Diary - New Hope of Indiana

November 21, 2022

New Louise Group Home Opens

After many months of planning, New Hope is excited to announce the opening of a new residential home – The Louise group home! This new home, located near 71st and Zionsville Road, replaces one that was formerly located in northern Hamilton County. Due to its location, the original home became challenging for New Hope to sustain due to distance, staffing, and referrals. New Hope made the decision to close that residence and purchase one that would better meet the needs of those we support. As a result, the women moved to different New Hope homes that better suited their needs. Fortunately,...

November 18, 2022

New Hope’s Halls of Gratitude

“An attitude of gratitude goes a long way when it comes to physical and emotional healing.” -Jill Bolte Taylor Having gratitude is something simple you can do every day that can improve your well-being. It is easy to get bogged down with what’s going wrong in our lives, so remembering what we are grateful for can help improve our outlooks. New Hope of Indiana’s Achieving Inclusion & Meaning (AIM) program is focusing on adding the practice of gratitude into their everyday lives. When they were brainstorming a project for Thanksgiving this year, they decided that one centered around gratitude would be...

November 3, 2022

Ian Wallace’s Story

Jeff and Sally Wallace have always wanted nothing but the best for their son Ian, who is diagnosed with severe autism. According to Jeff, “He is a happy, engaging, non-verbal autistic man.” The Wallace family wanted to find a home for Ian where he would receive care and could live his best, most independent life. His parents felt that they were losing the ability to take good care of him and provide the structure he needed to thrive. As they age, they want to ensure they have a long-term plan that will provide Ian with the best possible support.The search...

November 3, 2022

Mark Bower’s Story

When Mark Bowers was moving into a New Hope home 13 years ago, his parents had a fun way of announcing it. On the outside of a suitcase, they attached a sign that read “I’m Moving.” They took a picture of Mark standing next to the suitcase with a big smile on his face and sent it to their entire extended family. Mark’s parents, Tom and Sheila, remember that time fondly. “We were full of hope that for Mark, this would be a great partnership and success. And it has been.” When the Bowers moved Mark into a residential program, they...

October 31, 2022

Erica Pushor’s Story

Erica Pushor is a social butterfly. Although she is independent, she loves to build friendships and values the close relationships she builds with others.When she was 18, Erica wanted to “be on her own.” Erica has an intellectual disability, and while she is independent, she needed support when she wanted to move out of her father’s home. When she and her father found New Hope, they felt like it was a good fit and Erica moved into a New Hope residential home. Her father, Patrick, said, “I’m really happy with where she lives. Our faith is important to us and...

October 24, 2022

Costa N. Miller Scholarship Recipient

New Hope is fortunate to have wonderful associates who carry out our mission every day. We know how amazing they are and are thrilled when others outside of our organization recognize them for their outstanding work too. This month, our own Teyana Lockett was awarded the Costa N. Miller Scholarship from our trade association, Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Inc. (INARF) at their annual conference. Teyana has served as a Direct Support Professional (DSP) with New Hope since 2016 and recently, she was promoted to a Team Leader. In addition to working full time, she has been going to school to...

October 21, 2022

A Note from Allison: October 2022

Greetings all! I cannot believe it is almost Halloween! I hope you all had a chance to get out and enjoy last weekend. Wasn’t it beautiful! October continues to be a very busy month because we have so many good things going on! We started the month off with our annual Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Inc. (INARF) conference. At this conference, our associates were able to interact with others in the disability services world to share and hear ideas so that all providers can continuously innovate and provide the best possible level of care to the individuals we serve. This event...

October 21, 2022

The Meaningful Work of Vocational Services

As we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October, New Hope is proud of the work our Vocational Services team does to help individuals with any type of disability find meaningful work. New Hope launched its Vocational Services program in 2016 and since its inception, has helped hundreds of people find employment in Central Indiana. New Hope's Vocational Services program is led by Patrick Mitchell and supported by Miguel Garcia, who serves as a Supported Employment Specialist. They work with individuals on a one-to-one basis throughout the process, supporting program participants at every step. The demand for this program is...

October 21, 2022

Annual Fall Festival a Success

This October, we invited the individuals we serve to join us for our annual Fall Festival celebration. We moved the party from our outdoor shelter house to inside due to cooler weather conditions. The Fall Festival was a great time for the individuals we serve to get together for socialization and fun activities. Due to the pandemic, many of the individuals we serve had not had the opportunity to see each other in a while. It was fun to reconnect with each other and catch up. The event kicked off with music played by our DJ. Fall Festival attendees didn’t waste...

September 23, 2022

Letter from Allison: September 2022

Happy fall! I am not a pumpkin spice gal, but I sure like the cooler temperatures and the colors of fall! I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather as well! I am sure I tell you every month about how busy it is around New Hope, but this month, I really mean it! This month we were able to celebrate our DSPs during DSP week, which was wonderful! New Hope relies on its DSPs to provide the exemplary services we offer, and we are so fortunate to have so many wonderful, loving and dedicated DSPs, some who have worked here...

September 23, 2022

Celebration of Life 2022

On September 29th at 10:30 a.m., the New Hope of Indiana family will honor and celebrate the lives of six individuals that we have lost in the past year. We will celebrate through prayer, scripture readings, songs, as well as personal stories and memories. The event will be held at our Payne Road location in the outdoor shelter house. Below is information about the individuals we will be celebrating. Keith Abel7/4/1965- 6/25/2022 Keith was served by New Hope for 20 years, residing at Winston 1 for the majority of those years. He also attended New Hope’s Day Service Program. Keith worked at Goodwill...

September 23, 2022

2022 Voter Registration Day

National Voter Registration Day was on September 20th this year, and New Hope of Indiana welcomed Indiana Disability Rights and Self-Advocates of Indiana to give a speech on voter empowerment to the individuals we serve. The main goal of the presentation was to inform the individuals we serve on how to register to vote if they wish to do so and provide them with information on their voting rights. One aspect of the presentation involved preparing to vote. This included information on why voting is so important, a history of voting, and different levels of government for which you can vote. It also...

September 23, 2022

Dr. Patrick Wagner Retires

Dr. Patrick Wagner, who has served as a psychologist at New Hope of Indiana for over 44 years, is retiring. He has been with us since we opened our doors! He served as the staff psychologist until we began our transition of integrating the individuals we serve out into the community. Then, he became our consultant psychologist. Dr. Wagner provided supervision to our behavioral consultants regarding the behavior support plans and psychological concerns of the individuals we serve. He also participated in weekly psychiatric rounds with the psychiatrist and behavioral consultants at New Hope. On Wednesday, September 21st, we held a...

September 21, 2022

Castleton Day Services Moves to Payne Road

On September 1st, we welcomed Castleton Day Services to our Payne Road location. Due to our lease not being renewed at our previous Castleton location, the team transitioned to Payne Road after being in their former location for 6 years.We had just a few weeks notice about the move so a quick transition to Payne Road was made. The Castleton associates pitched in right away and did what they could to assist in the moving process. Our maintenance team did a great job of packing up the former facility and moving everything into the new space at Payne Road. Carolyn Short,...

September 20, 2022

DSP Week 2022

On September 12th-16th, we celebrated our amazing Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) for the incredible work they do every day. This is an annual celebration event where we honor these hard-working individuals. At New Hope of Indiana, around 73% of our 335 employees are DSPs. Therefore, our mission largely depends on their service! To celebrate, some of our employees decorated the hallway near the employee entrance. Bright sunflowers with notes of ‘thanks’ were posted on the walls and balloons, paper kites, banners, and artwork drawn by individuals we served by New Hope were hung as well. DSPs also received a thank you...

August 30, 2022

A Note From Allison: August 2022

Greetings! Thanks to many of you reading this note, New Hope has had a great month of August! As you can see from the other Heartbeat articles, the 5th Annual Silver Cup Celebration was an amazing success! I cannot possibly thank everyone who supported this event enough! It really does take a village to put on the Silver Cup! Thanks to Jenny Pfeil, New Hope’s Development Director, and her committee; event sponsors, table captains, our volunteers for the event; our board; donors; silent auction bidders; and program participants! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Connecting Passion into Potential was this year’s Silver...

August 30, 2022

Clients’ Talents on Display

At this year’s Silver Cup Celebration, the passions of the individuals served by New Hope were on display for our community to see! Due to COVID, individuals served by New Hope had not been in attendance since 2019. Attendees were thrilled to have them back with us this year. Each attendee was given a painted rock photo holder to take home with them. Individuals served by New Hope have been working on making these photo holders all year. Each one has a positive message written on it to remind us all to live New Hope’s core values. Art in several forms was...

August 30, 2022

Celebrating New Hope’s Incredible Partners

Last month, we celebrated the four New Hope associates who have gone above and beyond this past year. This month, we’d like to thank two individuals who have made a positive difference this past year for New Hope and the individuals we serve. Dick Hester – The 2022 Partner in Service A long-time community volunteer and leader, Dick Hester is an active supporter of New Hope and the individuals we serve. A connector at heart, he has shared the New Hope mission throughout Central Indiana by organizing volunteer and community engagement events with New Hope. Not only does Dick volunteer his time, he...

August 30, 2022

Silver Cup Celebration

On August 18th, New Hope of Indiana held its 5th annual Silver Cup Celebration. We welcomed nearly 300 attendees to our new venue this year, the Ritz Charles. Our theme was “Hope Unites – Connecting Passion with Potential.” Attendees and individuals served by New Hope were asked to share their passions so we could celebrate the many things we have in common. The event was a great success, raising just over $115,000 for the incredible individuals served by New Hope. Our guest speaker was IndyCar team owner and disability advocate Sam Schmidt, who shared his inspiring story of hope and resilience. After a...

July 26, 2022

Remembering Our Friends

Keith Abel 7/4/1965 - 6/25/2022 Keith was served by New Hope for 20 years, residing at Winston 1 for the majority of those years. He also attended New Hope's Day Service Program. Keith worked at Goodwill Industries for many years, enjoyed gardening and was an active member of his church choir for a very long time. Our thoughts and prayers are with Keith's family, caregivers, Winston 1 individuals, Day Services individuals and all who called Keith a friend. Susan Carrico 10/21/1958 - 7/14/2022 Susan came to New Hope in 2002 and lived at Parker 1. Susan attended day services at Noble for many years, and...