Celebrating Forty Years of Hope
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Celebrating Forty Years of Hope
Hospitality House 40th Anniversary Luncheon taking place August 16 at Chetola; features internationally recognized trauma survivor and advocate Tonier Cain
BOONE, NC – JULY 22, 2024: Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina is thrilled to welcome internationally recognized trauma-informed care expert and survivor Tonier Cain as the guest speaker for its fortieth anniversary Hope Luncheon. Taking place 11:00 a.m. Friday August 16, 2024, lakeside at the award-winning Chetola Resort, individual tickets are $40 to attend or a table of eight may be purchased for $400. This is the agency’s largest annual fundraiser, and guests will be encouraged to give generously to reach their goal of $100,000.
Asking Tonier Cain to speak at the annual luncheon wasn’t just happenstance. Both executive director Tina B. Krause and chief development director Todd Carter were so profoundly impacted by Ms. Cain when she spoke at the 2016 State of the Child conference at Boone United Methodist Church that they immediately went to work changing the way Hospitality House operated and administered its programs and services. That conference set the tone for what would become WCCI, the Watauga Compassionate Community Initiative.
“I distinctly remember when Tonier uttered the phrase “where there is breath, there is hope” as she took the stage at the conference,” states Carter. “At the end of Tonier sharing her harrowing, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting and inspiring story, I sat in the church pew sobbing, not in sadness, but because I had been deeply changed as a human being.”
The luncheon, presented by Chetola Resort & Spa and sponsored by Allen Wealth Management, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Ashemont Title and Mast General store, will include a wine social and the opportunity to view and bid on forty premier items that make up the online auction component of the event. The highlight of the afternoon will be guest speaker Tonier Cain who will take guests on her personal journey through eighty-three arrests, sixty-six convictions, and nineteen years of homelessness, drug addiction, incarceration, and trauma. She will share how it all changed when someone asked her one simple question.
Later that evening at Timberlake’s Restaurant at Chetola, a limited number of tickets are being offered at $400 each for a private dinner with Ms. Cain and will be joined by Ms. Krause and Mr. Carter.
Adds Krause, “We knew we had to ask Tonier if she would be willing to speak at such a milestone year for the agency. Her powerful story and advocacy cuts deep to the heart of what we do and the people that we serve. She has had such an impact on us these past eight years and we are so happy that she said ‘yes’.” Individual, table and private dinner tickets may be purchased online: hosphouse.org/hope. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available and can be accessed at the same link.
Individuals who are unable to attend but would like to celebrate 40 years of hope can donate online at hosphouse.org/hope or mail a check w/ “hope 40” in the memo line, to Hospitality House of Northwest N.C. c/o Todd Carter P.O. Box 309 Boone, NC 28607
Anyone inquiring about the auction and luncheon or in need of additional information is encouraged to email Carter at
ABOUT TONIER:
Tonier is now an internationally recognized educator and trauma-informed care expert. Tonier was the former team leader for the National Center for Trauma Informed Care, with the National Association of State Mental Health program director. Currently she works to create international leaders in the field of Trauma Informed
Care. She is an award-winning film producer and creator of the upcoming television show Restoration, executive producer of the documentary Walking Thru Bullets, and producer of the film The Unseen Village. She is the subject and co-producer of the award-winning film Healing Neen (watch the trailer here) and is featured in the documentary Behind Closed Doors: Trauma Survivors in the Psychiatric System.
ABOUT HOSPITALITY HOUSE OF NORTHWEST N.C.:
Now in its fortieth year, Hospitality House is a regional nonprofit housing and homeless services agency working in seven rural North Carolina counties (Watauga, Wilkes, Ashe, Avery, Alleghany, Mitchell, Yancey) providing housing, shelter, food access, homeless prevention, street outreach, counseling, medical care, and crisis assistance. Since 1984, the mission of Hospitality House has been to rebuild lives and strengthen community by providing a safe, nurturing, healthy environment in which individuals and families experiencing homelessness and poverty-related crises are equipped to become self-sufficient and productive. Just in this decade, since 2020 they have successfully moved over 600 people out of homelessness.
