Stories of Hope
Stories of Hope is an e-communication that is sent to our subscribers each month. These stories will be brought to you through the voices of our staff, volunteers, donors, patients, and community partners. Our goal is to highlight the hope that is present in our community through the interconnected world of faith, healing, service, and advocacy. To receive these stories as well as other important messages, click here to subscribe.
March 2026
On Sunday, February 22 we hosted the Voices in Colors for Social Justice exhibit reception at Center for Healing & Hope, featuring artist Francisco Avila. We were met that morning with a winter snow storm. The event had already been rescheduled once because of a winter storm, but we had a choice to make. Francisco and CHH Executive Director Missy Schrock were able to appear on the WNDU morning show the day prior to promote the event, so we thought it best to stay the course and move ahead with the event that afternoon from 3:00-4:30pm.
Inside the clinic, a small array of refreshments were readied. A fruit platter lined with layers of pineapple, blueberries, and strawberries were set out, symbolizing the colors of the Venezuelan flag and matching some of the artwork on display.
At 3:00pm sharp, the first guest walked in. Someone braved the snow, but surely people in Michiana are used to this weather, right?! Low and behold, more guests arrived. After about 15 minutes, the lobby was comfortably filled with about twenty attendees. Folks walked around lobby visiting with one another, meeting Francisco, and stopping every few feet to study each piece of artwork on display. People were encouraged to make their way into the Interra Cares Education Room where refreshments, additional pieces in the exhibit, and prints available for purchase awaited them.
Around 3:30, Francisco was introduced by Missy. He shared details about his life, the exhibit, and the ways it came to be. “Good afternoon. Thank you for being here. My name is Francisco Avila. I was born in Venezuela, and for about thirty-five years, the United States has also been my home. Both places live in my heart.”
Francisco shared:
As you look around this room, you’ll see pieces that carry silent voices — voices that don’t shout, but still speak with a force that reaches the heart.
My floral paintings come from a place of wonder. Flowers, to me, are a dance of color and movement. They hold life inside them — the delicate meeting of male and female structures, the miracle of pollination, the promise of renewal.
He continued:
But the Social Justice pieces, they come from a different place. A heavier place. A place of witnessing.
I have seen, in Venezuela and across the world, people fighting for basic needs, for freedom, for dignity, for the simple right to be respected for their faith, their origins, their race.
I have seen how injustice, how the ego of authoritarian regimes, and how war pushes human beings to flee their own land. Some of them, my own family.
That pain, that loss, that courage moved me to raise my voice through art. That is how my series “Voices in Colors for Social Justice” was born in 2010.
Francisco moved from piece to piece, sharing specific details about several of the works. He concluded his remarks near a thought provoking painting titled “Brincando la Frontera con el Coyote – Jumping the Border with Coyote.”
He shared:
A group of migrants runs across a vibrant landscape. Their bodies move in urgency, and in hope. At the front, a coyote bites one of them— a symbol of the dangers that follow those who flee.
Still, they move forward. Guided by the same instinct that drives every species on Earth: the search for safety, for resources, for balance. Their movement is not a crime. It is a natural right.
These pieces remind us that borders, uniforms, and conflicts may divide us, but the forces that sustain life—compassion, migration, resilience—belong to all beings.
In these paintings… movement becomes hope. Protection becomes justice. And social justice begins when we recognize the humanity in every journey, and the sacredness in every life carried forward.
The Voices in Colors for Social Justice exhibit will be on display at Center for Healing & Hope through the end of March. Exhibit hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm, with the exception of 12:00-1:00pm when the clinic is closed for lunch. We welcome you to come by and see the pieces, each of which is available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds being donated to Center for Healing & Hope. A limited amount of the prints are also still available for purchase at the clinic.
We thank Francisco for his time, talents, generosity, and message to our community. If you’d like to speak with Francisco directly, please email us at info@chhclinics.org and we can get you connected.
2026 ARCHIVE
February – Isabel’s Story