Ignite luncheon aids Project Hope

Frank DeLuca speaks to the crowd. [Photos by Maven Photo + Film]

Approximately 230 people attended the Ignite for Ocala luncheon on March 10 to help raise money for and bring awareness to Project Hope, a Marion County nonprofit established in 2007 by a faith-based community group to provide shelter and support for homeless women and their children. The event also honored businessman and philanthropist Frank DeLuca.

Ignite for Ocala, often simply referred to as Ignite, was formed for the purpose of helping local nonprofit organizations that share the group’s mission of creating a safe and loving community. Each year, through a committee process, Ignite chooses a nonprofit to shine a light on and help raise money for through the luncheon.

One current and one prior resident of Project Hope’s Hope Villas transitional living apartment complex spoke about their experiences with homelessness to the crowd that packed the College of Central Florida’s Klein Conference.

Shantel, a mother of three, described escaping an “unhealthy marriage” in 2017 then moving eight times over four years, which included involvement with two programs that help the homeless. 

She and her children moved to Hope Villas in April of 2020, right after the COVID-19 outbreak. She said Project Hope was “an answer to prayer” since she was out of work for two months due to the pandemic. 

Shantel and her children stayed at the housing complex for 15 months and used the time to “heal and bond our relationships” in Project Hope’s “nurturing environment, which allows the women and children to focus on the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of the hardships of homelessness and past negative experiences.”  

She credits the accountability she had under Project Hope’s programing as aiding her to improve her parenting skills and learn other practical life skills, such as cleaning, credit building and public speaking.

Shantel later found stable employment and bought a house. 

“I wanted to leave a legacy for my children, one they can look back and say how proud they are of me,“ she told the crowd.

“If people had given up on my children and in the first year, second year, third year of homelessness, I would not be here today.  I thank each and every one of you for being a part of the hope and future for the homeless woman and children in Ocala,” she added.

A current resident, Blaze, recounted leaving a “constant roller coaster of different traumas, poor personal decisions, divorces, abuses, broken homes and broken spirit” to come to Hope Villas.

Blaze also praised Project Hope’s programing model. 

“Not only does this offer a sense of close community and commitment, but it has also given me practical tools and education to improve my way of life in and outside my home, from housekeeping basics, to parenting tools and resources, personal and emotional healing strategies, and techniques to break away from the patterns and slumps which kept me returning to the ways of life I found comforting but were only serving the ways in which kept my life from moving forward into the plan God has,” she shared.“These foundational building blocks of a healthy person, a sound parent and happy home are the same aspects which many people do not experience growing up as a child, or even well into adulthood.”

Back left to right: Lina Piedrahita, Jeanne Henningsen, Kathryn Beecher, Melinda Freeman, Andrea Bailey, Beth Nelson, Dr. Jennifer Fryns. Front left to right: Stephanie Burns, Christie Casey, Dr. Manal Fakhoury, Jennifer Hallermeier, Karen Hatch. [Photos by Maven Photo + Film]

During the luncheon, Jeanne Henningsen, one of the founders of Ignite, presented a community champion award to Frank DeLuca, the owner of a Toyota dealership in Ocala, for his many different generous charitable contributions.

DeLuca took the stage to accept the award and gave insight into how he came to write checks for millions of dollars to support the local YMCA. Initially, he told the crowd, he had anticipated writing a check for $10,000 to $15,000 but was presented with a rendering of the proposed building, with the name “Frank DeLuca YMCA” across the front.

The crowd roared in laughter when he said the rendering “even had the parking spots filled with Toyotas!”  

Deluca praised Project Hope’s work “helping women and children become self-sufficient” and thanked the Ignite group for the award. 

“I am overwhelmed and honored to receive the community champion award,” he said.

DeLuca also gave thanks to his employees. 

“Like any business, you can’t be successful by yourself—it takes team effort. Therefore, I would like to thank my team at DeLuca Toyota. They enable me to do what I do for the community,” he said. 

On April 13, Ignite is planning to present a check from the money raised at the luncheon to Project Hope’s Executive Director April McDonald and board members. 

Henningsen said Ignite’s next public meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. May 19. 

“This is our informational session, where we talk specifically about being on the team and the nonprofit application process,” she noted. “We request that anyone who wants to attend registers through our website, www.igniteforocala.com.”