A Hope and a Future
We’ve all heard about it: children being abused or trafficked, living in fear—often of the very family members or friends that they trusted to keep them safe. Perhaps we’ve even seen it. But so often we feel powerless to help, to rescue these children and give them a future of hope. Hope is exactly what Jimmy Hingle and Curt Keay of the Exchange Club of West St. Tammany wanted to give when they established CAC-Hope House in 1994, creating the third Child Advocacy Center in the entire state of Louisiana. The response to their efforts was extremely supportive: in 1996, the Northshore Home Builder’s Association built their headquarters in Covington. Six years later in 2002, the Junior League of Greater Covington played a tremendous role in expanding Hope House, which enabled them to provide counseling services. Then, in 2006, Hope House established a site in Bogalusa that extended their reach to the entire 22nd Judicial District. Last year in 2020, efforts by the In Jesus’ Name Foundation enabled another expansion of the facility. An independent, non-profit organization dedicated to ending the cycle of child abuse in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, Hope House provides a path to recovery and a bridge to justice for these young victims of abuse. “Hope House begins and continues the healing process for child abuse victims and works with law enforcement to help ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice,” explains Thomas Mitchell, Executive Director of CAC-Hope House.
