No Family Is Homeless: Bridge of Hope offers vital connections, services for unhoused mothers
January 14, 2025

Published in The BURG | December 30, 2024 | by Phyllis Zimmerman
Brenda Strawbridge understands homelessness in a very personal way.
She’s director of development for Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area, a program for single mothers facing homelessness.
“I have been in the shoes of a lot of these moms,” said the Harrisburg resident. “I truly want to see these moms do better. This program truly is transformative. We’re changing people’s lives.”
The Harrisburg-area affiliate was founded in 2007 by a group of local women in response to the growing need for services for single women and children. They are a “faith-based organization dedicated to ending homelessness, one family at a time,” Strawbridge said.
The local affiliate is part of a national network established in 13 U.S. states using a three-way partnership of single mothers and their children who face homelessness, church-based volunteers who offer practical support and encouragement, and professional staff.
“We don’t bring in any moms unless they have neighborhood volunteers,” Strawbridge stated.
Locally, the “Neighborhood” program utilizes eight or 10 neighbor volunteers from 25 participating “Christian faith communities” in Dauphin, Cumberland and York counties, plus a neighborhood resource specialist. The organization’s stated vision is: “No family is homeless.”
Dianna Thomas, of Lancaster, is the organization’s director of administrative services after joining the Harrisburg-area team in 2022 as a program support specialist. Thomas’ greatest challenge, she said, is finding housing for the program’s participants.
“The market and affordability for housing is horrible,” she said. “We try to focus on making relationships with landlords because some moms have bad credit, so it’s very difficult for them to find housing on their own.”
In addition to Thomas, the affiliate includes Executive Director Kevin Lutz, who leads the team, and lead case Manager Heidi Cardenas-Weaver, who works on the front lines with mothers and children.
Since the Harrisburg Area affiliate has no central location, it can’t offer onsite housing to its clients. Instead, it seeks landlords willing to negotiate with staff on behalf of families. In exchange, landlords can count on “the stability of timely rental payments on behalf of our families,” according to the organization’s website.
Another challenge for the organization, not surprisingly, is funding.
“Since we’re fully donor-funded, we need to bring in more money for more moms,” Strawbridge said. “In 2024, we’ve helped 15 families. For 2025, we hope to have 18. Our biggest challenge is getting the word out there about us to as many people as possible.”
Bridge of Hope participants are covered for basic needs, financial support, neighboring, service opportunities, and financial support/education. Rather than focusing on the short-term, the program lasts a full 18 to 24 months, enough time and opportunity for initiating long-term change.
Basic needs include diapers, gift cards for gasoline, children’s pajamas, transportation, housing and much more. “Neighboring” involves 10 or so volunteers from participating churches who host monthly gatherings with program families.
Service opportunities cover childcare, prepared meals, rides, gathering sites and more, all provided by volunteers. Financial support includes family sponsorship opportunities for area businesses and individuals.
Faith, a Harrisburg Area graduate, said that it was a “major pick-me-up” when she came to the program with her two young children.
“I think it was mostly spiritually for me because I couldn’t believe that there would be people who would be there to support me and to help me, down to the neighborhood volunteers and things like that,” Faith shared in a YouTube video. “It was like coming from not having a whole lot of people in your corner to a whole gang of folks.”
Faith said that she learned the most about budgeting and “again, the spirituality thing” from the program.
“They helped me in every way,” she said. “They helped me with my kids, giving them some discipline and structure, and they hooked me up with a life coach and a therapist. I feel just grateful.”
Another client, Carla, called Bridge of Hope “one of the best things that ever happened to me and (daughter) Olivia” after escaping an abusive situation at home. Nearing the end of her program, Carla said she’d learned “so many things,” such as budgeting, going to work daily, parenting and self-care.
“I am a little bit sad that I will be leaving the program because it was an overall amazing experience,” she said. “I never thought I would be able to work a fulltime job, pay all my bills, and take care of my kid.”
For more information or to donate to Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area, visit www.harrisburg.bridgeofhopeinc.org or call 717-635-5957.
Sponsorship opportunities are available at the organization’s next “House A Family Gala,” scheduled for March 22 at West Shore Country Club, 100 Brentwater Rd., Camp Hill.