BLUEFIELD, Va. (WVVA) -Around three years ago, Pastor Sherrill Michael from one local church had a vision to help people who feel hopeless. He based his idea of making a difference on a classic story about starfish.

“...The man on the beach who was throwing starfishes back into the ocean, and someone said, ‘you’re not going to make a difference to all those hundreds of starfish on the beach,’ but he picked another one up and tossed it in and said , ‘I made a difference for that one,’” says Pastor Sherrill Michael.

He was then joined by people from other churches, coming together to create the ‘ Hope House ,’ a place outside of the church to provide support for those struggling with a wide variety of problems.

Pastor Michael says the people of the Hope House want to provide a safe space and listening ear to those with emotional or relationship issues. In addition, they want to help link those with physical issues to other organizations or nonprofits who can better help them.

“To start with, we want to be able to help people who may have some struggles with relationships and with their own relationships with themselves to be able to speak it out and let us be able to listen to them and love on them and help them. And we know that sometimes it will go deeper than what we can help, so we want to, again, refer them out to professional services if needed,” says Pastor Michael.

Pastor Michael says in the short time they’ve been open, the Hope House has already made a noticeable difference in the lives of those they’ve helped. He is asking for others with a similar calling to volunteer at the Hope House to lend a listening ear to those struggling.

If you’d like to check out the Hope house for yourself, Pastor Michael says they’ll be having an open house this Sunday, April 28th at 508 Virginia Avenue, Bluefield, Virginia.