HOUSE OF HOPE accepts young people (ages 12-18) who have a heart and a desire for help. A four-phase program teaches discipline and responsibility needed to set and attain goals as well as the rewards that come with completion. All activities such as school, counseling, physical fitness, life skills (cooking, sewing, gardening, etc) are facilitated at HOUSE OF HOPE. All children, without regard to gender, race, religion or ethnic background are accepted. The length of the program is eight to eighteen months.

Info arriving soon.

Sometimes issues we hear discussed on the television or in the newspaper just don’t strike us as reality. Our limited vision of the world surrounding us can restrict our ability to see real people with real hurts right around the corner from where we live our lives. Even if the truth does manage to find its way into our comfort zones long enough to get us to really think about the legitimate problems the young people of our nation and community face, the facts can be so overwhelming we lose sight of the fact that there are things we can do to help. That’s understandable! The problems seem to know no bounds:

Eating Disorders

• 11% of young people in America suffer from either anorexia nervosa or bulimia.
• 15% of teens in Grand Traverse County have engaged in bulimic or anorexic behavior.
• 90-95% of all patients with eating disorders are female adolescents.
• Two out of three teenage girls surveyed were trying to lose weight.
• Only 50% of those with eating disorders report being cured; about 6% of serious cases die.

Family Relationships / Broken Homes

• 1 out of 2 marriages end in divorce.
• Almost 1 out of 3 children live in a single parent home.
• Parents spend 40% less time with their children today then they did a generation ago.
• 1 out of 5 teens has not had a conversation with their parents that lasted 10 minutes in more than a month.
• 31% of students in Grand Traverse County say their parents never help them with homework, never talk with them about what they are doing in school, never ask about homework, and never go to any meetings or events at school.

Gay and Lesbian Behavior

• Less than 1% of teens under the age of 18 in Traverse City affirm that they are homosexual.
• Music and Television
• Teens are glued to the TV on average for 5 hours per day.
• Teens listen to an average of forty hours of music per week.   Most of the teen music aims at aggressive and violent messages about sex and drugs.

Prostitution

• 95% of prostitutes are runaways.
• At any time there are 600,000 adolescents involved in prostitution.
• The average runaway’s first act of prostitution takes place at 14 years old.
• About 1 billion dollars is spent on prostitution each year in the United States.

Sexual Activity

• 50% of all teens are sexually active.
• 8 in 10 girls and 6 in 10 boys wish they had waited until they were older before having sex.
• Due to sexual activity 15.3 million people contract a sexually transmitted disease and 2/3 of that number are teenagers.
• Experts estimate that 90% of all rapes are never reported.
• In Michigan Public Schools grades 9-12, 44% of females and 45% of males have had sexual intercourse.
• In Michigan Public Schools grades 9-12, 31% of females and 31% of males have had sexual intercourse in the past 3 months.
• In Michigan Public Schools grades 9-12, 12% of females and 15% of males have already had at least 4 sexual partners.

Sexual Assault

• Somewhere in America a woman is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. www.rainn.org
• Out of 7,000 college girls surveyed on 32 different campuses, 1 in 8 were victims of Date Rape and 1 in 12 men admitted to having forced a woman to have intercourse.
• 68% of rape victims knew their assailant. www.rainn.org
• According to the Justice Department, 1 in 2 rape victims is under age 18, 1 in 6 is under age 12.
• 1 out of 3 girls have been sexually abused before age 18.
• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 boys are sexually molested before 18.
• In America a woman is sexually assaulted every two minutes.
• 1 in 4 rapes take place in a public area such as a parking garage.

Substance Abuse

• Junior and Senior High School students consume 1.1 billion dollars worth on beer.
• Medically alcohol is defined not only as a drug, but a narcotic drug. Since it meets the qualifications of altering moods and behavior, causes dependence and addiction.
• Alcohol is classified as a poison therefore receiving the terminology of intoxication upon over consuming.
• 18% of teens drink more than once per month, 18% drink regularly, and 25% smoke regularly.
• 2 million American teens start smoking each year and 75% continue to smoke for 10 years after and most for their entire lifetime.
• 10% of youth ages 12-17 report using illicit drugs.
• An estimated 1.8 million Americans 12 and older are current users of cocaine.
• Youth ages 12-17 who currently smoked cigarettes were 11.4% times more likely to use illicit drugs and 16 times more likely to drink heavily.
• 56% of youth reported marijuana as easy to obtain.
• 21% of youth reported heroin as easy to obtain.
• 14% of youth reported being approached by someone selling drugs during the thirty days prior to the poll.
• 113 million youth ages 12-17 reported currently drinking alcohol.
• 33 million youth ages 12-17 admit to being binge drinkers (meaning 5 or more drinks in one occasion).
• 12 million youth ages 12-17 were heavy drinkers or otherwise classified as alcoholics.
• 77% of Michigan high school students had tried alcohol, 67% have tried cigarette smoking, 41% have tried marijuana, and 18% have used another type of illegal drug (i.e., LSD, PCP, ecstasy, mushrooms, speed, ice, or heroin) at least once in their life.

Suicide

• In the U.S. more people kill themselves than are killed by all other causes.
• 8 of 10 people who kill themselves give clues before doing so.
• Every 8 seconds in America a teen commits suicide.
• There is an 80% chance that people who fail an attempted suicide will try again.
• 10% of girls contemplate suicide while 7.5% of guys do.
• 22 % of students in Michigan have seriously considered suicide, while 8% have actually attempted suicide.

Hope

Regardless of thesestartling statistics, the solution to the problem is Jesus!

The staff at House of Hope work tirelessly to provide a place where hurting teens can find the life-giving message of Jesus Christ. We believe that the Bible knows what it’s talking about when it declares, “Love Never Fails!” (1 Corinthians 13:8). We would ask you to prayerfully consider how you can get involved to help the next generation come to know the Hope that only comes from Him.

Young people may be 40% of the population, but they are 100% of our future!