Freewill donation breakfast to help fund the Outlet Youth Center and Joe's Hope Foundation

freewill-donation-breakfast-to-help-fund-the-outlet-youth-center-and-joe-s-hope-foundation

Jaretty's Place in Rochester will be hosting a dine and donate event that will have biscuits and gravy for breakfast by freewill donations.

The event is on Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. All proceeds for the breakfast will be split 50/50 to benefit the Outlet Youth Center and Joe's Hope Foundation. Both organizations strive to help the youth of Fulton County.

The Outlet Youth Center is a faith-based, youth driven organization that provides a safe, structured environment for teens and preteens outside of school. 

Joe's Hope had started out as a Relay for Life team prior to losing 19-year-old Joey Shidler to cancer after a three year battle in 2014. Continuing Joe's Hope as a way to keep his little brother's memory alive, Dustin Shidler, and several other family members and friends made the foundation an official non-for-profit in 2020. 

Joe's Hope Foundation helps raise money for those in the community dealing with cancer, hoping to ease the financial burden and confusion cancer causes families in the area. 

Shidler says their cause also continues to get bigger. Losing Joey at such a young age, Shidler says their organization goes beyond help with cancer victims. It also provides financial help to the youth of the community. 

After paying off all of the lunch debt at Rochester Community Schools at the end of 2023, Joe's Hope Foundation has grown with more ideas to help locally, with plans to financially grow as well. With help from Brian Johnson at the Northern Indiana Community Foundation, the organization has high hopes of creating a scholarship in Joe's name to help RHS students going into the medical field, specifically those planning to study oncology or cancer research. 

In January, Shidler said Joe's Hope Foundation joined the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce, opening even more doors than ever to the community. 

Shidler hopes the growth of Joe's Hope Foundation continues to strengthen and help more community members of Fulton County in the future.