An Open Letter to Partners of Friendship House and the Larger Roanoke Community

Dear friend,

For the past three years, Restoring Hope Roanoke and Friendship House Roanoke have partnered together on numerous occasions to minister to our Roanoke neighbors. We’ve also worked together to mobilize and train the local church as it strives to faithfully love its neighbor and glorify God well.  As we’ve worked together, it has been clear that the missions of each organization, while distinct, really complement the other. For example, Restoring Hope’s church equipping and mobilizing efforts could easily go hand in hand with Friendship House’s ministry to meet the needs of those struggling in poverty or who are recently-arrived refugees.   

In 2022, leadership from both organizations entered into conversation and prayer about the possibility of the two organizations becoming one. Through this process it has become clear to us that combining our efforts altogether would increase our effectiveness. Our collective ability to serve and empower those in need in the Roanoke Valley—while also mobilizing the local church—would be multiplied greatly if we were ministering together daily. A strategic partnership could combine the strengths, resources, and expertise of both organizations to enable us to be more impactful.

As a result, it is with great excitement that we would like to announce that beginning February 1, 2023, Restoring Hope began the transition to become a part of Friendship House Roanoke. Partners of Restoring Hope will still be able to recognize everything they’ve loved about Restoring Hope that made it such a unique and important ministry in Roanoke. Restoring Hope staff and board members are transitioning over to Friendship House. Trainings and conferences—such as Faith & Finances, Jobs for Life, and Helping Without Hurting—will all continue to operate. And the new web platform to connect those in need with churches and organizations that can help— Link2Hope—will be moving forward as well.

As a program of Friendship House, Restoring Hope will still be operating as actively as it had been in the past. In fact, the expectation is that the work of the Restoring Hope Program will expand as it provides a great opportunity to empower those within the already-existing programs of Friendship House. Further, we also aim to be able to train and mobilize the large base of partnering churches of Friendship House. Because of this, it will be crucial that those individuals, businesses, and churches that supported Restoring Hope continue to do so. 

This is an exciting time for Friendship House and Restoring Hope! Evangelical Christians cooperating across denominational lines is a blessing of the Spirit’s work in Roanoke and we are praying that God is honored and glorified in a greater way because of it.  We ask for you to join us in regular prayer as we take these next steps. We also cherish your continued partnership as we offer a Christ-centered, gospel-focused response to poverty. We truly believe the Lord can change lives and our city!

If you have any questions or would like to talk more about this transition, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your regular contacts for Friendship House or Restoring Hope. You can also reach out to Aaron Dowdy, Executive Director of Friendship House.

Thank you for partnering and praying,