Written by Jack Freedman, Staff Writer
Local non-profit charity Hope for the Hungry has been expanding its outreach throughout the past year. Since 1982, HFTH has helped to provide meals and shelter to disadvantaged people while witnessing the love of God. In the past year, they have expanded their outreach by training teenage volunteers, preventing human trafficking, and doing work in Rwanda and Haiti.
“We have just hired a new executive director,” Dan Kirkley said. “His name is Douglas Mann. He's been in ministry, missions, ministries for about 35 years. He's highly qualified and brings a lot of experience with him and knowledge. In fact, he, Doug Mann, right now is in Rwanda visiting one of our newest ministries.”
In 2024, HFTH partnered with Trinitas Community Organization to do mission work in Haiti and Rwanda. The two groups have worked to drill wells, teach children, provide meals and hygiene kits, and spread the Word of God. They have also been working to stop human trafficking in these countries.
“We’ve been teaching kids how to avoid trafficking and rescuing kids off the streets that are being trafficked,” Kirkley said.
Kirkley expresses excitement for expanding HFTH’s international influence after focusing on the Belton area and hopes to witness to other countries in 2026. While HFTH has been greatly expanding its outreach, they have not forgotten about Belton. One of HFTH’s most prominent divisions in Belton is Hope House, which provides after school care for children in kindergarten through sixth grade.
“We started doing an after-school program in 2003 and we’ve had the Hope House since 2014,” Jen Sutton, Hope House manager, said. “I was a UMHB student and I used to volunteer for the local outreach program. I’ve loved working for the kids, and now we’re starting to see kids of the kids who started being involved in the ministry.”
At the start of the Belton ISD school year, Hope House began a new program called Next Gen for children in seventh grade through twelfth grade. This program trains Hope House graduates how to mentor younger children.
“Those kiddos are helping with lessons, and it’s sweet to see the kids we’ve known forever kind of stepping into this role,” Sutton said. “We have two families who started out in 2003 who have kids now. They’re excited that we’re still around and they can have mentors and learn about the Lord.” Sutton has expressed her hope for Next Gen volunteers to one day become leaders at Hope House.
Since its inception, HFTH has worked with numerous churches in the greater Belton area. Throughout 2025 they have partnered with many more, regardless of denominational differences.
“We are very interdenominational,” Kirkley said. “We call it a no silos policy. What that means is we are all the Body of Christ. And so, one of the things that we believe has been sharing the bread of life with a starving world. And as we do that, we do that with other denominations and other Christian organizations. And really our requirement in all of that, that our cooperative efforts, I guess you would say, simply require that the organizations be Christ-centered.”
In the meantime, HFTH staff have been preparing for their 43rd annual banquet to celebrate what God has helped them provide for the world in 2025.
“[The banquet] will be Nov. 13,” Kirkley said. “And we usually have 400 to 450 people that come to it. It’s just really a wonderful time for us to celebrate what God has done in this year and what's going to be happening in the year to come.”
