Each year, HOPE celebrates a client who demonstrates HOPE’s values of perseverance, compassion, character, and creativity with the Thurman Award. Established in honor of HOPE’s first CEO and his wife, the Thurman celebrates clients who have not only experienced change in their own lives but have also extended that transformation to others in their community. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be posting the stories of this year’s winner and four honorable mentions to the blog. Today we celebrate Denis Hrystychenko, honorable mention from Eastern Europe. Denis Hrystychenko was only 9 years old when his father died, leaving his mother to support 10 children on her own. Many of Denis’ older siblings went to work to support the family, and when he turned 14, Denis joined his brothers in the construction industry, proudly using his earnings to help meet the family’s needs. He planned to make a career of construction, moving over 100 miles from Berdichev, Ukraine, to the capital city of Kiev and sending money home to his family—but God used a documentary film to plant another seed in his heart. Continue Reading...