After 242 days of renovations and more than 1,500 volunteer hours logged, the Chris Hope Foundation (CHF) Family House officially opened Saturday, Sept. 5.

Chris Hope Foundation will help house families of seriously ill children

Located in Midtown on Garland Street, the CHF Family House will address housing needs for families with children who are patients at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

After Rev. Ken Hall of Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church blessed the home “from the roof to the floor” and its soon to be residents. Cheryl Fergerson of Quality of Life for All (QoLA) spoke of how the house will fill a needs gap for families going through challenging times.

QoLA provides hospice and palliative care for pediatric patients in the Memphis area.

“I asked Chris Hope to help us in filling some gaps with the service needs for our families,” Fergerson said, noting that both St. Jude and Le Bonheur provide housing options for families, but not all families meet the qualifications.

The size of the family, the distance a family lives from the hospital and other factors determine whether or not they qualify for housing from the hospitals.

“This house, I just never dreamed that it would come true like this and so quickly,” Fergerson said. “When I mentioned that (the needs gap) to Chris, I had no idea that he would take this and run off with it and really make a house come true like this.”

Fergerson said that housing availability is always a challenge for pediatric patients’ families, but it is even more difficult today due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cases, only one parent can be at the hospital with the child, so the other family members are not able to be present or visit together.

“The restrictions that families have, of course, naturally, only one parent can be at the hospital at a time,” Fergerson said. “We’ll be able to bring siblings to this house, bring families to this house, that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to see.”

In an emotional speech, CHF founder Hope said the opening of the house is a dream come true.

“I can’t express what I’m feeling right now. This has been a long, long journey,” Hope said. “I’m excited, thrilled, emotional about finally getting to this day to cut this ribbon.”

The CHF house came about after the mother of one of Hope’s close friends passed away. Hope purchased the home from the family with the intention of turning it into the CHF Family House. Sponsors such as Milwaukee Tool and The International Brotherhood of Teamsters as well as many donors made it possible.

Hope said he wanted to ensure the home would be a place in which the families would be comfortable and happy.

“My thing was, if I didn’t feel I could live here, then nobody else could live here. I’m ready to go pack my bags and move in,” Hope joked.

The Chris Hope Foundation was founded in 2015 to help ease the financial and emotional burdens that families face when their child is fighting a life-threatening illness.