2026 Angels of Grace Recipients
Angel Raphael Award
Joyce Helfers
Hope Center
Joyce Helfers is honored to be a recipient of the Angel Raphael Award through Angels of Grace, recognizing her faithful service and leadership in supporting vulnerable women on their journey toward transformation. For the past eight years, she has served at the Hope Center Indy, a residential care program dedicated to serving women exiting human trafficking.
She began her work at the Hope Center Indy as a volunteer and, through her commitment and calling, transitioned into a missionary role before stepping into full-time leadership. Over the years, she has played an integral role in establishing strong program foundations through positions such as Volunteer Coordinator, Campus Director, and Residential Administrator. Her leadership consistently reflects a mission to provide safety, healing, emotional freedom, dignity, and hope to those seeking transformation.
Drawing from her past experience in homeless ministry, Joyce brings compassion, resilience, and practical wisdom to her work. She has been actively involved in teaching, leading daily devotionals, coordinating events, celebrating baptisms, and equipping residents with essential life skills—all while fostering an environment that upholds dignity and restores hope.
In addition to her residential leadership, she is passionate about community engagement, offering human trafficking awareness and education to help mobilize others in the fight against exploitation. Known as a faith builder who serves with joy, her life is rooted in Isaiah 58 and its call to be a voice for the voiceless.
She looks forward to continuing her mission by connecting more deeply to the front lines of recovery, serving those often overlooked, and helping individuals find spiritual, emotional, and physical freedom through God’s lasting transformation.
Angel Gabriel Award
Dori Sparks-Unsworth
Pink Ribbon Connection
Dori Sparks Unsworth has spent her entire career in the service of others. As a leader in the non-profit sector of Indianapolis, she has led organizations committed to affordable housing and greenspace development, accessible healthcare for those in need, and, for the last seventeen years, providing support to breast cancer patients throughout Indiana.
Having recently retired as executive director of Pink Ribbon Connection, she led a tiny staff and group of dynamic volunteers to make sure that breast cancer patients and survivors across Indiana were given access to free supplies, support and services These supplies included wigs, scarves, mastectomy bras, and post-surgical garments. The crucial support was from survivors who were trained as peer counselors, to walk beside each patient. The services included monthly educational sessions and a full library of current information.
Dori's personal mission has always been to make life a bit easier for those who are struggling. At 69 years old, she is still finding new ways to support others by being intentional about sharing the love of Christ with all those she encounters.
Angel Michael Award
Rachelle Gardner
Hope Academy High School
For nearly two decades, Rachelle Gardner has led Hope Academy with purpose and compassion, helping establish Indiana’s only recovery high school and one of just ten fully accredited recovery high schools in the nation. Since its founding in 2006, Hope Academy has served more than 800 students—providing a tuition-free education and daily recovery support for teens with substance use disorder.
Rachelle began her career at Fairbanks Addiction Treatment Center, where she identified a critical gap in the continuum of care: students leaving treatment often struggled to maintain sobriety in traditional school settings. Her response was innovative and enduring—creating a new educational model that integrates academic and recovery support within a public charter school environment.
Under her leadership, Hope Academy continues to set a national standard in recovery education, achieving strong attendance, graduation, and post-secondary outcomes while serving students with complex needs. Rachelle also contributes to the field nationally as a former board chair and current advisor to the Association of Recovery Schools, mentoring new school founders across the country. Rachelle has received several awards for her compassion, advocacy, and leadership with the most recent being the 2025 Women of Influence Award from the Indianapolis Business Journal.