About Us

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Charlotte’s Hope Ministries has been long in the making. It took about 15 years of personal growth, over-coming doubt and shame, and finally feeling “good enough” to make a difference before I had the courage to begin. And, it all came full circle one day in October, 2022, when I received a call from my mom telling me that my cousin Charlotte had committed suicide. The shock, the heartache, and the loss were almost unbearable!

How quickly my mind raced back to my childhood days growing up in our large southern family in N. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In my early years, there were four families living within yards of each other; my granny, and three of her daughters. This close family plot gave me easy access to many of my cousins when we would travel to N. Myrtle Beach for the summer. I remember spending many hot summers days at Granny’s house, playing hide seek, cowboy & Indians, and playing grown-ups in the several of the backyard playhouses with all of my nearby cousins. Those were such great times and cherished memories!

These visits created a family closeness with my cousins; some became like sisters to me. Among those closest cousins, were Hope and Charlotte. These were two of my Aunt Brenda’s daughters. Heartache and tragedy are all too familiar to this part of my family. The losses that my aunt has endured is almost beyond belief. One of those losses occurred in January of 1989, when she lost her youngest daughter in a horrific car accident at the age of 19. But, in reality, she lost two daughters that night.

Let me try to explain. On the night of the car accident, Hope and Charlotte had been celebrating a belated Christmas together. Charlotte was away at Christmas and this was the earliest they could get together to celebrate after she returned. Like many happy occasions, the night involved drinking, and for Hope, drinking too much. Charlotte had left the bar/restaurant early because she had to get to work early the next morning. Her words to Hope were, “make sure you take a cab if you are going to keep drinking.” Sadly, she didn’t!

For the next thirty some years, Charlotte lived with the guilt of that night, never truly forgiving herself for not taking Hope home. I witnessed her sadness, her guilt, her unforgiveness and the toll it took on her joy in life. Oh, she smiled and pretended to be happy, she tried to convince herself and others that life was good, but she always has a deep sadness that no one could seem to penetrate.

In September of 2022, the love of her life asked her to marry him. She was the happiest we had ever seen her. So much to live for. So much goodness in her life right up to the end. In fact, the day before she took her own life, she was out with another cousin trying on wedding dresses. You can’t imagine the shock we all felt when we heard the news.

This event changed my life, I knew I could no longer sit on the sidelines waiting to be perfect enough to make a difference. There are too many women like Charlotte and Hope that need to find forgiveness for whatever they think they are guilt of or responsible for. Women who carry great shame and embarrassment for things that were done to them to no fault of their own.

Ultimately, Charlotte’s Hope Ministries was ushered into existence because, personally, I don’t want any woman to feel so desperate and hopeless that taking their own life is the only solution they feel they have left.

I want women to be empowered to find the courage and confidence to overcome life’s traumas and tragedies. I want women to know they are never alone, that they are loved, and that there is a power greater that all of us waiting in the wings to hold and embrace us. To guide and comfort us, and to carry us when we fall.

It is too late for Hope and Charlotte on this journey, but there are countless of women out there that need our love, support and guidance. Want you join us?

Elizabeth King

Founder

Charlotte’s Hope Ministries