{"id":55204,"date":"2025-04-14T20:45:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T00:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=55204"},"modified":"2025-04-14T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T00:59:11","slug":"hope-house-the-house-of-horrors-bartows-little-secret-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/04\/14\/hope-house-the-house-of-horrors-bartows-little-secret-revealed\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHope House the House of Horrors\u201d, Bartow\u2019s little secret revealed \u2026."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Editorial<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The idea of the Hope House in 2019-2020 is wonderful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The image of helping pregnant girls to get back on their feet with the skills needed to be a mother is a noble cause.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hope House purchased the iconic home in 2022 from an investor and is where the coming-of-age 1990s movie, \u201cMy Girl,\u201d was filmed, starring Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Macaulay Culkin, and Anna Chlumsky. (See clip below).<\/p>\n\n\n        \n        <div class=\"embedpress-gutenberg-wrapper source-provider-Youtube aligncenter ep-clear   ep-content-protection-disabled inline\" id=\"d9b076f4-c78b-4bc8-8d0c-a78aff2a6448\" data-embed-type=\"Youtube \">\n            <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper \">\n                <div id=\"ep-gutenberg-content-21197feb00f3c86ecae545626c7849c7\" class=\"ep-gutenberg-content\">\n                    <div >\n                        <div class=\"ep-embed-content-wraper preset-default insta-grid ep-google-photos-carousel\"\n                            style=\"max-width:600px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\"                                                                                                                >\n\n                            <div class=\"ose-youtube ose-uid-9589250341c03587089d43e5e2566e60 ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:600px; height:600px; max-height:600px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" title=\"HH 1 My Girl\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wy0QEmQ6-ks?feature=oembed&#038;color=red&#038;rel=0&#038;controls=1&#038;start=&#038;end=&#038;fs=0&#038;iv_load_policy=0&#038;autoplay=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;cc_load_policy=1&#038;playsinline=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media;accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;gyroscope;picture-in-picture clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"\u201cHope House the House of Horrors\u201d, Bartow\u2019s little secret revealed \u2026.\"><\/iframe><\/div>                        <\/div>\n\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    \n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The home was purchased by the founder of Hope House and Bartow Ford stepped in to guarantee the house.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The newly renovated six-bedroom home has been transformed into a refuge for first-time mothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"737166\" data-has-transparency=\"true\" style=\"--dominant-color: #737166;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" data-id=\"55205\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-a-png.webp?resize=720%2C405&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55205 has-transparency\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-a-png.webp?w=720&amp;ssl=1 720w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-a-png.webp?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"90938a\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #90938a;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" data-id=\"55206\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-1024x576.webp?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55206 not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-png.webp?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-png.webp?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-png.webp?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-png.webp?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hope House is a 12-month maternity residential program for single expectant mothers in need between the ages of 18-26. Six mothers will be moving into the home during their first trimester. The nonprofit will cover all their living expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of our moms will receive weekly one-on-one therapy by a mental health counselor. We\u2019ll go heavy on financial literacy. We&#8217;re going to start with the foundations of understanding money and finance and build up budgeting skills, and job readiness preparation and life skills training\u201d said Tara Johnson, executive director of Hope House to the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The women will be required to have a part-time job to have money saved for when they\u2019ve completed the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Community donations have funded the purchase and renovations of the 7,508-square-foot home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>However, more than a dozen people have now contacted the <em>Lakeland Gazette<\/em> with stories of horrific events occurring inside that house.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See the clip below from their executive director that says this house is full of love and they are willing to help these girls.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n        \n        <div class=\"embedpress-gutenberg-wrapper source-provider-Youtube aligncenter ep-clear   ep-content-protection-disabled inline\" id=\"c6ca648b-1191-4b8c-9e2b-f37569f9c1b1\" data-embed-type=\"Youtube \">\n            <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper \">\n                <div id=\"ep-gutenberg-content-f0de9e9d05eda00148e9eb25d76db75c\" class=\"ep-gutenberg-content\">\n                    <div >\n                        <div class=\"ep-embed-content-wraper preset-default insta-grid ep-google-photos-carousel\"\n                            style=\"max-width:600px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\"                                                                                                                >\n\n                            <div class=\"ose-youtube ose-uid-ebb799cdae5a7650418dd441122d0146 ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:600px; height:600px; max-height:600px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" title=\"Tara Johnson\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/28mJYC_lzpw?feature=oembed&#038;color=red&#038;rel=0&#038;controls=1&#038;start=&#038;end=&#038;fs=0&#038;iv_load_policy=0&#038;autoplay=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;cc_load_policy=1&#038;playsinline=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media;accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;gyroscope;picture-in-picture clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"\u201cHope House the House of Horrors\u201d, Bartow\u2019s little secret revealed \u2026.\"><\/iframe><\/div>                        <\/div>\n\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    \n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Love and respect should always be shown because these girls are scared don&#8217;t know what to do and are hoping that this so-called home of love can help them transition into a better life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>But that is not what they get \u2026 being cursed at for doing the wrong things, being yelled at, degraded, and told they are worthless&#8230;.<\/strong>, <strong>by Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>One girl was given a 20-minute pack for your stuff and was taken to a bus stop and she waited 3 hours in the middle of the night for someone to pick her up, Why? One girl left the house in the middle of the night and no one could find her. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Listen to this audio clip\u2026\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AUDIO_5448.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The founder of Hope House Jill Green was forced out in June 2023 and Tara Johnston was given all the power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Executive Director Tara Johnston has <strong>NO<\/strong> clinical background, period. She calls herself a Promotional Model, Brand Ambassador, and Super Mom. What do these things have to do about running a home for pregnant girls?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They already lost the Resident and the program director, Debbie Kelly who was living on-site. Hope House has lost multiple volunteer Clinicians due to Johnson&#8217;s heavy fist and mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And when these people spoke up they all received a Cease and Desist letter from a local Lakeland attorney. (See Letter). What kind of world do we live in?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"8d8d8d\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"472\" height=\"1024\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cr-letter-472x1024.webp?resize=472%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55210 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #8d8d8d; width:519px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cr-letter-png.webp?resize=472%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 472w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cr-letter-png.webp?resize=138%2C300&amp;ssl=1 138w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cr-letter-png.webp?w=526&amp;ssl=1 526w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Program Director Emily Collins started in February 2025, she has 7+ years in education and leadership but <strong>NO<\/strong> clinical background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <em>Lakeland Gazette<\/em> called the Mayor of Bartow, Trish Pfeiffer. She said we have tried but Hope House by they are not licensed by any government agency.&nbsp; She also stated that the Hope House board is trying to make changes.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pfeiffer is correct this type of home has NO license by any government agency, and if you call DCF to ask for the standards for this type of home there are none.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"731\" height=\"1024\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/mutz_2021-m.jpg?resize=731%2C1024&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14410\" style=\"width:216px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/mutz_2021-m.jpg?resize=731%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 731w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/mutz_2021-m.jpg?resize=214%2C300&amp;ssl=1 214w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/mutz_2021-m.jpg?resize=768%2C1075&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/mutz_2021-m.jpg?resize=1097%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1097w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/mutz_2021-m.jpg?resize=1463%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1463w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/mutz_2021-m.jpg?w=1500&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mayor Bill Mutz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has come to light that Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz is on the board of directors of His Hope House &#8230;&#8230; Why Bill, haven&#8217;t you fixed these issues?  You were told about this months ago. Please Bill stand up for these young scared woman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Sun biz <a href=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GetDocument.pdf\" class=\"ek-link\">Document<\/a>   Financial Data <a href=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/His-Hope-House-Corporation-Full-Filing-Nonprofit-Explorer-ProPublica-2022.pdf\" class=\"ek-link\">2022 Form 990<\/a> &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/His-Hope-House-Corporation-Full-Filing-Nonprofit-Explorer-ProPublica.pdf\" class=\"ek-link\">2023 Form 990<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-2 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MORE TO COME &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editorial The idea of the Hope House in 2019-2020 is wonderful. The image of helping pregnant girls to get back on their feet with the skills needed to be a&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"8","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDRcL2hvdXNlLXBob3RvLXBuZy53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNTc2JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiXHUyMDFjSG9wZSBIb3VzZSB0aGUgSG91c2Ugb2YgSG9ycm9yc1x1MjAxZCwgQmFydG93XHUyMDE5cyBsaXR0bGUgc2VjcmV0IHJldmVhbGVkIFx1MjAyNi4iLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.pgxpVGE9V8Vzm6xg4p8fIXhzs8F0ngPba6uUEKl1hnkMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":55206,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/house-photo-png.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[11326,11327],"class_list":["post-55204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","tag-hope-house-the-house-of-horrors","tag-bartows-little-secret-revealed"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55221,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55204\/revisions\/55221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}