Hope 2 Others is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing hope the homeless. This initiative was founded by Leslie and Lauren Revealy at the ages of 14 and 11 respectively.

After experiencing the life of a homeless person for a week at a camp sponsored by WorldVenture, the two sisters returned to their home in Portland, Oregon – never to be the same again.

In the weeks that followed, they began noticing the homeless in a new way. In Leslie’s words:

“We realized that homeless people are kind of like refugees in our own city. They’re refugees we are in a position to help.”

After talking with their parents and a worker at the Portland Rescue Mission, the girls passion became tangible when they launched Hope 2 Others (or H2O), a ministry that provides homeless people with a bag filled with basic and essential needs. Each bag is filled with a:

• Water bottle
• Gospel tract
• Rescue Mission meal voucher
• Socks
• Tuna and crackers
• Granola bar (cereal bar)
• Fruit snack or applesauce cup
• Crackers with peanut butter
• Hand wipe
• Pack of Kleenex
• Mints

These bags are then handed out to those who are holding a “homeless and hungry” sign. The bags have the purpose of giving hope to the homeless as well as providing the driver with something compact but beneficial to hand out to the man standing on the street corner.

Now 17 and 14, Leslie and Lauren have distributed over five-hundred bags and have been featured in the Oregonian, their state’s most-read newspaper.

This month of December, they are hosting a challenge called ”10by10″. The goal is to hand out 10 bags by the year 2010. You could either make the bags yourself or you could search for a local H2O chapter near you and buy the bags through them.

Learn more here: http://www.h2obags.com/10by10/