Denae Warren – From Hope House to Destination Caldwell 

From left to right are shown Denae Warren’s family, including husband TJ, daughter Harlow, Denae, sons Cassius and Atticus, and a dog named Ham.(Courtesy photo) 

By Gaye Bunderson 

Denae Warren’s primary job now is to draw people to downtown Caldwell, and especially to the Indian Creek Plaza. She and her team do it well. Last year, the site drew upwards of one million visitors. But there’s nothing in Warren’s past that would have made her seem destined for the success she’s known. 

She started out on a rough road in life, adopted as a baby by parents who struggled with their own mental illness. Warren was sexually abused by a family member as a child, and her parents made no effort to intervene. “My adoptive parents were not healthy; they struggled with mental illness and did not understand their role as protectors,” she stated. 

Because of the trauma and abuse brought on by her family, Warren did not go through one stage of health to another in any positive way. By the time she was in middle school, her home had become a war zone. Through a friend, her family heard about a children’s home in Idaho that could help. Located in Marsing, Hope House offers a home for children between the ages of 10-18 (and those youth who turn 18 prior to or during their senior year in high school). The young people come to Hope House emotionally impaired, developmentally disabled, and/or from disrupted adoptions or dysfunctional families, such as Warren experienced. 

Hope House serves children from throughout the U.S. and internationally, though mainly from the western states. “Children from other countries may be considered on a case-by-case basis,” according to a statement on the Hope House website at ahome2come2.com., which goes on to say, “Hope House provides a home for those young people who may have ‘fallen through the cracks’ of other governmental and/or private agencies.” 

To provide a little history, Hope House was established in 1973 by Donna Lowry. Fast-forwarding to today, after 51 years Lowry is still a mainstay at Hope House. She has not retired to a rocking chair by any means. As a former child from a harsh beginning herself, now in her 80s she retains the title of administrator at the home. 

When she launched the facility, she started out with 2-3 kids. But back to Warren, who came to the facility as a 15-year-old in 2000. There were around 70 kids at Hope House at that time. 

Warren applied to Hope House and was accepted. Prior to coming here, she lived in Colorado Springs, Colo., and a friend and her mom drove Warren to Hope House in Idaho. There were no dramatic farewells when they arrived here. 

“We sat in the car and talked briefly; then they put my belongings on the porch and drove away,” Warren said. 

There had been violence in her past, but her arrival at Hope House gave her just what its name implies: hope – and a home where she was out of danger. 

“Now I was safe; I felt both relief and fear,” Warren stated. Fear because she was all alone in a strange place, and relief because she was leaving the pain of a dysfunctional family behind. And even more relief flooded her when she started to get acquainted with staff and residents. “They were very welcoming,” she said. 

There were people there who had been through experiences like hers, including trauma. 

Lowry, as a mandatory (abuse) reporter, immediately believed Warren about the abuse she had experienced and turned in her abuser to the Rockford, Ill. Police Department to bring him to justice. “Donna and I went back to Illinois three times to testify and make sure he went to prison so he could not harm anyone else. Donna gave me a voice.” A voice that had for so long been silenced and ignored, even by people whose primary job it was to protect her. Lowry behaved just the opposite of previous adults in her life. 

“It was a joy helping to raise her,” Lowry said. “She was a normal teenager, but she had a listening ear and was willing to listen and learn.” 

Warren graduated high school “with lots of girls who were like sisters to me” while living at Hope House. 

 Post high school, she sought higher education, and she received help from Lowry and the Sunrise Rotary Club. While Lowry kept a room for her at Hope House so she had a place to go during holidays and summers, Rotary Club member Gary Multanen helped with other needs. “He paid for my books and kept me in school,” Warren explained. “He would check in and make sure I had everything I needed.” 

She was attending Northwest Nazarene University, studying communication from 2002-2006. Her last year was completed mostly online; and following that, she continued to work for the Boys & Girls Club, which she started doing fresh out of high school. 

Stated Lowry: “She showed her leadership in high school, and she stayed faithful while in college, and she invited us to her graduation and all the activities afterward.” 

Eventually, Warren went to work for the City of Nampa, handling FEMA grants (Federal Emergency Management Agency). “That kicked off my career,” she said. “After I worked for the City of Nampa, I got my feet wet in grant writing. It opened a door into other nonprofits,” she stated. 

Other places she worked include Genesis Community Health and Mercy Housing, one helping people find affordable health care and the other affordable housing. For over two years, she participated in Ride for Joy, helping to promote physical, cognitive, social, and emotional well-being through equine-assisted services to those who are challenged. 

She also got married during this time; she and her husband have been married 17 years and have three kids. 

Warren also serves on Hope House’s Board of Directors as of fall 2023. 

“She’s a quality woman, a woman of courage, and a woman of faith,” Lowry said. 

Warren joined Destination Caldwell two years ago as executive director. Its board of directors made the announcement on December 15, 2022. “Indian Creek Plaza is an attraction, and Destination Caldwell wants to promote it to tourists,” Warren said. 

Familiar with downtown Caldwell’s history, Warren stated it used to be neglected and in need of revitalization. The area was dotted with old dilapidated buildings, and Indian Creek was used as a dumping ground. Caldwell’s then-mayor, Garret Nancolas, and other community members had a vision for the area that was set in motion while Nancolas was in office. 

It took a full decade to complete the work, but downtown Caldwell has become one of the bright spots of the entire Treasure Valley, with its annual Christmas Winter Wonderland and other events. 

Warren loves her job. Recalling the transformation of Indian Creek and its surrounding area from a forgotten area in need of repair to a place of beauty, she said, “I like an underdog story, and it likes me.” 

Of her job, she stated, “We have an awesome staff and a great team. We partner with the City of Caldwell and neighborhood businesses.” 

The newest project underway is a train-themed children’s playground for downtown. It is, in other words, a city for all people and of all ages. Everyone is welcome. Warren also expressed this opinion about the town: “Caldwell is a faith-filled community. We still have so much work to accomplish. We want to continue to develop downtown Caldwell and build a legacy.” 

 

For more information, go to www.destinationcaldwell.com. 

Q&A 

How Hope House shaped Denae’s faith 

 

Editor’s note: Denae Warren, executive director of Destination Caldwell, was once a resident of Hope House in Marsing. Asked about her faith and whether she ‘met the Lord’ at Hope House or prior to that, and how she built up her faith in God over the years, she sent the following responses to a Q&A. 

 

1. Were you any sort of believer before you entered Hope House or were any of the people in your young life believers, even if poor ones?
2. I grew up in the church and always believed in God. Unfortunately, the home I grew up in was filled with hypocrisy, and religion was used to shame and silence abuse. Thankfully, I had some great youth leaders/mentors in my local church that represented well who Jesus is. Despite my traumatic upbringing, my mom had us in a good church.
3. How old were you when you ‘came to the Lord,’ and can you describe the experience?
4. I was young when I came to the Lord but have had many seasons of rebellion in my life where I missed the mark and was not flourishing the way Christ intended. My faith became real to me when I was 17 at Hope House. I would read my Bible each night and pray out loud: my roommate thought I was talking to myself! I didn’t have a dramatic conversion experience; I think a lot of truth was [imprinted] into my heart from childhood, which was a good thing. Those are such formative years. Even though a lot of good got in, there were many lies that overshadowed it. I grew up with basic truth about who Christ is, but because trauma and lies were sowed at a young age, it has taken many years of counseling and Scripture to undo that suffering and separate from the [bad] dogma that kept me in shame.
5. Were Donna Lowry (founder and administrator of Hope House) and Hope House itself pivotal in leading you to the Lord? And can you briefly share the story?
6. Hope House provides professional, Christian counseling on-site, which was pivotal for me. This is where I was believed, heard, and found my voice. Donna led devotionals with the teenage girls each evening and there is a church service on-site held Sunday mornings. We also had incredible staff who provided lots of conversations about faith and engaged with me on tough, theological questions. When you have a bunch of kids who have been through a lot of pain, they need answers. It wasn’t just one person who was instrumental in my faith journey; there were many and still are.

Scripture is full of allegory about light and truth. Family secrets need to be exposed and remedied for someone to heal. To be believed and for an adult to report on what I disclosed was pivotal in pointing me to Christ. Donna was responsible for reporting and was an advocate for me in so many ways. She taught me that God’s not into secrets. He’s the opposite. Luke 8:18 says, “We’re not keeping secrets, we’re telling them. We’re not hiding things; we’re bringing everything out into the open.” 

Thankfully, I knew some basics about Jesus and never doubted the truth of Scripture in the big-picture way. Because of the abuse I endured, I never went from any phase of my life to another in a healthy way – I did not believe what the Bible was saying was true of me. I bought into lies about my self-worth and couldn’t see past that. 

There is a great Scripture that my counselor at Hope House gave to me before I had to go before the court and give testimony of the childhood abuse I had endured. It comes from Luke 12:11-12: “When they drag you into their meeting places, or into police courts and before judges, don’t worry about defending yourselves, what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The right words will be there. The Holy Spirit will give you the right words when the time comes.” I really clung to those words during the three years it took for my court case to be resolved. When you are a victim of sexual abuse, you have to tell your story in front of cameras so they can record you, in front of strangers, and in a courtroom full of people multiple times as a minor. It’s an ugly but necessary process. 

1. How is faith pivotal in your life and work today?
2. My faith is very pivotal because my outlook is not to see life in a circumstantial way but to see everything as providential. I get to be one of many on a team that stewards the Indian Creek Plaza: a once forgotten place that has been revitalized and now serves as the living room of Caldwell. Everything from uncovering the creek to creation of the plaza is a Cinderella story. The revitalization of downtown Caldwell is about righting old wrongs, seeing the potential of what could be. This was a grassroots community effort to bring back life into a forgotten place. This story really resonates with me; I love a good underdog story where there is restoration. In Indian Creek’s case, a literal natural resource had to be restored to reclaim the downtown area as a community asset. It took many years and many people to accomplish this feat, and we are proud to be a part of the legacy and to write the next chapter.

Downtown Caldwell, particularly during the winter season, is like walking on the set of a Hallmark movie. Our team loves being a part of beautiful, core family memories. Where else do you get to walk along a magical, once-hidden, icy creek and see over a million Christmas lights?