Deliver Hope plans Dare to Dream banquet

CONWAY — The second annual Dare to Dream banquet scheduled for Saturday will celebrate the impact Deliver Hope has made in teenagers’ lives and the volunteers who’ve made a difference.

The program is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Conway Church of the Nazarene, 1501 Scott St. The event includes a dinner, silent and live auctions, and the presentation of the Dare to Dream Award.

“The exciting thing is we have a donor who has agreed to match everything we raise, dollar for dollar,” said Lori Melton, chairwoman of the Deliver Hope board. “We raised $31,000 last year, so it’s a significant donation. It could really change our budget for the year.”

The money raised from sponsorships and the sale of tickets, which are $50 each, will be used to fund general operations and programming.

Daniel Tyler of Conway founded Deliver Hope, a nonprofit Christian organization to serve at-risk youth, in 2013.

The organization’s largest outreach program is a juvenile-justice ministry to teenagers in the Faulkner County Detention Center. Other programs, Melton said, include Her Hope, a teen-pregnancy mentoring program for young women in Conway and

Vilonia with a plan to expand into Greenbrier; and Hope House on South German Lane, a transitional shelter for homeless men ages 18-21, which opened Dec. 12.

“We have our first resident; we have an 18-year-old man living there. It’s going real well,” Melton said. The men are allowed to live in the house for a year, and services are provided.

Tyler said Deliver Hope also offers life skills and tutoring through the Conway School District’s Alternative Learning Environment.

“We host cooking classes. We’ve done music lessons and whatever life skills come up, however we can help a kid out,” Tyler said. “If they’re interested in music, I’ll find somebody to teach them to play guitar. Whatever gap that needs filled, that’s what we’ve done.”

Melton said the newest program is called Launch, which is held weekly at the Boys & Girls Club of Faulkner County. Youths in the court system are required to attend the program, Melton said.

“We’re serving 195 kids a week. … They play sports, and we have mentors out there. We do a life lesson while we’re there,” she said.

“We have expanded our programming, and it’s just amazing how God’s hand has been on our programs. It’s like they just fall into place,” Melton said.

Melton said Deliver Hope has made a measurable difference in teenagers’ lives.

“We know that the recidivism rate has dropped from 85 percent to 55 [percent]. We’re not going to take all credit for that because of all the great work [20th Judicial District] Judge Troy Braswell has done,” she said. “Our partnership with the courts has made a difference. Judge Braswell has made some changes for the kids, and so that has certainly helped.”

Tyler also praised Braswell, who received the inaugural Dare to Dream Award.

“We’ve been able to make a significant impact, in general,” Tyler said. “Judge Braswell has worked very hard, and his team, in juvenile court. It’s been incredible to partner with them.”

The banquet is Deliver Hope’s biggest fundraiser, Tyler said.

“This is where a significant amount of our yearly funding comes from,” he said. “It’s also a way to get the community involved and understand what we’re doing, that we’ve got kids in our community desperate for people to love on them and believe in them, that they can actually be somebody.”

For more information or to buy tickets, go to deliver-hope.org/dare2dream.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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