by Monica Dao

Laughter drifted through the newly completed apartments at the Schmitt Family Complex on Place of Hope’s Leighan and David Rinker Campus as volunteers hurried from room to room, setting up furniture and making beds. In one unit, four women leaned over a twin mattress, tugging a protector into place while joking about how many people it really takes to make a bed. All around them, teams hung artwork, washed dishes, and folded linens with meticulous care. Every detail mattered, because by the end of the month, these thoughtfully prepared apartments would become home to young adults aging out of foster care and single mothers with children—individuals working to rebuild their lives with stability, dignity, and hope.

These moments reflect the heart of Place of Hope’s core mission, to restore hope, rebuild lives, and break cycles of abuse, neglect, homelessness, and family instability. The organization provides children, teens, single mothers, and young adults aging out of foster care with safe housing, life guidance, and long-term support. Place of Hope has campuses all over our area: from Stuart to Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm and now with expansion in Boca Raton, their mission is even stronger. The new Schmitt Family Complex makes sure that twenty young adults, single mothers, and their children will have a safe place to live and the support they need to get back on their feet.

One of the young mothers preparing to move into the new building is Ancy Augustan. She spent the past three years living at Villages of Hope, Place of Hope’s transitional housing program in West Palm Beach. She is now relocating to the Boca Raton campus to be closer to her work and her nursing program in Broward County. For her, the move feels like the next step in the journey she has spent years working toward.

As volunteers arranged her kitchen and made her bed, Ancy stood in the middle of her new apartment and reflected on how far she has come. She talked about how Place of Hope opened doors that once seemed out of reach. She said she has been able to go to school and is almost finished with nursing school. She has learned how to save money and gained skills in financial literacy. She proudly explained that she maxes out her IRA every year and has already opened a Florida Prepaid college fund for her son. She said none of that would have been possible if she had been working two jobs just to pay rent.

Her goals are ambitious and clear. She wants to become a traveling certified registered nurse anesthetist. She wants to own a home. She believes these dreams are within reach because of the support she has received.

Place of Hope’s founding chief executive officer, Charles Bender, says the organization is committed to breaking the cycle that forces young mothers into instability and, ultimately, into the child welfare system. He explained that when a parent loses stable housing it often becomes a case of neglect and that’s how children end up in foster care, even when their parents love them. By providing affordable transitional housing, Place of Hope keeps families together and gives them the stability they need to move forward.

The Boca Raton campus is continuing to grow. Construction will soon begin on additional housing, an outreach center, and an early childhood development center. When all current and planned projects are completed across Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, Place of Hope expects to have enough space to support as many as two hundred single mothers, aged out foster youth, and young adults at risk of homelessness.

As Ancy walked through her new apartment, watching volunteers place the final touches on her space, she said she felt grateful and hopeful. A home, an education, and a future she once wondered if she would ever have are now real. Place of Hope has given her the foundation. She is ready to build the rest.

Place of Hope will be hosting several upcoming events, including Light in the Shadows on December 9th, a luncheon dedicated to raising funds to combat human trafficking, as well as their Inaugural Palm Beach Dinner on January 22nd, which supports Villages of Hope at the Sam & Connie Frankino KidSanctuary Campus. Additional events and opportunities to get involved are also calendared. Visit https://www.placeofhope.com/