A House of Hope and much more

The sun may be shining a little brighter around the Bethlehem Assembly of God Church on East Fairview Avenue lately. The church’s senior pastor, Rev. Steven Milazzo, was honored by the village and Town of Hempstead with a service citation at the House of Hope gala banquet at the Inn in New Hyde Park on Oct. 14.

Milazzo, along with members of the church’s community outreach ministry, House of Hope, stepped into the spotlight illuminating their dedication to catering to the hearts, minds and souls of the people that surround their daily lives.

Since June 2007, this house, led by Director Dawnelle Miller, has worked to meet the needs of community members. Their vision is to be a bridge of hope to providing life-changing assistance to individuals and families in the New York metropolitan region. To fulfill that vision, they offer many services including a clothing and food pantry where clients have their choice of a variety of items.

“Our food pantries are setup like supermarkets,” said Miller, who worked with Milazzo to start the organization after assessing the need for it here. “We assist people in need…we find elderly people who are not able to get out and maybe on a fixed income, people who are ill who need things, and we want to help them. People need someone to advocate for them and do certain things.”

With today’s economy, many of the individuals who visit the organization are unemployed or use food stamps, according to Miller. There is usually an average of five clients that come in each day, and the house is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. During those hours, the organization tries not to turn anyone away, with each volunteer helping clients sort through clothes or pick nutritious food.