How’s it going?
Mid-August 2018 we launched the Give Hope RV and welcomed 16 families with a total of 88 people served.
As we served families during the 2019 camping season, we had families come from near and far. They all came with great anticipation of adventure and connection. We had families from Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska.
The Give Hope RV hosted a total of 35 families during the 2019 camping season with 148 kids coming to enjoy camping and the great outdoors….many for the first time!!
The 2020 season we had 177 families apply to stay with us at the RV. The need for respite is great, and we are thrilled to serve this season.
We had 12 women that served these 35 families throughout their stay cleaning, washing linens and stocking the camper for the next guest. Without them this summer would have NEVER run as efficiently and effectively as it did. We are so THANKFUL for them and their service.
In 2021 with three (3) RVs equipped to host and serve families. We had 358 families register to stay with us this season from ten (10) states. We now have 3 locations allowing us to serve 118 families.
In March of 2023 Melissa was awarded Fox 17 Pay it Forward Person of the Month for her work with Give Hope. You can watch the interview here or by clicking on the image above.
Throughout the 2022 season we will continue to operate out of three (3) locations with four (4) RVs. We have seen registrations come in from 24 states + Canada. The need is great and word about the Give Hope RV is spreading like wildfire. We have had over 600 registrations come in this season. Our desire for growth and expansion is great; now we just wait on God’s timing.
In the 2023 season we launched a new program that allows us to work with 8 additional campgrounds that donate camping time to foster and adoptive families that already own a tent, pop-up or RV. We saw over 700 registrations come in from 22 states collectively for both our Give Hope RV program and our Affiliate Camping program. In 2023 we were able to serve 250 families in total.
In the 2024 camping season we added 5 campgrounds to our affiliate camping program bringing us to 13 campgrounds offering FREE camping to foster and adoptive families that already own a tent, pop-up or RV. These 13 campgrounds are in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. We also collaborated with Outdoor Adventures and Lake Michigan Family Camping giving us more space to give free camping to families without an RV. Working with Outdoor Adventures allowed us to give 20 camping spaces in two of their RVs at their Grand Haven and West Branch locations and Lake Michigan Family Camping gave Give Hope 20 camping spaces in platform tents! We are still operating out of our 4 Give Hope RVs located at TriPonds Family Camp Resort in Allegan, MI and Kibby Creek Campground in Ludington, MI. With around 600 registrations coming in this season from 17 states we were able to serve 289 families.
In the 2025 camping season we continued to grow our affiliate camping program with a total of 17 campgrounds offering FREE camping to foster and adoptive families that already own a tent, pop-up or RV. These campgrounds are located in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, Alabama and Texas. We continued collaborating with Outdoor Adventures and Lake Michigan Family Camping giving us more space to give free camping to families without an RV. This season we saw more than 800 registrations come through and we were able to serve 285 families from 29 different states.
2026 saw growth and Gods faithfulness. We continued to partner with the same 17 campgrounds that offered FREE camping to foster and adoptive families, but we also added a new hosting location bringing us to FIVE Give Hope RVs. Outdoor Adventures opened their doors to our Give Praise location allowing Give Hope to serve an additional 20 families.