Inspired by her grandmother’s tragic nursing home experience, Linda Holloway and co-founders, Sharron Brandrup and Marge Utne, worked to create an organization that would bring community awareness and participation into nursing homes.  “Bring them together, the young and the old” was her mantra.

The program started in 1989. The work of Bessie’s Hope transforms the lives of the too-often forgotten elders, the misdirected “at-risk” youth and all who participate in the volunteer programs. Because of the training, activities, and structure provided by Bessie’s hope, a fertile space is created for relationships to be cultivated across generations.  It has become evident through the years that this work does for at-risk youth what nothing else can. They feel valued and needed and finally validated as human beings with purpose in this world.