Hands of Hope America Four Corners Community Center recently celebrated the opening of its second location in the 4 Corners community. Members of the South Lake Chamber of Commerce hosted the ribbon cutting and Lake County Commissioner Doug Shields provided welcoming remarks
Brittany Timmons, director of community strategies and initiatives at The Community Foundation of South Lake,(CFSL) attended the opening ceremony and proudly described the helping hand given by the Foundation to HOHA. “We (CFSL) recognized the lack of and need for services in the 4 Corners area of South Lake for our youth and knew we needed to take action. As a result, we granted $15,000 to Hands of Hope to inaugurate the first Community Center for youth. Our leadership recognizes that we have to work together in order to create the level of impact needed in the community. It was organic that we expanded our partnership with HOHA and walked alongside them to increase their programming in the 4 Corners”.
Hands of Hope America Four Corners Community Center was founded in 2019 and is a community-driven, non-profit organization dedicated to assisting individuals and families facing food insecurity, and America’s at-risk youths through mentorship, leadership training, team building, counseling, tutoring, and much more. The Founder and Chief Executive Officer Evelisse Bookhout relates that she was raised by a single mom that worked in one of America’s roughest and ruthless jail systems as a Corrections Officer. She lived in an impoverished community in New York City, and life as a poor minority was not easy. Her childhood was filled with emotional and psychological struggles. She states, “I became an at-risk youth at 13 years old when I became rebellious, disrespectful toward my mom, truant in school, used drugs and associated with gangs.
Since then, she has obtained her GED, served 8 years in the United States Army, worked with children and adults with disabilities, became a Certified Nursing Assistant helping veterans and the geriatric population, and mentor at-risk youth in the local community. She obtained her Associate’s Degree in General Studies at Valencia State College and is currently in her fourth year of college aiming to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work Practices.
Her goal is to obtain her Master’s Degree in Clinical Counseling for individuals and families struggling with depression, anxiety, bipolar, self-worth, identity, suicide, and other social or mental health issues. She states, “I accessed invaluable experiences and knowledge, and I want to see more of this type of growth in Central Florida and allow youths to be exposed to the same opportunities that have been given to me”.
