- March 29, 2024
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New Hope for Kids will host and open house-style housewarming party on Tuesday, Dec. 6, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the center’s new home, located at 544 Mayo Ave. in Maitland. RSVP by calling 407-331-3059. Learn more at newhopeforkids.org/event/open-house
Buried underneath the wooden floor of a large, house-like office building in Maitland, colorful chalk messages of deep feelings and hope lie scrawled there forever. After two decades of healing hearts in Central Florida, New Hope for Kids is in a new location, and the building’s foundation holds personalized messages from families who have been impacted by the charity.
“We are dancing every night on these beautiful, heartfelt drawing and paintings,” said Gloria Capozzi, volunteer and marketing manager at New Hope for Kids.
After the foundation was laid, New Hope invited current and former families to write messages under the floor to permanently fix words of inspiration and hope in the new home's structure.
The nonprofit’s goal is to further reach children and families in the community who have lost loved ones and help them grieve effectively toward healing. And this bigger, improved space facilitates that mission.
In 11 program rooms and three group session rooms, children are able to heal with methods like socializing in the video game room, releasing frustration and anger out on a punching bag in the hurricane room, and painting and drawing in the arts and crafts room, all while being encouraged to share and reflect on the loved ones they’ve lost.
“We were a little bit afraid when we moved over here that the change would be difficult,” said Marla Sullivan, development director at New Hope for Kids. “But their little faces lit up when they saw the video and game room and all the other activities.”
Capozzi said visitors to New Hope for Kids have asked who lives at the new location on 544 Mayo Ave. when they walk into the colorful, bright building.
“I take that as a compliment because that’s what we’re going for,” Capozzi said. “We want people to feel at home.”
The sense of community surrounding the nonprofit has encouraged people who go through the program as children to then train to become grief facilitators and volunteer with New Hope for Kids once they turn 16.
Sheena Mayo did just that.
The now 22-year-old is pursuing a master’s in social work after finding her passion for this career field because of her experience at New Hope for Kids. She went through the healing program at New Hope for Kids after losing her father when she was 3 years old.
“Having a shared experience helped me to connect with children at New Hope, many [of whom] feel alone and like no one else feels their pain,” Mayo said.
Many members of the New Hope for Kids staff relate to the littles (3-7), middles (8-13) and teens (14-18) going through the programs because they too have lost loved ones.
When Tamari Miller was 17, her mother lost her long battle with cancer, and Miller’s life was completely changed.
“Really, her death didn’t propel me here; it was more the experience of her dying,” said Miller, grief services director at New Hope for Kids. “I was 14 when she was diagnosed with cancer. It was just kind of the waiting. Every year she was still here. And then the moment when I thought she’d still be here was kind of the turning point for me when I realized she was declining.”
Miller was well on her way to becoming a doctor, but that path changed after her mother died, then deciding to pursue a career in professional counseling. Now in her 16th year at New Hope for Kids, Miller has planted a seed of hope in many children who go through the healing process there.
“I can tell you, these kids do so much more for us than we could ever do for them,” she said.
Mayo met Miller when she was 3 years old while going through the New Hope program, and credits her for the inspiration to give back to the community of hope that did so much for her.
“I saw the impact she had on people's lives through her job at New Hope,” Mayo said. “I look up to Tamari and have so much respect for her.”
Miller recalls a moment when Mayo came up to her and said she’s like a second mom to her, and it’s moments like that she’ll never forget.
She always tells volunteers that you don’t know how much of an impact you can really make on these impressionable children.
“[Mayo] said ‘It’s because of you and what you’ve done here that I want to go into counseling,’” Miller said. “And she’s very specific about it. Her entrance essay was about me, her interview was about me, and it’s just amazing.”
That’s one of the reasons why, 60 hours a week, Miller works there to heal more hearts like hers. And every day she’s there, her inspiration is just an inch beneath her feet, a thank you message written inside a red, blue and green chalk heart, to mom.