About Us
Housing with Hope is based on these core values. We treat all people with compassion and friendliness, provide an inclusive community that makes all feel welcomed and supported and conduct all business and relationships with integrity.
Mission
Housing with Hope Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating partnerships with community-based organizations to enrich the lives of seniors. We strive to provide engaging events, activities, supportive services, and housing that is affordable for those on a fixed income.
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The typical role of the extended family in caring for their elderly loved ones is shifting as those caregiving children leave the neighborhoods where they were born or raised.
In many instances, communication with aging relatives has been relegated to occasional visits and video calls. Those who are fortunate enough to live with their loved ones are often left on their own when those caregivers head off to work or travel.
This isolation can be painful and can often cause the elderly to abandon the very activities that once filled them with joy and purpose, eroding their physical, mental, and emotional health. This diminished quality of life can be devastating for our older loved ones and it’s the reason that Housing with Hope exists today.
Vision
At Housing with Hope, we’re dedicated to creating a nation where seniors are honored and no longer face the social isolation and homelessness that have become rampant in our communities. We imagine a future where the lives of older adults are filled with purpose and joy as they actively engage as valued members of the places they call home.
History
Housing with Hope was established based on founder Anthony Fasolas’s relationship with his beloved grandmother and aging parents. His family’s experience is a common story that may resonate with all of us.
Team
Supporters
The work we do is dependent on the support around us. We are eternally grateful for our donors, sponsors, and grant providers.
Blog
Housing with Hope looks to provide inspirational and educational content that positively impacts the well-being of seniors and supports their caregivers.
Meet Our Leadership Team
Anthony Fasolas
Founder / Executive Director for Housing with Hope
A Letter from Our Founder
“Looking back, I now realize my passion for helping the elderly started in my early teens from spending time with my grandmother. She had been living with us since I was a young child and would take care of me, my sisters, and my cousins while our parents worked during the day. As we got older, more time was spent with our friends, at work, and after-school activities than with her. As a later-in-life immigrant from a small village in Greece, she didn’t speak any English and was limited in her mobility. So she became isolated during the day. The varying degrees of loneliness she felt daily struck me deeply.
“My grandmother has since long passed, and in recent years, I’ve been witnessing those same varying degrees of loneliness and isolation with my own parents, elderly relatives, and parents of friends who choose to remain living at home. After years of hard work and taking care of others, the elderly deserve to enjoy their Golden Years to the fullest without facing such devastating feelings as isolation and loneliness.
“My vision for Housing with Hope Foundation is to honor our aging loved ones and to provide social activities and programs where the elderly can meet, interact, and live fulfilled lives with purpose and joy as active and valued members of the community. Housing With Hope exists to give all of our older loved ones a chance to make their Golden Years their best!”
Anthony Fasolas,
Founder / Executive Director for Housing with Hope
Meet Our Program Director
Iris Love
Program Director
Iris Love is the Program Director at Housing with Hope, responsible for overseeing program management and implementation, including budgeting, fundraising, volunteer coordinating, social media marketing, and grant management.
She also provides administrative support for the foundation as needed. She is no stranger to the nonprofit sector, having served as the National Chapter Director for The Cure Starts Now Foundation for pediatric brain cancer research, based in Cincinnati, OH. She brings with her a wide range of valuable skills such as event planning, office administration, communication, and leadership.
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While raising her two daughters, Iris spent much of her time volunteering for their church youth group, religious education program, school PTAs, and Girl Scout troops. Her dedication to volunteering and community service is admirable, and her involvement in local organizations showcases her willingness to make a positive impact in her community.
With two aging parents who live over 600 miles away, Iris understands the need for quality programming and resources to be available to seniors. She believes in the importance of seniors remaining mentally, physically, and socially active for improved cognitive function, better physical health, reduced social isolation, and maintaining a sense of purpose. She sees firsthand how the Housing with Hope Foundation is changing the lives of seniors for the better and is happy to be part of it.
Meet Our Advisory Board
Christina Fasolas
Health and Wellness
Christina is a graduate of Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions and is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner.
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She currently works at Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center in Boston, MA as a psychiatric nurse practitioner treating adults. Christina believes treating her patients involves a holistic approach: looking at the patient as a whole person, and not a single ailment. She believes her job is not only prescribing medications, but it’s being human and connecting with each patient, as well as being their advocate.
Jean Watson wrote, “Caring is the essence of nursing.” Being a nurse practitioner takes dedication, professionalism, and empathy. As Christina states, “I am eager to care for my patients and advocate for them, providing them with what they need to improve and live their lives.” This same philosophy applies to working with the elderly through the Housing with Hope Foundation.
Christina decided to get involved with Housing with Hope after seeing the struggles a lot of her older patients face with housing insecurity and isolation from the community due to their health concerns. She joined the Housing with Hope team at its inception and is looking forward to expanding its area of reach and helping as many people as she can by bringing to the team the skills and empathy she has gained from her professional career.
Tony Gasparovich
Project Management
Tony Gasparovich is a VP of Reiner Group, Inc., an HVAC company based in Fair Lawn, NJ.
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After earning his BS in Industrial Engineering from NJIT, Tony received his MBA from Rutgers and is currently working on his Master’s in Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Tony has been with Reiner Group for over 25 years working in both their commercial and residential divisions. He is married to his wife Rose and together they have two grown sons, Nick and James. Outside of work, Tony enjoys coaching, fishing and boating, and construction projects.
Tony brings to the Housing with Hope Foundation a combined total of nearly 75 years of Board and Trustee experience with a variety of organizations including the Ramsey Board of Education, CR Wolfe Heating Corp, Vision’s Credit Union, and the Ramsey Citizen’s Budget Task Force. When asked why he joined the HwH Board, his answer was personal and heartfelt. “Some things don’t change.
I have known Tony Fasolas for almost 45 years and when he believes in a cause, there is no halfway. We are both sons of immigrant parents who taught us to respect and help those in need in our community. Tony and I have been civic-minded dating back to our teens when we both joined the Palisades Park Volunteer Ambulance Corps. HwH is the latest chapter in our journey; I see his passion towards this organization and have no doubt it will be impactful. I joined the HwH Board because it’s an honor to do good and share a common passion with a lifelong friend.”
Cher Krumins-Beens
Strategy and Development
Cher Krumins-Beens is the founder of CKB Marketing + Branding which provides strategy and growth services for small business owners.
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CKB specializes in mindful business practices and believes that mindful planning, mindful relationships, and mindful growth are the pillars of developing a sustainable and successful business model.
She has over 20 years of experience in nearly every aspect of marketing, including advertising, communications, digital media, public relations, direct mail, research, and sales. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, start-up ventures, small businesses, and solopreneurs. Her diverse background gives her a unique understanding and perspective when it comes to strategic positioning and decision making.
She is a results-oriented marketing partner that provides not only strategy, but also the ability to implement programs in every capacity of marketing. She is truly a CMO for hire that helps entrepreneurs keep up with the demands of marketing their small businesses.
As Director of Strategy & Development for the Housing with Hope Volunteer Advisory Board, she chairs the strategic planning process and assists with development and execution of selected programs. Additionally, Cher researches emerging trends and presents business, marketing, and/or fundraising opportunities to the company’s executive leadership team. She and Gina Marie Mattei of Revelation Creative share not only marketing expertise, but the commitment to improve the lives of seniors in the community. Joining forces allows them to best position Housing with Hope for continued success through thoughtful and engaging marketing campaigns that raise awareness and encourage those who have the room in their heart and the ability to give and contribute to the powerfully impactful mission of this organization.
When asked why she has decided to commit her time and energy to Housing with Hope, Cher stated, “Growing up I saw firsthand the importance that a community lends to our elderly. My grandmother lived with us my whole life, and I got to witness how her health and emotional wellbeing would shift any time she had a reason to socialize. Staying engaged with a community outside our home gave her purpose and a sense of belonging. And truth be told, when Abuelita was happy, the rest of the family was happy. My goal is that by supporting Housing with Hope, I am able to give that gift of emotional wellbeing and happiness to other families.”
Gina Marie Mattei
Marketing
Gina Marie Mattei is President of Revelation Creative, a full-service strategic consulting firm.
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RC specializes in digital and print omni-channel marketing, design, packaging, and project management. She assembled her team of graphic and structural designers, content strategists, project managers, web developers, and partners across all forms of brand visualization and production to best fit the needs of her clients. She herself is an award-winning marketer, having the honor of being recognized as one of New Jersey’s Best Marketing and Communications Professionals Under 40 by the New Jersey Ad Club and as a Top 100 Marketing & Advertising Leader by MARsum.
She lends her talents to the Housing with Hope Volunteer Advisory Board to propel our organization’s mission forward through thoughtful engagement campaigns that encourage those who ‘have’ to give back to help seniors thrive in our local communities. Joining forces with Cher Krumins-Beens of CKB Marketing + Branding, these two professional powerhouses combine their marketing know-how to broaden the reach of Housing with Hope and increase awareness about the organization. Their ultimate goal is to inspire commitment in others to join in this mission to improve lives for senior citizens.
When asked why she has decided to commit her time and energy to Housing with Hope, Gina Marie stated, “As a child of two hardworking parents, I had the honor of having my grandmother provide my childcare growing up. We formed an unbreakable bond with many cherished memories. Her unconditional love is something I keep in my heart to this day. The moments we shared were absolute treasures. I moved back to New Jersey from graduate school in Virginia many moons ago so that I could be with her as her health flagged in her later years. I held her hand as she transitioned from this world to the next. It breaks my heart to know that there are elderly members of our community who live independently, but without the help and support they need to live out their Golden Years to the fullest. For this reason, I passionately support the work that Housing with Hope does to bring smiles, love, joy, and, yes – HOPE to those who have raised us.”
Michael W. Purce
Fundraising and Sponsorship
Michael W. Purce is a Senior Managing Director in the Tax Services group of IQ-EQ in the Americas and works closely with private equity, various hedge fund, and investment partnership clients on projects involving tax compliance, consulting, and due diligence work.
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Mr. Purce has been practicing corporate and partnership taxation since 2005. Prior to joining IQ-EQ, Mr. Purce was employed as a tax accountant for a “Big 4” firm as well as a top 15 national accounting firm, where he spent 11 years as an integral resource for staff and department development. Previously in his career, Mr. Purce has extended himself as a coach and mentor to the company’s up and coming professionals through developing and teaching various continuing education classes on tax topics that affect the Alternative Investment Industry. His clients ranged in a variety of asset classes including real estate, banking, insurance, loan origination, technology, healthcare, and financial advisory. Throughout his career, Mr. Purce has been very involved with several charitable activities, including Tuesday’s Children and the Boomer Esiason Foundation, as well as being excited to work with Housing with Hope. Mr. Purce received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Binghamton University in 2006.Beginning in 2019, Mr. Purce has lent his time in a fundraising capacity to Housing with Hope. Through his experience in non-for-profit work, he has been able to leverage experience and successes in the area of charitable giving to help drive efforts.
He looks forward to helping advance the organization’s fundraising efforts through initiatives and corporate outreach in the tri-state area.
Regarding why Mr. Purce has decided to volunteer his time to Housing with Hope, he had the following to say: “Some of my fondest memories as a child were having the ability to spend time with my paternal grandparents due to their proximity to where I lived. Unfortunately, that was not the case with my maternal grandparents, who resided in rural upstate NY. There came times when having a family member around for support and care was difficult and the ability to provide that care became of utmost concern. Through the initiatives that Housing with Hope is providing, no elderly person should be left wondering when their next interaction with a loved one or volunteer will occur.”
Supporters
Housing with Hope is graciously supported by these companies and foundations.
A Special Thank You to our Grantors and Partners
Made possible by funds from the Union County
Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, a partner
of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
