The Opportunity to Build a Family – New Orleans, LA

Growing up in a series of foster homes, the one thing Sharon Denson longed for most was a family. Decades later, when
Denson’s daughter became too ill to care for her three young sons, Denson was desperate to move the boys from Mississippi to New Orleans, where she could care for them herself.

Short on cash but long on love, Denson turned to Hope Credit Union for help bringing her grandsons to their new home.

“At HOPE, they connect with you. They’re more into your life, like a family,” Denson says. “So, I went to HOPE and I told the loan representative, ‘My daughter is very ill and I need to get my grandkids here from Mississippi.’”

The loan representative checked Denson’s credit, then asked her, “Do you want to get those kids?”

“I told her I sure did,” Denson recalls. “Then she said, ‘Well guess what, we’re going to get those [train] tickets,’ and I just started crying. HOPE brought me my grandkids.”

Five years later, Denson is planning to put the lessons she learned from raising her grandsons to work for others. Her goal is to start a learning center for children in her community.

“My opportunity is opening doors for others,” Denson says. “When I think of ‘family,’ it’s not just my grandkids or my children or my cousins. My family is the people in my life, and they are bringing me towards my opportunities. And HOPE…HOPE is my family.”