A Personal Message From
 

Before You Continue…Please Allow Me to Share Our Story

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My name is David Nichols, and I have had the privilege of serving as the Founder and President of Hand UP Ministries since 1996.

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Before you explore our website, I would like to ask one small favor.

Please take a few moments to look beyond the words homeless, formerly incarcerated, or ex-felon.

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Those words may describe where many of our residents have been, but they do not define who they are today-or who They can become tomorrow.

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Nearly thirty years ago, Hand Up Ministries began with one simple belief:

Every person deserves the opportunity to rebuild their life.

 

That belief led us to open our first home for eighteen men who had nowhere to go after leaving prison.  They had served their sentences, yet many had no family waiting, no job, no transportation, and no place to sleep.

We believed there had to be a better way.

 

Today, Hand Up Ministries has grown to four campuses (with a 5th campus coming soon), serving approximately 400 men.  Every resident who comes to us receives more than a bed.  He is offered structure, accountability, encouragement, employment assistance, transportation, counseling, spiritual guidance, and the opportunity to begin again.

 

As you visit the pages of this website, you will meet remarkable people.

You will meet residents whose lives have been transformed.

You will meet chaplains who once needed help themselves and now devote their lives to helping others.

You will meet staff members who understand the journey because they have walked it.

You will meet men who now work, worship, mentor others, and contribute to our communities every day.

Their stories are not stories of perfection.

They are stories of redemption.

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My hope is that before you leave this website, you will see Hand Up Ministries not simply as a housing program, but as a ministry of compassion, accountability, faith, and second chances.

 

Hand Up Ministries isn’t about excusing the past.

It’s about helping people build a different future. That distinction matters.

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I think that is why I have been able to do this work for nearly thirty years.  I have never pretended that change is easy.  Instead, I have created a place where men are expected to live responsibly, work when they are able, follow the rules, grow in faith, and contribute to the community around them.

 

"Hope does not erase the past.  It gives someone the courage to build a better future.”

That, to me, is Hand Up Ministries.

This website is a story people can understand and support!  A story that the website visitor can say “I understand now.”

 

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our mission.

On behalf of our staff, chaplains, volunteers, donors, and hundreds of residents whose lives have been touched through this ministry…

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Welcome to Hand Up Ministries.

May God bless you,

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David Nichols

Founder/President

Hand Up Ministries, Inc.