BY SHEILA HARRIS

sheilaharrisads@gmail.com

For 15 years, His House Foundation in Shell Knob has been helping families find their footing.

In celebration of the milestone, the public is invited to an open house at His House Foundation, located at 25832 State Hwy. YY in Shell Knob, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“This year marks the 15th anniversary of the non-profit’s presence in Shell Knob, and the fifth year for F.U.E.L. Academy,” said Trina Colwell, president of the board of His House Foundation and program director for FUEL Academy.

FUEL is an acronym, Colwell said, for “Families, United, Educated, Loved.”

“This open house is our way of celebrating our donors, sponsors and all of our volunteers,” she said. “We’ll be serving smoked chicken, and we’ll have kids’ activities, rides and a bounce house.

Tours of the facility, located at 25832 YY Highway in Shell Knob, will also be available.

The mission of His House is to offer the opportunity for positive change to families in need, and to walk through the process of change with them.

“We define needs, combine resources and connect families in need with the people who have resources to serve them,” Colwell said.

Part of the way the His House Foundation is meeting those needs is through FUEL Academy, a two-year, residential program for at-risk families, that helps parents help themselves.

“We have an application and interview process for residents, which includes a requirement that they’ve been drug- and alcohol-free for 30 days prior to acceptance,” Colwell said.

Children are key to participation in the FUEL Academy program, in which space is limited.

“We accept single parents of either gender, and two parents with children,” Colwell said.

Families are served on a rotating basis: six new families are accepted each year, while the six first-year families move up to a second term. At the end of two years, families must be prepared to graduate to their own homes.

“We love these parents and children where they are at in their lives,” Colwell said. “We want to help them discover that they matter, and that they have a purpose in life.”

In addition to providing a community for spiritual and emotional growth, FUEL Academy offers classes that teach practical life-skills, such as conflict resolution, parenting and financial responsibility.

“We believe that helping parents become responsible, loving, and caring individuals, and teaching them how to provide and sustain their own households is the best way to help their children,” Colwell said. “We believe in keeping families together and helping them thrive.”

This year, His House is home to 25 children and one or both of their parents.

“This is the most children we’ve had with us at one time,” Colwell said.

Colwell sees the hand of God at play in every stage of His House’s evolution.

During its early years, His House served community meals as its ministry, but Colwell saw a growing need among residents in the area who were struggling.

“They needed a place to learn how to change their lives, one that included a place to live while they learned,” she said.

When the former Star Lodge building on YY Highway was vacated by its last tenant, an independent living facility, Colwell had a much larger vision for its use: the residential, life-transformational program that it now houses. With God’s provision, through help from her board members and community donors and volunteers, Colwell saw her vision come about.

His House is funded by donations and grants, and is operated by volunteers.

“We don’t have any paid employees,” Colwell said.

The operating expenses for His House can be prohibitive. Monthly utilities alone average over $2,000, Colwell said.

Since it began operating, His House has become a kind of hub in the Shell Knob community where the nearest services — like the Clark Center, which has office space in the building — are some 30 minutes away.

Colwell said His House gives people a place for their hearts to heal, so they can forgive themselves and forgive others. She said one of her favorite aspects of His House is that it gives her the honor and privilege to participate in the lives of people.

“When I look at the little faces of the children when they enter the program, then look at them again three months later, when they’re feeling safe and secure because their families have become stable, I know God is working,” she said. “It’s all about Him.”

Colwell invites the public to join His House residents, volunteers and donors, on Saturday, to learn more about how the foundation is serving the community.

“Lunch is on us,” she said.