Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement, or HOPE, did just that, hoped to find a person to fill the shoes of former Executive Director Joseph Zanovitch. The organization did not look too far when it chose Alice Sueltenfuss, a nine-year supporter of HOPE.
Sueltenfuss is a retired special education teacher who has always felt a passion for helping others.
“I have to have helping others in my life, whatever that looks like,” she said. “It’s something that makes me whole.”
Sueltenfuss found HOPE, nine years ago when she sought volunteer opportunities for herself and her family. Together they made and served means in the Soup Angels kitchen.
After a year and a half, Sueltenfuss became a program director and later the shelter director in 2017. It was in 2017 that HOPE began its sheltering program, housing individuals suffering from homelessness on a consistent basis from November to April.
When the program began, it consisted of a few individuals being housed on a first-come-first-served basis in one local church. The program has expanded to include another church, four SafeLot sites and collaboration with the city of Longmont and Boulder County, Sueltenfuss said.
Sueltenfuss was tasked with creating and organizing the sheltering program, she said.
Although, Sueltenfuss enjoyed being the shelter director she felt it was time to see what else she could do to help HOPE grow before she retires.
“I have a lot of energy left and a lot of ideas,” she said. “I have a big learning curve … but I still plan being active at the shelter and at SafeLots and at the door helping people.”
One of her first acts as executive director was to create a team-building exercise for ther HOPE staff. While some organizations might host a special dinner, a retreat or maybe a party, Sueltenfuss stayed true to herself and reached out to help others first.
After the Kings Soopers shooting in Boulder in March, the grocery store decided to donate all the remaining food in the store to local food pantries. The Westview Presbyterian Round Pantry received several pallets worth of food and was struggling to find volunteers to help sort it for families to take home, Sueltenfuss said.
She and six other volunteers made up of HOPE staff and volunteers spent a few hours helping the pantry sort food for local residents to later take home.
The Round Pantry has been good to the people who utilize HOPE’s programs, Sueltenfuss said adding she felt excited for the opportunity to give back.
Sueltenfuss is most excited to learn more about other local organizations which might collaborate and network with HOPE to bring them all closer to the goal of connecting people with permanent housing, she said.
“We are all looking for assistance and we are all looking to help some population within our community … I want that to be my focus, that we are collaborating,” she said.
For her first staff meeting as executive director, Sueltenfuss brought in momentoes from three past clients who meant a lot to her. These three people had passed away and left a hole in her heart, she said.
These momentoes not only represented the people she had lost but also the primary goal she would set for the HOPE staff and herself, to connect people with services faster, she said.
She hopes she can combine the efforts of HOPE and other organizations to make sure that no person goes without the services they need.
“I think when we get better at assessing people, instead of just offering them a meal and a blanket, when we get better at assessing their needs and writing goals and plans of action … when we can progress in our learning of what is successful to us then we can afford to connect individuals to resources and do it sooner rather than later,” Sueltenfuss said.
Although her role within the organization will take her away from seeing the clients each day, Sueltenfuss said it is still very important to her to connect with them as often as she can.
“I think my challenge will be to experience the new learning but not lose sight of why HOPE started, which is saving lives … There has to be some time, maybe not every day, but there has to be some time when you interact with people you represent. That keeps me humble and it makes me appreciate the hard work,” she said.
