On December 9th, 2022, Bemidji’s Village of Hope experienced a crisis when the shelter sustained severe water damage.

“We flooded out all three floors of our facility,” explained Village of Hope Executive Director Michelle Raiter, “and we had to house the families that we had here in hotels until we could find them another place to stay or find them housing.”

Now, five months later, the shelter has reopened and is eagerly serving the public once again.

“It feels great! We are so happy to be able to be present in our community again and offers assistance to those who need it most,” said Raiter.

Since its re-opening in early May of 2023, Village of Hope has already been hard at work continuing their mission statement of assisting families in need, in whatever form those families take.

“As long as they have kids, and are a family unit then we can help them,” explained Raiter. “We have four families here right now, and two intakes for the last two rooms are scheduled for today.”

Village of Hope attributed their reopening to those in the Bemidji community that helped them in their time of need.

“People just donated like crazy, it was just amazing, we brought in about $40,000 in the month of December alone,” said Raiter. “The community really showed up for us when we had our flood and this is a way to give back to the community.”

While the reopening of the shelter proves to be a step forward, they’re still in need of donations to meet the demands of families in need.

“We’re still needing donations for a new freezer and so monetary donations like that would be really helpful,” said Raiter.

For more information about Village of Hope, you can visit their website here.

By — Justin Othoudt