Reach 4 Hope ministers to homeless in Concord NH

Reach 4 Hope logo

Neil Burtt was in Japan on business when a brief encounter changed the direction of his life, and influenced the lives of many people halfway across the planet in New Hampshire.

Neil looked out his hotel window, and saw a beautiful Japanese park, but filled with blue tarps. It was just after Japan's economy hit the skids a few years ago. The blue tarps were temporary shelters put up by people who had found themselves without homes due to the nation's economic trouble. The sight was jarring to Neil, and he felt that he needed to do something. Just something. Anything, really.

So he went outside and found a man, gave him a little something to eat, and just spent some time with him. After the trip was over, Burtt felt compelled to organize mission trips to help the homeless people in Japan, when he realized that there was a population of homeless people right here in Concord. That's where the idea for Reach 4 Hope really began.

Burtt started gathering together supplies and people to help these folks, visiting camps and offering help and friendship. Now, some 4 years later, he works with a team of 40 or so volunteers, providing material help and spiritual encouragement to people who need it. "It just grew organically”, says Burtt, "I never intended to start a big 501(c) corporation, or have this big system. I just kept doing what I thought needed doing and people joined me and here we are."

Reach 4 Hope now hands out more than $1000 worth of personal supplies every month – items like soap, shampoo and toothbrushes. The organization budgets $1000 and then additional materials that have been donated beyond the budgeted amount are given out as the supplies are available. This year so far, the group has given out 70 tents so the people will have some kind of shelter even if they don't have a house or apartment to live in.

When R4H began, Burtt would go out with volunteers to visit people in the camps where they were staying. "But it got hard to be consistent. Sometimes we would go to the camps and they'd be moved, or the people wouldn't be there,” said Burtt. Now they find it works better to set up a van and some tables in the Courthouse parking lot on Saturdays. "The word's out enough now so people know where to find us" he says. "We'll serve 30-40 people each week."

Along with material support, Burtt and his dedicated volunteers also offer encouragement, a kind word, some dignity and spiritual counsel. "We'll pray with folks that want it, read some scripture, even hold hands while we pray with a group." he says. None of this is required to get help, but as the name of the organization implies, people in tough situations need a bit of hope as much as they need practical assistance. Burtt and his volunteers are aware that there is is much more that needs doing, but as it says on the Reach 4 Hope blog, the focus at Reach 4 Hope is on what we can do for people, not what we can't.

Many of the volunteers come from Burtt's home church, Grace Capital in Pembroke. Reach 4 Hope also has connections with Rise Again Outreach, another homeless ministry, as well as Sonlight Christian Fellowship, a local church. Reach 4 Hope would love to expand it's circle of church connections and volunteers to better serve the homeless community and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New Hampshire.