Shriner and Hope Story

Item #2019

(June, 1987) Hope is about to take her first step since the braces were put on. The look on her face says that now she thinks she’s going to make it! The Shriner stands behind her, giving her encouragement but not doing the work for her. He holds her with experienced tenderness, for he has helped thousands before her. Hope’s rag doll also has a crutch, and has been her constant companion during her trips to the hospital. The Shriner wears a small crutch lapel pin, symbolic of the hundreds of ways that Shriners work to help burned and crippled children. A collection of newspapers that they publish headlines “Help” which is the theme of the Shriners’ campaign. I am indebted to Joe Wale of Gastonia, North Carolina for the inspiration and the naming of this statue.

Dr. Thomas F. Clark