After building a new gymnasium and youth center in 2011, St. Mark’s established Hearts of Palm (HOP) as a summer youth mission site. Working with local nonprofits, HOP hosted dozens of youth groups from around the country who served Palm Beach County’s most vulnerable residents. As COVID put an end to these mission trips, our HOP director, Karen Cook, continued the work in our community.
Throughout the years, dozens of parishioners volunteered with HOP painting homes, cleaning yards, and repairing roofs and so much more. HOP sponsors an annual Christmas gift collection that enables the congregation to purchase gifts specific to the families being served. HOP also started to find temporary housing for displaced families and even led St. Mark’s to the purchase and renovation of a home that is now leased to families in transition.
Through HOP, St. Mark’s has linked hands with other non-profits working with them as a kind of “triage” for those folks living on the edge in so many ways. In the spring of 2025, St. Mark’s will break ground on the new Hearts of Palm Center, Karen Cook Family Campus in Riviera Beach. This facility will house several non-profits that serve individuals and families ensuring that HOP continues its ministry for decades to come. HOP has also led the way in renovating a former Episcopal Church in Pahokee to create a ministry center in that community in the western edge of Palm Beach County.
If you would like to know more about HOP and how you can serve, please call our HOP Director at 561-623-2601.
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