cultivate, and benefit from fresh fruits and vegetables.  Training in basic gardening, fact sheets, and even recipes for healthy eating will also be provided.  Beyond that, Home of Hope will deliver fresh fruits and vegetables door-to-door at a reduced pride to give everyone in our community access to quality produce, regardless of their income.  Harvested produce that is not sole will go to area schools to help feed children in need, be used by area farmers as feed, or be composted to keep the growth cycle moving forward.

Each of these settings and programs will also provide jobs to people with disabilities and a sense of pride as they know they are earning a competitive wage and meeting real needs in their surrounding community