Stories of Hope from The Next Door Raise Money to Support Empowerment and Health Services

Contributed Photo. Source. Janet Hamada, Executive Director at The Next Door, inviting viewers to reflect on these Stories of Hope and encouraging them to donate to support the The Next Door’s work.

The Next Door is holding its annual Stories of Hope an event to raise money and spread awareness to support over four dozen programs aimed at supporting and empowering people with health promotion services, family services, youth services, economic development services, and treatment services in Wasco, Hood River, Skamania, Klickitat, Sherman, Gilliam, and Wheeler counties. 

Unlike previous years, which have been held as two in-person breakfast fundraising events, this year's event will be held virtually at GiveButter.com and will take place between October 22nd and October 31st at 8:00 PM. The Next Door Inc has put together several videos, which will only be available online from the 22nd to the 31st, showcasing the stories of local people who have participated in Next Door programs. 

Janet Hamada, Executive Director of the Next Door said, “This is my favorite of the Next Door’s events. As Executive Director I don’t get to be boots on the ground so I rely on my amazing coworkers to tell us these stories of struggle and success of the people that we work with. Stories of Hope gives me and hopefully all of you a chance to hear these powerful stories directly from program participants...The impact stories you’ll hear are just a few of the roughly 3,500 stories The Next Door gets to play a role in every year.”

The showcased stories of struggle and success include a recipient of the Oregon Workers Relief Fund, whose hours were cut due to the pandemic, “My family is doing just fine now,” said Lorena, “I count my blessings and I thank The Next Door, Graciela, and everyone who donates to help people like me.” As well as stories from Natives Along the Big River (NABR) leaders, community health worker Graciela Gomez, and an anonymous story from a young woman who is a current participant in The Bridges to Health program. The anonymous woman said she was grateful to now have a safe home to live in with her and her children. 

Contributed Photo. Source. Graciela Gomez, community health worker explains how her own story motivates her to do her work with The Next Door.

“I know the value that the Next Door carries. The love and care that they’ve shown to my community has been amazing…The Next Door was able to help so many families; put smiles on their faces” said Raymond Estrada, Celilo Village community member, and NABR participant. 

“I was concerned for my cousin-in-law, who lost her husband, and her many children that they raise. They didn’t know if they were going to make it. We didn’t know if they were going to make it,” said Raymond Estrada, Celilo Village community member, and NABR participant, “They’ve been trying to carry on and move forward but the loss of a whole income, a head-of-household income- it really impacted them and The Next Door came through for them...What they do for our community is immeasurable.”

Contributed Photo. Source. Pictured: Raymond Estrada, Celilo Village community member, and NABR participant talks about The Next Door in their “Stories of Hope” video series.

The videos also let us hear from current financial donors and volunteers including Jon Davies, Chrissy Reitz, and Maui Meyer, on why they choose to support this non-profit organization. 

“Success stories like the ones we’re hearing today would not be possible without The Next Door or without folks like you who are keeping the services going,” says Maui Meyer, owner of Copper West and a longtime supporter of The Next Door in one video. Meyer has been donating to help support the organization both as an individual and as a business for over ten years. 

Justine Ziegler, Development Supervisor at The Next Door told CCC News that Stories of Hope usually raises a total of $10,000 in one-time donations and that current donations we’re hovering around the $5,000 mark. Ziegler also noted that in times like these, during a pandemic especially there is typically a rise in demand for services and less money to do it with, which is part of why The Next Door is also hoping to garner more recurring monthly and quarterly donations with the event. “Besides just raising one-time gifts, our real goal is to raise monthly donations, these monthly gifts help fill gaps in grant funding and other funding,” said Ziegler. 

“We currently have 90 monthly donors and we’re trying to add 30 new monthly donors with this event,” said Ziegler. Typical donations range from $10 - $500. Although donors can write in any donation amount when they donate directly.