Stories

Children’s home alumna Brenda Ryan Drawbaugh grew up in what she calls a “dysfunctional" situation.

When times get tough, Paige likes to remember one simple phrase: “You can do anything you put your mind to.”

Lee Eckert was born into the world of sports. His grandfather was a baseball and cross country coach, and Lee was the youngest of four boys – all of whom lived and breathed athletics.

Joy has always known she’s had the potential to break the cycle, but children’s home staff and donors have given her just the push she’s needed.

Sometimes a house can take time to feel like a home, but once it feels like home, you know you’ll always be welcome. Jacob Goranson knows this feeling well.

If there’s one thing Leon Allen has tried to learn over the past six years, it’s to hold an appreciation for the opportunities he’s been given, despite the challenges he's faced.

It’s a challenge to step outside of your comfort zone - to leave everything you know behind. When Jebbeh was only 10 years old, she did just that. Spending her early childhood years in center-city Philadelphia with her mother and two older sisters, Jebbeh didn’t know a life outside of her crowded school and hectic [...]

Andre Dunbar-Smith, a 2014 children’s home graduate, values self-reflection. He’s constantly thinking of ways to improve his character, actions and motives in life. Andre credits the children’s home for this trait. “They teach you to look in the mirror at yourself and make yourself better,” Andre said. “You don’t have a mom and a dad, [...]

During her career as an ampoule operator for narcotics at McNeil Laboratories, Trudi Prath was famous for clearing the snow off of her coworkers’ cars in the winter.