ICCF Homes & Hope 50th Anniversary Trolley Tour

ICCF Community Homes will host a special Homes & Hope 50th Anniversary Trolley Tour on Thursday, September 19, 2024, as part of our year-long celebration. All ICCF Homes & Hope Legacy Society members and those ICCF donors who are considering including a gift to ICCF in their estate plans are invited to join us.

Our tour will begin at Eastern Ave Christian Reformed Church, 514 Eastern Ave SE, and we’ll return to the church for lunch and a program. Note this is a change from our previous plans for the lunch location. Plan on arriving at the church at 10:45 am so we can be loaded to begin our tour at 11:00 am. The tentative event schedule includes:

• 10:45 AM Participants arrive at Eastern Ave CRC and board trolleys
• 11:00 AM Trolleys leave to view ICCF’s history and impact over the past half-century
• 12:00 – 12:15 PM Trolleys return to Eastern Ave CRC and participants gather for lunch
• 12:30 PM Program begins featuring Q&A with Ryan VerWys and Jonathan Bradford
• 1:30 PM Event concludes

ICCF traces its founding to a group of volunteers at Eastern Ave CRC who 50 years ago renovated a house in the neighborhood and sold it to a low-income family. Who would have thought that 50 years later we would come together here for this special celebration!

Our trolley tour route will track ICCF’s history and impact over these past 50 years, including the following locations:

• That first “Project Conserve” home renovation 50 years ago
• Madison Ave Fire Station, ICCF’s office from 1986 to 2007
• The DA Blodgett Home for Children building, 920 Cherry
• Grand Rapids Christian High, 415 Martin Luther King Jr St (Franklin St)
• Family Haven
• Carmody Apartments
• Pleasant Prospect duplexes
• Tapestry Square
• Numerous ICCF single-family homes, duplexes, and multi-family apartment buildings
• A peek at what’s on the horizon and coming up soon

We’ll return to Eastern Ave Christian Reformed Church for an informal lunch and a Q&A session led by current and former CEOs Ryan VerWys and Jonathan Bradford.

For photos and a description of last year’s Homes & Hope Legacy Luncheon, click here.