The Story of New Hope Community Church

In 1996, Rick & Eunice Trotter approached Ed Carey, the Pastor of an inner-city church in Hollywood, California called Hope International, and asked if he knew of any families in need at Christmas. Ed told them about a single mother of four children who had nothing. Moved by compassion and guided by their faith, the Trotters provided that family with food, clothing, blankets, toys, and school supplies -not only for Christmas, but for the entire year that followed.

The next year, they returned with a dozen friends on motorcycles and provided Christmas for nearly thirty famiies. What began as an act of obedience to God’s call to care for “the least of these” continued to grow. Over the next twenty years, that small beginning expanded into a ministry serving more than 2,000 children each year.

During that time, their son Jeremy Trotter, spent four years serving at New Hope International, helping carry forward the same heart for families in need.

Later, when the COVID pandemic reshaped communities and revealed new areas of hardship, a new vision was born -to serve families in the Inland Empire through what would become New Hope Community Church. That vision has now been active for six years. In the most recent year alone, more than 1,500 children received school supplies, toys, blankets, clothing, and other essential items.

This is how the ministry began -with one family and simple faith -and this is where it stands today: a living testimony of what God can do when compassion meets obedience.