ëHouses for HOPEí builds opportunity for people around the world Posted 4/13/01 by Erin Johnson Staff Writer Joel Anderson, of Eagan, had no idea when he took his family on a trip to the Ukraine that it would end up changing his life, but thatís exactly what it did. After returning home, Anderson found that what he had seen in the Ukraine stuck with him. He was ultimately inspired to leave his 18-year career in computers and join HOPE International Inc., an independent, Christian organization based in Eagan that gives opportunities to those in less prosperous countries. ìThereís nothing like looking into the eyes of people that are hopeless,î said Anderson, HOPEís director of development. ìPeople that are really struggling. We have struggles here in the United States, we have poverty, but what people in other countries donít have is any kind of an infrastructure to fall back on. Thereís not welfare, thereís not assistance they can easily draw from. When these people hit rough times, theyíre on their own. When you see that, it makes a big impact on you.î Jeff Rutt, the founder of HOPE International Inc., is a home builder in Pennsylvania who himself had been changed by a trip he took to the Ukraine with his church. He saw people struggling to survive and was inspired to help, but he was interested in something more permanent than shipments of humanitarian aid. He decided that, with the help of suppliers and subcontractors, he could build low-cost houses in America, sell them for a profit and use the profit to help people in the Ukraine become self-sufficient. Rutt began ìHouses for HOPEî to generate money for the organization, which gives small business loans to people in struggling countries so they can support themselves. ìA phrase that kind of describes it in summary is that instead of giving a person a fish so they can eat for a day, we teach them how to fish so they can eat for a lifetime,î Anderson said. ìSo itís kind of a charity that keeps on giving and giving.î Two Houses for HOPE are currently being built in Minnesota, one in Maplewood and one in Lake Elmo. Anderson said that builders and contractors are more than willing to help once they learn about the project. ìExplain what youíre doing to the subcontractors, the drywallers, the plumbers Ö and then they donate the time, labor and materials to this,î he said. ìSo when you have 30 or 40 subcontractors donating their time, you have a very low cost on the whole house, built by professional tradespeople.î The builders and tradespeople are the real heroes, Anderson said, the ones who make it a successful project. HOPE International, Inc. is now licensed as a nonprofit organization in three different countries: Ukraine, China and Palestine. Loan officers, employees of HOPE but natives of the country they serve, give small ìmicro-loansî to people who want to start their own business. Loan amounts are usually from $100 to $400, not much to Americans but ìhuge for them,î Anderson said, considering the average monthly income in the Ukraine is about $100 to $200. Anderson said a typical business in the Ukraine is selling goods at the open market, while in China loans are usually used by farmers to purchase livestock. HOPE also uses the money to establish childrenís summer camps and Bible clubs, called AWANA Clubs, in different countries. The clubs provide an alternative environment for kids to avoid temptations such as drugs, prostitution and alcohol. ìThe kids are so susceptible to that,î Anderson said. ìSo this just provides something else for them to be involved with.î The HOPE office in Palestine is located in Bethlehem, which Anderson said is the ìtoughest area by farî ó so much so that it sent other missions and relief organizations packing. ìThe Bethlehem office is one thatís actually right in the center of most of the fighting thatís been going on,î Anderson said. ìSome of the heaviest fighting has been just a few blocks away from our office there. But even through all that, HOPE is one of the very few that has stayed there.î Not only has HOPE stayed there, Anderson said, but itís actually been very successful. ìJanuary was actually our biggest month in that area,î he said. ìItís been successful as far as people really seeking these small loans so that they can start doing different kinds of business activities.î China is slightly different than the other two countries, with loans being focused more on rural areas for farms and livestock. Anderson said that the Mongolian region of China has been plagued by drought, so many farmers took out small loans to purchase specially bred sheep that subsist mainly on dried leaves. So far, HOPE has given out over $1 million in loans to people in impoverished areas. ìThe astonishing thing behind that is the average of that million dollars is 97 percent repayment of all loans,î he said. Anderson admits thereís no real penalty for people who donít repay their loans, except that they are then prohibited from borrowing any more money. ìI think the people see that it doesnít pay to defraud us. Weíre not going to reloan to people that defraud us, and they see the big picture real quick,î he said. ìAnd we make sure that when we give the loan itís for a good use, itís for a business thatís going to survive. We donít just give loans to anybody for any reason.î Another interesting statistic, Anderson said, is that more than 70 percent of HOPEís loans are taken out by women. ìWhatís a reality is that thereís a lot of single mothers over there, women who have been divorced, abandoned by their husbands, for a variety of different reasons find themselves having to support their family alone,î he said. Anderson told the story of Nadia, a woman he met while he was in the Ukraine. Nadia woke up one morning to find her husband had left the country with no warning, leaving her to fend for her family. She tried to sell goods at the open market but did not have enough resources to buy inventory or rent space. After her father became ill, she was referred to HOPE and took out a $300 loan, which bought her enough inventory and a kiosk space to make a regular profit. Anderson has many examples of HOPEís success stories, and he said he is proud to be affiliated with the organization. He said that he has no regrets about leaving his computer career to join HOPE, and that he has never experienced as much job satisfaction as he does now. Since his trip to the Ukraine, Anderson and his wife have also adopted a little girl from Russia. ìIt was quite a radical change,î Anderson said. ìIt all points back to taking that trip. And once you see and experience a culture, it can start working at you.î The two Houses for HOPE planned in Minnesota will be contributed to and sponsored by McDonald Homebuilding Collaborative, Maxwell Homes and Robert Engstrom Companies. Both houses will be available for viewing as part of the Parade of Homes tour when they are completed. For more information about HOPE International Inc., call Joel Anderson at (651) 905-1439. ©Thisweek Newspapers