Thanks to everyone for coming by for our reveal today, and for those who joined us on Facebook Live! We’re very excited to be revealing this gift to the community, in appreciation for all of the community support which HOPE and our sister project the Open Door Café have received this spring. It truly has been uplifting during the most challenging days our country has experienced. This magnificent creation is the work of our friend and local artist, Jen Otey, which she calls the “2020 Pandemic Prayer for a Peaceful Transformation.” As we studied these walls and our work on this mini-campus with housing affordability work inside HOPE, and our twin food security programs HOPE Packs and the Café across the way, we wanted to offer some both bold and inspiring. We didn’t realize we were doing something particularly timely as well. We knew from the start that we wanted to incorporate Emily Dickinson’s 1861 poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers.” Jen had this image on her mind as well. Dickinson’s poem suggests hope is the bird within us all, that tweets its song regardless of circumstances, through times of difficulty and doesn’t ask anything of us, never stopping. To quote, Hope is the thing with wings That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without words, And never stops at all. We did allow Jen a little artistic license with the substitution of wings for feathers. I think what you see now is inspirational, entertaining, and provocative. The butterfly transforming from a caterpillar suggests we will all transform into something more beautiful after these trying times. Thank you Jen, for making this a more beautiful place, and thanks to all who make our mission a bit more attainable every day. Please consider a lunch at the Café, take home one of these flyers about this work, post pictures of yourself between the wings, and use the hashtag #HealingWytheHope | 
