Hope Afield announces future plans

BY BRUCE BRANUM

The Greenville Standard

 

Hope Afield recently held their annual Fall Benefit Dinner this past Thursday, Oct. 7. CEO and founder Ken Kilpatrick said, “It was a great evening of fellowship, fun and celebration of Hope Afield at our Annual Benefit Dinner.”

At the dinner, Kilpatrick announced future plans to construct a resource center that will house a classroom, commercial kitchen, and pantry.

He indicated they have raised $105,000 towards their $170,000 goal.

Kilpatrick also gave sincere thanks to all the attendees, sponsors, partners, and volunteers who assisted in making the dinner a great success and the speaker for the evening, Richard Deem, CEO of the Montgomery Area Food Bank.

Hope Afield’s mission is to provide participants a place “where the Great Outdoors is the classroom for finding hope, healing and purpose for a wounded spirit. Our goal is to provide a place where guests can relax, make new friends, gain new skills, enjoy new experiences and develop a healed spirit that is life altering.”

For more than 25 years, Kilpatrick and his wife, Jan, have been trying to help children whose lives have become difficult or who seem to be looking for a place to fit in.

They started their faith-based work in Montgomery, but moved back to Greenville in 2016, which is when they started Hope Afield.

The majority of Hope Afield’s projects take place at Blessings Farm, a 162-acre farm next to Antioch East Baptist Church.

“One of the things we learned is that if we could get kids out into nature,” said Kilpatrick, “then we could have meaningful moments that we couldn’t have in the classroom.”

“There’s something about being outside that makes a difference in attitude,” said Kilpatrick. “We are looking to do all we can to impact this county and the neighboring county of Lowndes.”

Children who visit the farm participate in work projects to help build their work ethic. They are involved in building experiences, play fun games, care for the farm animals, fish, and even get to see the farm to table process.

For more information visit www.hopeafield.com or their Facebook page www.facebook.com/hopeafield.