Ahwatukee nonprofit strives to help unsheltered people

By: Ahwatukee Foothills News 

The acronym HOPE in the Ahwatukee nonprofit ‘HOPE for the Homeless’ has an emphatic and personal definition to founder Tim Berry.

“Humbly Offering Positive Encouragement” emerged from Berry’s own “nearly homeless” experience as well as his compassion for those on the streets struggling with addiction.

Berry said he thanks God that he was able to not only overcome his own dark time of his life, but to overcome it to help others.

“I was never actually on the streets, but real close,” he explained. “After losing my home, I went into chemical dependency treatment for three months and then a transitional living home for three months. That’s why I refer to this time as ‘essentially homeless.’ I rebuilt my life through faith in God.”

The nonprofit was incorporated as a nonprofit in 2018 at Mountain Park Church and every month up to 100 volunteers gather at the church to pack 1,500 to 2,000 HOPE bags with toiletries, snack packs, socks, survival blankets, first aid kits and more.

The bags are distributed to the homeless the following day, Sunday, at Andre House in downtown Phoenix, where HOPE volunteers lead a Recovery meeting that’s followed by attendees being served a hot homemade meal.

The remaining packed HOPE bags – emblazoned with their logo and major sponsors on the opposite side – Sunday’s meal are forwarded to ministry partners throughout metro Phoenix.

The next HOPE Bag packing is scheduled for Saturday, May 20, 9 to 11 a.m. in the lobby of Mountain Park Church, located at 16461 S. 48th Street, Ahwatukee. Volunteers are welcome.

Even as the bags are being packed, other volunteers work preparing the meal for the following day’s post-recovery meeting dinner.

Overseeing it all is Berry who, with his brother Scott Berry, own and operate Precision Auto Body in Chandler and Tempe.

This is the business that Tim Berry nearly lost when his life spiraled downward after becoming addicted to opiates.

He is neither afraid nor ashamed to recount his story of how he ended up losing so much of what had been a good life with his sweetheart and now wife, Bernice.

“In 1999, I was prescribed opiate pain medication for a back injury,” he recounted. “That triggered a physical and psychological dependency that spanned almost a decade.

“It was a rollercoaster ride of multiple stays in treatment, moments of sobriety that eventually led back down the same dark path of addiction, each getting progressively worse than the last,” he recalled.

“Inevitably, the disease progressed to the point that I lost my business, home, all relationships, and almost my life from a heart attack. I ended up broke, hopeless, and homeless,” he said.

At one of his “lowest points”, Berry recounted, some strangers started taking him to Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) in downtown Phoenix for a recovery meeting using the 12-step program.

CASS, 230 S. 12th Ave., was founded in 1984. It is Arizona’s largest and longest-serving emergency shelter program for individuals, families, seniors and veterans experiencing homelessness.

Its website’s notes that homelessness has “reached crisis levels,” with the number of unsheltered individuals in Maricopa County increasing 34% from 2020 to 2022.

Berry recalled how that following that recovery meeting at CASS, a caring gesture moved him and helped put his life back on track.

It also inspired him to help others.

“They served a meal after the meeting, and I was given the responsibility of orchestrating the volunteers to bring the food each week,” he said.

“At this point my entire outlook on life and priorities changed. The sense of fulfillment from serving those in need was greater than anything I’d experienced.

“Knowing that my path in life was altered by the caring of a few strangers has been the motivation behind HOPE for the Homeless,” he explained.

Berry said he’s aware that chemical dependency and homelessness often go hand-in-hand, and HOPE for the Homeless organizes and hosts 12-step recovery meetings to bring to those who could use encouragement.

“We currently facilitate a meeting every Sunday at the Andre House followed by a meal. Each Sunday is hosted by a different group or organization who chair the meeting and sponsor the meal. The third Sunday is HOPE for the Homeless’ day,” he said.

“We support the meeting attendees with food, blankets, clothes, new socks and underwear, toiletries and basic necessities that we package in our HOPE bags.”

Berry said HOPE for the Homeless wants to help even more.

“The Andre House would like to add more meetings during the week, and, in addition, the new St. Vincent de Paul shelter on Washington and 28th Street is also looking to host additional meetings.

To increase their mission to the homeless requires more funding.

And that requires imagination.

A car aficionado, Berry is using his interests to bring other car enthusiasts into the fold.

Cruise N Cuisine is one way HOPE for the Homeless attracts motorheads and those who appreciate vintage and classic cars.

The monthly gathering, held the first Saturday of each month, is free to the public, and funds are raised through food purchases.

In March, Boy Scout troop 301 brought out their grills to offer food choices. Other months may attract one or more food trucks. Every Cruise N Cuisine is held in the parking lot of Mountain Park Church.

The next Cruise N Cuisine is June 3, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Another fundraiser is the annual HOPE for the Homeless annual car raffle.

The fifth annual 2023 HOPE for the Homeless raffle vehicle is a cherry red 1971 Chevrolet Stepside pick-up with full frame restoration, turbo 400 transmission and air conditioning. Full details of the vehicle are on the nonprofit’s website.

Tickets are $25 each, five for $100 or the blockbuster 12 for $200. The drawing will be Nov. 25 at the fourth annual Ahwatukee Fall Car Show held at Mountain Park Church.

Berry said all the efforts of volunteers and supporters are essential to the HOPE for the Homeless ministry.

“We shine light in our community by feeding the homeless who are hungry, meeting the homeless in their recovery journey, and loving the homeless for who they are, where they are,” he said.

Along with details on upcoming events, that is the message of HOPE outlined on their website Hope4theHomelessAz.com.

As a registered nonprofit, donations to HOPE for the Homeless are tax deductible. They are also an AZ State Qualifying Charitable Organization and as such maintains the Arizona State dollar-for dollar tax credit.