HOW WE BEGAN

HOW IT BEGAN....Hannah Grace Family started off with a married couple, Jason and Tara Hood, who took young foster children into their home to love and nurture. While loving the children, their hearts began to break for the parents of these children. They desired to reunite families and see parents regain custody of their children whenever possible. In addition to loving the children, they began personally investing into the lives of each parent. What began in the Hood's personal home has now expanded into the Hannah Grace Family building in Oregon City. Hannah Grace Family is a continuation of the work the Hood's started, but now will be able to operate on a larger scale.

Why we do what we do....In the words of the founders, Jason and Tara Hood, " We have been married for 30 years, but a huge reason for our marriage "success" is because of an older couple from our church named Chet and Barb who were always there for us in our early years. They loved us and found value in us when we were very immature, selfish, and often found very little value in ourselves. Chet and Barb chose to love us. They weren't paid and they weren't related to us, yet they went out of their way to love us. It was unconditional love with a grace that sought us out. We were always welcome at their house and they modeled for us how to treat others. They never preached to us, but their actions were powerful sermons that helped to change the path we were on.

Because of Chet and Barb's influence, loving these children, parents and families has become almost normal and instinctual to us. When we invest in someone's life, we hope they will eventually come to the conclusion that we chose to love. By the process of elimination, parents realize that we aren't paid, we aren't related and we aren't legally bound to them like a lawyer. Instead, we hope they are able to conclude that we chose to love them... because they are valuable."
After years of prodding ("can you work with more people"), Jason and Tara started a non-profit, Hannah Grace Family, and have found a growing group of people who continue to join them and invest with them in these lives.

We are all in need of a "Chet and Barb" in our life, but over time, many people realize that they can also be a "Chet and Barb" on behalf of someone else. At our core, each person is in need of being fully loved by at least one other person, and to fully love at least one person. To love and to show true value for another person is really to convey the heart of God.

Many families that have been helped by Hannah Grace Family have made extraordinary efforts to put away their old lives and seek out help in becoming healthier families. When recovery and addiction are involved, there are hard and necessary choices to be made each day. Each person handles trauma, stress and life's obstacles in their own way. Some individuals put their trauma in the past and never look back, others struggle daily with their choices. Hannah Grace Family is known for walking with children and families through their deepest hardships and traumas. Our desire is to always help each child and family maintain these changes while encouraging and challenging them to continue to ascend each day.