Most members work between five and 10 hours per week, and confront significant problems.

"A lot of time you feel depressed when you come home from interviewing a client," Lee says. "You can't complain about the dining hall food you're meeting with people that can't afford food."

But members say the seriousness of their work is what inspires them to stay involved.

Osseo-Asare says he chose HOP over other program because he considers the services the program provides to be both essential and quantifiable.

"I felt like I could not handle one more minute of mentoring or tutoring," he writes. "I definitely consider those sort of programs invaluable, but what makes me dedicated to HOP is that so much of what we do is quantitative."

"We can say at the end of a meeting, 'Wow, we really did help this family keep from getting evicted, or ending up on the street, or whatever,' " he adds.

"Right now, I think HOP is on the verge of doing better than anyone ever expected it could," he writes.