Noble Crawford, co-founder and director of HOPE Farm, Inc., has announced that the non-profit will celebrate 20 years at its Fort Worth Southside facility with an invitation-only gala on Tuesday evening, September 26, 2017. After years of mentoring fatherless boys on school campuses, co-founder Gary Randle and Mr. Crawford broke ground in 1997 on the facility just south of downtown Fort Worth, razing two crack houses and clearing the way for the organization to work with the community’s fatherless boys in a dedicated space.
According to HOPE Farm, their program for at-risk boys begins at age 5 to 7 and continues until the student graduates high school. During a boy’s tenure at HOPE Farm, the non-profit supports the child – and his mother or caretaker – steering him from danger and cultivating him into a leader
“When you’re raising boys into men, it takes decades to see the evidence of your work here,” said Mr. Randle. “Some results are immediate, and we celebrate those successes every day, but we are looking forward to when a HOPE Farm graduate will return to visit us and introduce us to his family – his spouse, and the children to whom he is a wonderful father.”
To help raise the boys into men who will stay and be the fathers they never had, Mr. Randle and Mr. Crawford designed a curriculum for the non-profit that would enrich the spirit, mind, and body of the boys through leadership development, academics, physical education, Bible study, and music.
“At first, we were simply feeding the boys because they needed to eat after school, but we quickly realized that dining together was an opportunity to teach etiquette,” said Mr. Randle. “Similarly, helping the students with their homework evolved into an opportunity to achieve academic success, and spending time with the boys lent itself to moments to teach leadership and spirituality. What started as core basics evolved into a program of deep, individualized cultivation for each child.”
In addition to the boys ages 5 to 18, HOPE Farm serves their mothers or caretakers. Mr. Randle and Mr. Crawford learned that for success to truly take place, the boys’ mothers needed to be involved, and thus a mothers’ resource initiative was born.
“While 20 years is a long time to be in business, it’s only a fraction of a man’s life, so we’re just now seeing our boys graduate from college and enter the world,” said Mr. Crawford. “Our dream is that one day, HOPE Farm will be run by our graduates, and this year, one of our first boys has returned home to be an employee. To see him at HOPE Farm pouring his love and his experiences into his work is an incredible blessing, and it feels particularly poignant during this anniversary year.”
To attend the September 26 celebration, please contact Victor Neil 817-247-1277 or vneil@hopefarm.org.
Executive and graduate interviews, still photography, and b-roll available upon request.
About HOPE Farm, Inc.
HOPE Farm, Inc. is a Fort Worth-based 501(c)(3) dedicated to eradicating the cycle and effects of fatherlessness by cultivating at-risk boys into tomorrow’s leaders. HOPE Farm’s programs enrich the spirit, mind, and body via leadership development, academics, physical education, Bible study, and music, as well as a mothers’ resource initiative. HOPE Farm serves boys ages 5-18 and their mothers or caretakers from two campuses: its headquarters in the southside of Fort Worth, where it has been located since 1997, and its Como campus, which opened in 2010, and is currently under construction.