Ice cream purchases will help Hope House

Volunteers at Hope House Visitation Center are working to raise money to keep the non-profit organization in business.

Carole Bopp, Hope House director, said the center lost 54 percent of its funding after Mahoning County Job and Family Services terminated its two-year contract. She said fundraisers, such as Friends and Family Night at Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt, are going to help make money.

From 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday at two Handel’s locations, 4251 Belmont Ave. in Liberty and 1491 Boardman-Canfield Road in Boardman, 20 percent of the total purchases will be donated to Hope House.

“It will be a day in which everyone will enjoy their favorite ice cream,” Bopp said. “Show your support, along with your friends and family, to make this a very special day for everyone involved.”

The center, 660 W. Earle Ave. on Youngstown’s South side, was founded in 2000, Bopp said.

“We are Mahoning County’s only supervised visitation center,” she said. “We keep the parents apart and the kids having a happy visit.”

Bopp said the center provides a safe environment for children whose parents are going through a divorce, custody battle or having domestic violence issues. She said the center, which can also be used as an exchange point for parents, services 89 children and 75 adults per week.

Read more in Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com