Building Hope: A service-learning partnership with Hope Helps

Authors

• Katherine C. Soshnikova Ms, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Owen Zaremby Mr, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Emily O'brien Ms, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Juliana Divincenzo Ms, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Ashlyn Miller Ms, University of Central FloridaFollow

Streaming Media

Files

Course Code

LDR

Course Number

2002

Faculty/Instructor

Dr. Haley Winston

Faculty/Instructor Email

Haley@ucf.edu

About the Author

Our group, Katherine, Emily, Juliana, Ashlyn and Owen are all first year college students at the University of Central Florida in the Lead Scholars Academy. We would like to thank our professor Dr Winston for encouraging us to complete this showcase. We would also like to thank Hope Helps organization, especially Rachel Mann, for allowing us to volunteer with their non-profit and for Rachel's quick response time and willingness to be interviewed. 

Abstract, Summary, or Creative Statement

Our service-learning project focused on partnering with Hope Helps, a nonprofit organization in Oviedo, Florida, dedicated to preventing and reducing hunger and homelessness in Central Florida. Through the UCF LEAD Scholars program, we aimed to connect classroom learning with real community needs while strengthening our leadership skills. Hope Helps supports families in crisis through a food pantry, thrift store, and programs such as financial literacy workshops and rental assistance. During our 60+ hours of volunteering, we primarily worked in the thrift store by greeting customers, accepting and sorting donations, organizing merchandise, and assisting with fitting rooms and bagging. We also supported the food pantry by cleaning shelves and restocking items.

Our contributions helped increase efficiency, allowing more donations to be processed and generating additional funding for community outreach programs. One key lesson we learned was the importance of servant leadership—putting the needs of others first and serving the community with empathy. We also saw how congruence, one of the 7 C’s of leadership, guided Hope Helps’ consistent mission and values. Overall, this experience showed us how civic engagement and small actions can create meaningful change while reshaping perceptions of hunger and homelessness in our community.

Additional Resources

We would like to make a note to the judges that we made a stylistic decision and instead of using closed captions, we took an "open caption" route and put every single word said in the video on the screen. 

Keywords

volunteer; service-learning; Lead Scholars; Hope Helps; Leadership

Recommended Citation

Soshnikova, Katherine C. Ms; Zaremby, Owen Mr; O'brien, Emily Ms; Divincenzo, Juliana Ms; and Miller, Ashlyn Ms, "Building Hope: A service-learning partnership with Hope Helps" (2026). High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026. 85.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hip-2026spring/85