The mission for many began with one woman in 1985. Sara E. Trollinger gathered a group of her friends to pray for a way to help Central Florida’s troubled teens and their families. With the prayers of five people and just $200, she founded House of Hope Orlando. Thirty years later, the prayers continue, and House of Hope Orlando has grown considerably from its humble beginnings into a nonprofit that offers resolution and reconciliation for families whose teens have left them looking for answers.

Since its founding, the program has had more than 1,200 teens come through its doors and leave on the right track. But, why could House of Hope Orlando do what other programs couldn’t? Trollinger, who now serves as the organization’s president, offers a simple explanation: the program is based on Christian teachings and that’s made all the difference.

“Many years ago, I was a teacher in the public schools. I saw troubled teens in the classrooms. Some were sent away to get help but came back worse than ever. I took a look at the Orange County Juvenile Detention Center and saw how the social service system was nothing more than a revolving door for these teenagers,” Trollinger explained of her opinion. “I knew the negative behavior of these troubled teens would not change unless they could understand life-changing principles based on God’s Word; and so House of Hope was born.”

A deeply committed Christian who accepted her “personal Savior” at a Billy Graham Crusade in 1951, Trollinger saw how her life had changed through her faith and believed the same principles could help teens who had run away from home, behaved violently, performed poorly in school, took drugs, or committed crimes.  Working with dedicated volunteers, she then began to build a program that would utilize these same Christian principles to heal distressed youth, as well as those involved with gangs.

Faith-based learning programs often have connections to large religious organizations. House of Hope Orlando is tied to no specific religion. The organization is a non-denominational, not-for-profit, Christ-centered residential program and an accredited school open to teens ages 13-17, and is a place where they can find hope and healing in a loving, supportive environment. The organization accepts no government funds.

Hope Grows With Education

Recently, House of Hope Orlando expanded its current accredited residential on-campus school, Hope Academy, to include a day-school program with counseling for juveniles ages 13-17. Hope Academy’s new day school program will serve as an alternative for parents who want to put their teens in a safe environment free of external influences that may cause them to act out, such as peer pressure and bullying. The new day school will be unique in that every student and parent will receive individual weekly counseling. In addition, the parents will receive weekly parenting classes. The school will have separate classrooms for males and females, with each room having a maximum of 15 students, which is less than the student/teacher ratio in public middle and high schools in Central Florida. The curriculum will include both the Accelerated Christian Education and Florida Virtual School.

“We are excited to be launching this unique, new program for House of Hope’s Hope Academy.  We believe that today’s parents need a safe, educational placement alternative where they can be at peace and know that their child is receiving a quality education in a safe, loving environment,” said Trollinger. “We currently have a long waiting list of teens to enter our residential program. Because of the serious problems facing all teens today, Hope Academy’s academic and daily counseling program will ensure healing and restoration to the entire family unit, thus enabling them to be victorious over today’s challenges,” Trollinger added.

Help Build A Strong Foundation

The new Hope Academy day school is scheduled to start classes on August 24, 2015, and will run on the same schedule as Orange County Public Schools. As with all schools, the students will need supplies and House of Hope Orlando is seeking the support of the Greater Orlando community to help maximize academic success. To help the students of Hope Academy, you can donate needed items to the school supply drive through August 21. Requested items include:

• folders with pockets on the inside
• colored pencils
• spiral notebooks
• regular pencils
• erasers
• copy paper
• protractors
• legal pads
• markers
• graph paper
• TI30 calculators
• Photoshop software
• art supplies (canvas, paint brushes, paint)

For additional information on the House of Hope Orlando’s Hope Academy school supply drive, please contact Karla Mathis at (407) 843-8686 ext. 308 or houseofhopeorlando@gmail.com. To learn more about House of Hope Orlando, visit HouseOfHopeOrlando.org.