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<div><strong>I sleep in a shelter. I built the app that helps people find one.       </strong>
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<div><strong>                                     Help me keep building it.</strong>
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<div>Every morning I wake up in a shelter, eat breakfast at a soup kitchen, open my laptop, and build HOPE.
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<div>Read that sentence again. That's not a metaphor. That's my actual Tuesday.
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<div>HOPE is Rhode Island's Free Survival Guide — an app for anyone in crisis. A bed tonight. A meal today. A doctor who won't turn you away. Benefits you didn't know you qualified for. Crisis lines, senior services, veterans resources — all verified, all in one place, all free. No login. No tracking. A one-tap call button and an honest note on every listing telling you when the information was last confirmed.
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<div>It's live right now at hope401.org. Real people are using it today.
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<div>Why me? Because I've lived both sides of this.
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<div><br />
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<div>I was a food bank Executive Director. I printed the resource lists. I know the quiet embarrassment of handing someone information you suspect is already out of date.
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<div>And then I became the person on the other end — walking across town to a soup kitchen that turned out to be closed, burning energy I didn't have on an address that was wrong. Spending my last bus fare to find a locked door.
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<div><br />
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<div>Nobody should learn the system from both sides. But because I did, I knew exactly what to build.
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<div>Here's the part where I'm honest with you.
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<div>The app works. The State of Rhode Island has taken notice — the Executive Office of Housing has offered its full support. A major article is coming. Partnerships are forming. Everything is moving.
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<div>Everything except my own life.
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<div>I'm building the tool that helps people find shelter while sleeping in one. I'm building the tool that helps people find food while eating at a soup kitchen. Every dollar I don't have to worry about surviving is an hour I can spend building.
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<div>I'm not telling you this for sympathy. I'm telling you because you deserve to know exactly who you're supporting and exactly what your money does.
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<div>What your donation actually does:
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<div>☕ $10 keeps Bridge — HOPE's AI guide — answering questions for a week
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<div>️ $25 covers a month of hosting so the app never goes dark for someone who needs it at 2am
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<div> $50 buys me focused days of building instead of surviving
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<div> $100+ brings HOPE closer to reaching every Rhode Islander who needs it
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<div>One transparent note: HOPE is a nonprofit project — we've incorporated and our federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is being processed right now. Until the IRS approves it, I can't issue tax-deduction receipts yet. If you give today, you're giving because you believe in this — not for the write-off. (The moment our status is approved, it may apply retroactively — but I'd rather promise you nothing and deliver more.)
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<div>That's how this whole project works, actually. Honest first.
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<div>The bottom line:
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<div>I know what it means to need help and not be able to find it.
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<div>I'm building the thing I wish had existed when I needed it most.
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<div>Rhode Island is small enough to fix this. I'm stubborn enough to do it. What I need is time — and time is exactly what you'd be giving.
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<div>Donate if you can. Share if you can't. Either one genuinely moves this forward.
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<div>Learn more: hope401.org
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<div>Help should never be harder to find than the problems it exists to solve.
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<div>— Robert Diamond
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<div>Founder, HOPE — Rhode Island
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<div>HOPE is a free, no-login resource app for Rhode Islanders in crisis — shelter, food, benefits, healthcare, crisis support, and dedicated resources for seniors, veterans, youth, and more. Live now at <a href="https://hope401.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://hope401.org" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://hope401.org</a></a> in English and Spanish.
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Elizabeth Golding

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Chris Westerkamp

Kathleen Gamez

HOPE Rhode Island Survival Guide

Just $790$ to go! Make an impact.

HOPE Rhode Island Survival Guide

Just $790 to go!
Make an impact.