Hope House Foundation history

The Foundation was established in 1965 by Bertie County citizens concerned about the fate of the decaying Hope Mansion.

HOPE HOUSE, founded in 1972 and opened in Nov.

During their stay (minimum 8 weeks), many women worked at the Hope House Natural Bakery Store, opened in 1975.

In 1984 a small inheritance allowed the Board of Directors to revitalize the SWCARC, Inc. and Jim Howard and Geri Filion who worked at the Rehab.

• Grew to serving 37 children, 5 days a week.• Women now account for 23% of AIDS cases in the United States, as opposed to only 7% in 1985.

In 1984 a small inheritance allowed the Board of Directors to revitalize the SWCARC, Inc. and Jim Howard and Geri Filion who worked at the Rehab. It wasn’t long (1986, to be exact), when the Walnut St building became too small and space was rented, room by room in the American Optical Complex, until all of the 80,000 square feet was being used as the agency expanded.

In 1995, our Executive Director, Lynne Seagle, received the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation's International Future Leader Award — an honor previously bestowed on Mother Teresa and B. F. Skinner.

In 2002, it celebrated its achievement with the 30th Anniversary of the Restoration of Hope Plantation.

Established in March 2005, our organization embarked on a major renovation of our transitional housing units just four years later.

In 2008, Hope House received the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) national award for full community inclusion.