‘Beauty for ashes’
Photo by Allison Brophy Champion
HELP FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY FORECLOSURE: Gay and Ray Hopkins lost their home in northern Culpeper last summer to foreclosure. Now the local couple is starting a foreclosure support group.
Ray and Gay Hopkins believe that God wants to make something good out of their recent foreclosure.
That’s why the local couple, after losing their home last summer in northern Culpeper, is starting the county’s first foreclosure support group, “Beauty for Ashes.”
It comes at a fitting time too, considering that Culpeper has one of the highest foreclosure rates statewide with 467 families losing their homes last year.
Gay, a 50-something newspaper carrier who also works part-time at the Persecution Project, named the support group for a favorite Bible verse from the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound … to comfort all that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
“That is what I would like to see come out of this,” Gay said in a recent interview. “His arm is not too short.”
It was a difficult process for the Hopkins family to lose a home they had built and lived in for more than a decade.
A series of job layoffs, scant savings and mounting credit card debt literally pulled the rug out from under them, as featured in a Star-Exponent story last April.
“When you are losing everything, you kind of feel like it’s all gone up in smoke,” Gay said. “It is such a feeling of isolation, and I look in the paper and see just pages of people going through the same thing — and we don’t know each other.”
She and her husband hope to start making some connections. The first meeting of “Beauty for Ashes” will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the couple’s church — Hope Community Church of the Nazarene — at 121 E. Culpeper St.
“I really think that people who have lost their home or are in the process of losing their home need to be heard,” said Ray Hopkins, a former automotive professional who works at Wal-Mart. “We need to be heard. People need to bond together and realize they are not alone.”
Besides providing an open forum for foreclosure families, Ray and Gay hope to also offer practical education on financial topics. The couple invites housing or finance professionals to schedule some time to speak at one of their meetings on topics like how to set up a home budget, a homeowner’s legal rights or rebuilding credit after a foreclosure.
“I don’t want to just create interest among those of us who are going through it and struggling, but also others who can give input,” said Mrs. Hopkins.
Though still struggling to make ends meet, the couple knows it could be much worse. They have a rented place in the area, and their two sons are doing well at Virginia Tech. Their youngest son is still in high school and learning to adapt.
“It’s nothing like when we were living in the house, worrying about when we’d have to move, where we were going to move,” said Ray. “I’m sure our neighbors, when they found out we were going into foreclosure, they didn’t know what to say to us. People’s friends don’t know what to say, and so they stay away.”
And it only makes the situation worse, he said.
Ray and Gay want to lift the veil of shame and silence from home foreclosure and provide a forum for open and productive dialogue. They both said they had to learn some tough lessons, but that it brought them closer to their faith.
“I’ve learned that I thought my trust was in God, but my security I was really placing in other things,” Gay said of her home and material possessions. “I’ve learned that I could still live after letting go of so much.
“It was like having my skin ripped off me, but it was very liberating at the same time. I think all that stuff had weighed me down quite a bit.”
Reaching out
Ray and Gay Hopkins launch the county’s first foreclosure support group Tuesday at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Hope Community Church of the Nazarene at 121 E. Culpeper St. in downtown Culpeper. It is open to the public. For more information, call (540) 272-9583 or e-mail
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Reader Reactions
It is very easy for those of us who have not experienced hardship as the Hopkins have to look at their situation with a lack of sensitivity. They are trying to offer comfort,empathy, and advice to those who have. Until we have walked in their shoes we should not make comments to intimate anything other than their good intentions. way2go…You should be proud of your parents. It seems that they are handling a horrific situation with grace and dignity.
Let me be unequivocal. I am very happy that the Hopkins are doing this. I wish them luck. What I’m suggesting is that they throw as wide a net as possible. Is you want to make it into something anti-religious, you’re missing the point. I’d like to see them get as many people to their meetings as possible. Read carefully. I never said they would try to recruit anyone to their church.
I’d also like to mention that I believe I was the first reader commenter to thank them for coming forward to talk about their situation when the CSE first covered them a few months ago. Perhaps it was just a coincidence but about a month before their story was published I had written the reporter a note urging her to tell the story of a real person going through this. To put a human face on a story that is mostly told with numbers and percentages.
I also wrote a column a month or so ago urging people to avoid the ads on tv and radio saying they could eliminate their debts in a few years. Hopefully that will be one of the stories the Hopkins will be telling.
As the eldest child of this wonderful couple, I can assure you that although they are very steadfast in their faith in God, their intent is certainly not to convert or condemn anyone. Their foreclosure was a very difficult time for our entire family. These people somehow manage to love EVERYONE out of the goodness of their hearts. Their mission is certainly not to condemn those attending their meetings, it is merely to offer support to those going through similar situations because they know from experience what an arduous and life changing event this is. Kudos to you Mom and Dad! I’m so very proud of you!!!
And I quote- “I’m just saying the people who have just been through a foreclosure often feel desperate and may feel cautious about someone trying to convert them and would feel more comfortable in a neutral site.“ Did you not say this?
Most churches open their meeting (conference) rooms to groups for all kinds of worthy causes. why intimate that this might be a religious gathering? Just to dissent??? And if it is???? Everyone has the right not to attend if they so choose.
C’mon now. You know I didn’t say anyone would try to convert someone. I did say some people may decide not to attend feeling someone might. And how do you know what I believe anyway?
And I am saying that I doubt these people are going to try to “convert” someone just because they attend a meeting. They are trying to help others, why can’t people leave them alone and let them do what they feel led to do? If someone wants to convert, that’s their decision, right? Just like you decide to NOT to believe. Do you think you may be convicted and that’s why you are uncomfortable? (I am sure you will have some other explanation for that.)
I have attended plenty of non-religious meetings in churches. Why bring up “hate”? I’m just saying the people who have just been through a foreclosure often feel desperate and may feel cautious about someone trying to convert them and would feel more comfortable in a neutral site. But if this is the only available site, that’s what they should do. Are you saying that you would be fine with attending such a meeting in a mosque? But probably most people will be comfortable in this man’s church and everything will be fine. I’m just saying some may not.
I hope all goes well with this project. There is definitely a need for something like this. As for rjma-Sometimes these “religous” people are the start of good things, so you might as well get used to it. There will be haters, it’s in the Bible, but christians are here and will remain here, just as you. I don’t think it’s going to be a church service, so one shouldn’t be “uncomfortable”, and I doubt that they are going to bang a bible over someone’s head. Why can’t people just accept the fact that one can be what you call “religious” and ACTUALLY do a good thing. And by the way, if your heart is on the right place, it is a RELATIONSHIP, NOT a religion.
Certainly a need for something like this. But the article contained quite a few references to religion. And the meeting will be held in their church. I would suspect that some potential “customers” might feel more comfortable in a neutral site. Good luck.
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