Hope Smith knows a little bit about understanding the need for information.

Hope watched her mother leave an abusive marriage, earn her GED, graduate from truck driving school and become the second woman in Monroe County PennDOT with a CDL."She was a trailblazer and a great role model," says Hope of her mother, Nancy.Her mother's struggles and experiences, along with her own, shaped the woman she has become, says Hope.When Hope was the editor of West End Happenings for eight years, she fielded a lot of questions about what was going on in the West End community. She saw it as advocating."I always enjoyed the interaction of people, making connections. It's community social working. So when I went back to school for my master's degree, I majored in social work."To Hope, the concept of her degree was to use it to work within the West End community to bring together a growing community."It's taking the new with the old and somehow bringing them all to the same page.""We're a changing community, from an agricultural heritage to a commuter community. I'd like to see people moving in have an understanding of that heritage and bring them all together as one community."She gives the example of the West End Relay for Life. When it began 12 years ago, it was held on the 24-hour Friday/Saturday period. But now it's held Saturday/Sunday to accommodate the commuters who weren't able to participate before."I've learned if I have all my events on a Thursday night, I'm not going to get a large response to participate."When people move into the area, they don't know what is available to them.So Hope envisioned having an organization that would help unite a diverse community and be able to direct them to what the community has to offer in the way of services, entertainment and recreation.The West End Community Alliance (WECA) was born of that vision.Its mission statement is: To collaborate with community members to identify and work toward fulfilling unmet needs in pursuance of a cohesive and united West End Community."WECA focuses on people's social needs. It's also an extension of me. Family and community are the two biggest things in my life. We seemed split and I wanted to see us come together."This past summer, WECA, partnering with Pleasant Valley Youth Association, held a four-week summer youth recreation camp, Mondays-Thursdays at PVMS. Over 50 kids attended. Hope designed it with crafts, activities and sports. She included a "Word of the Day" with a message, such as 'diversity' then based the day's activities around that word. People from the community came in to do demonstrations. Kids learned how to be better community residents while having fun.Run by all volunteers, Hope utilized PVHS students. They used the program as their senior service project and Hope got great mentors for the kids.Her test to see if it was successful was the positive response she received back from the parents. She says there will be another youth recreation camp again this year.WECA is going to have a health fair in March at the Polk Township Volunteer Fire Co. in Kresgeville.It is planning on having a fall festival community event, like a community picnic."This came about while talking with some soccer parents who said it was the only time they got to interact with others in the community. I thought it would be a great event to focus on the diversity of the holidays we celebrate with groups having displays and foods that relate to their own cultures. Diversity is more than just the color of skin. Events like this bring people together to learn about each other and that while we are different, we're also the same."WECA has a small board with four different committees.A once-a-year annual publication called "Living in the West End" will be coming out sometime in early 2012. It will focus on services that are available in the West End, such as a listing of all the churches, nonprofit organizations-civic and religious, fire companies, ambulance corps, history of the area. It will be a guide, letting residents know there is something for everyone in their community.Hope, one of seven children, went to Pleasant Valley until her family moved. She graduated from Pocono Mountain High School."I was a jock. I played basketball and ran track. I went on to ESU. I thought I'd become a physical education teacher. My high school coach was my role model, but I learned I just wanted to play sports, not be a teacher."She dropped out of school and admits she was kind of lost. She got married and found herself in an abusive relationship, not as bad as her mother's, but bad enough that she felt battered. She divorced him and she and her daughter, Cierra, moved on."It made me who I am. It made me get involved with women's issues. I would not change a thing. I am a feminist. I don't just spout it. I live it."She later married Kevin Smith and they have a son, Connor. She credits her husband for being her biggest supporter and is a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.Hope was involved with the forming of the Pleasant Valley Youth Association, currently its president, and has also been one of its basketball and soccer coaches for 13 years. They have added baseball (for boys 13 and older), Lacrosse for boys and girls and field hockey."I want a track program. That's my next goal," she says.The combination of sports and writing and it's "Woohoo! I'm home!" she says.Hope attended Northampton Community College and then graduated from ESU with a major in English and a minor in Women's Studies.While Hope was a student at ESU, Elly Smeal, a nationally known feminist activist, political analyst, lobbyist, and grassroots organizer, came to speak. Smeal is also the president and founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation and has served as president of the National Organization for Women twice."She asked me what I wanted to be when I 'grew up.' I told her, I didn't know. So she said 'You need to create your own position.' I realized I wanted to be me and my position was always there."She worked for the American Red Cross and Domestic Violence Service Center of Carbon County. She went back to school in 2007 and earned her Master's Degree in social work from Marywood University and became the program coordinator at the Jane Kopas Women's Center in Scranton."I loved it. I loved the interaction and I noticed how excited I was when we did community service. I reread my letter of intent for my Master's and realized how much I had strayed from those goals. That's when I decided to start WECA."The new nonprofit corporation is in the process of obtaining a 501(c)(3) status.She says "If you're not part of a solution, you're part of the problem. I want WECA and me to be a part of this community's solutions."If interested in learning more about WECA, contact Hope at 570-236-8985.