The Hope Lives Foundation is a non-profit organization providing hope and
the basic needs of life to people facing disaster, tragedy and the
turmoil of everyday life.

The idea for the Hope Lives Foundation started in 2002 with an
unexpected telephone call from the McKeesport branch of the
Salvation Army to a real estate investor who feels he has an obligation to
give back to the community.

James Toner, a co-owner of Real Estate Riches, a Pittsburgh based real
estate investment training company, happened to be reading about a
luxury home builder in Florida. The builder built basic housing called
"caring houses" that he would rent to the homeless for a dollar a month.
While he was reading, the telephone rang. It was the Salvation Army.
A case worker was explaining that they had a woman who was in an
abusive relationship who had been on the streets for two days and had
nowhere to go. Shelters were full. There was no government or social
help immediately available. Being a real estate investor, they wanted
to know, "did Jim Toner have any ideas?" Jim did. He put the lady up at no
cost in an apartment he owned for two months. That solved the immediate
problem, but he saw a bigger need. What do people do who are in
desperate need and don't fit into a government, social or charitable
program or run into red tape that offers no immediate relief?

Jim Toner, along with Bob Lee, Tony Hutskow and Dan Pasquarelli, long-time
friends, business associates and Hope Lives Foundation Board Members
have long given to the community. For years, they have provided hundreds of gifts for underprivileged children and as many as eighty food baskets
to the needy at the holiday season. But Toner made up his mind that he
wanted to provide help for people facing disaster, tragedy, or missing the
basic needs of life who had nowhere to go and no one to turn to... and
little hope. Like the Florida builder, Jim decided to rehabilitate one of his
investment properties and donate it to this cause. It was a four bedroom
house on Boyd Street in McKeesport and it was ready to use in
October, 2003. He knew that there were shelters that filled up quickly, but
no housing existed that a family could call "home" for an interim period of
time.

Hope Lives Foundation Board Member, Bob Lee suggested that they
formalize and legitimize the idea by forming a foundation. Naming the
foundation was easy. Toner felt that he could provide hope to people at
some of the darkest times of their life. "Everyone should have hope, no
matter how desperate they are," Toner said, "let's call it The Hope Lives
Foundation." He also created the slogan for the foundation, "If there is
hope in the future, there is power in the present." Toner believed that he,
his friends, and others like them could be an influential, everyday force
that provided opportunities for the future.

What originally started as an idea to house the displaced, has expanded
into a Foundation that will provide whatever it takes to provide hope and
help for a family or person no matter what their need may be. Toner
summed it up, "we are there to plug in all the gaps. We don't want
someone to be in a tough situation because they don't fit into any
organization's or institution's criteria for help." The Hope Lives
Foundation will provide everything from housing (up to two months free),
to clothing, food, pay utility bills, or even make a security deposit for a
rental. If it is desperately needed and no one else will do it or can do it,
Hope Lives will consider fulfilling the need, no matter what the request.

Future plans include adding a multi-unit housing property, and long range,
an entrepreneurial mentoring program for teens.

Executive Director:
James Toner
(click here for Jim's bio)

Board of Directors:
Robert Lee
Anthony Hutskow
Vince Parrucci
Daniel Pasquarelli
Louie Payne

Headquarters Office:
1781 Arona Rd.
Suite #2
N. Huntingdon, PA 15642

Phone:
724.863.1160

Fax:
724.863.9676

Links:
www.OperationTroopAppreciation.org