Stories

Rina is known among her friend group as “the jokester.” She loves to make people laugh and encourage them to just be in the moment. However, she hasn’t always been so generous with her humor or open to new friendships.

Melinda Tkacs moved around a lot as a child. She first lived with her father. He then left her with her aunt and uncle in California, and soon after, she went to live with her grandmother. When Melinda entered into high school, she didn’t think many educational opportunities were possible for her. College after graduation seemed at an even larger distance.

Arthur, now age 24, is a 2014 Masonic Children’s Home alumnus and 2018 Bloomsburg University graduate. He currently works as an inside sales representative for the Philadelphia Union soccer team in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Noelia’s family was struggling with money, and Noelia was struggling in the Philadelphia school system, when they decided to contact the children’s home for help. Despite moving far from her home, Noelia, then eight years old, was already familiar with one aspect of her new environment: her two older brothers lived there. “Philadelphia wasn’t that [...]

George Kahler never knew his parents well. His mother passed away from bone cancer when he was just 2 years old, and his father died of a heart attack three years later. George was the youngest of five children. His brother, Ray, was closest in age and only nine years old when their father passed [...]

Joanne Westafer’s childhood was like a fairytale, filled with long summer days outdoors and stretches of homegrown vegetables and roaming chickens in her backyard. It was a “happy, yet simple time” that she still remembers vividly today at age 88. Joanne’s father was a “busy-body” who devoted his time and energy to her and her [...]

Fourteen years ago, the children’s home received a call from a secretary at a local church. She said she knew of a 17-year-old boy in her daughter’s class who was homeless. The boy’s father had thrown him out of the house, because his new girlfriend did not “like” him. The boy visited the children’s home [...]

Born and raised in Elizabethtown, house parent Shelley Smith remembers going to school with kids living at the Masonic Children’s Home in the 1970s. “They were always so well-dressed and well-spoken,” she remembers. “It always seemed like they had everything they needed.” Now, as a part-time house parent in Dougherty Cottage, Shelley knows it’s possible [...]

Billy Graham; Roy Halladay; Aretha Franklin. These are just a few of the public figures who have influenced Stu Brown during his 90 years of life. Each time an idol passes, he makes a gift in his or her memory to his favorite charity. He also does this for friends and family. “I could send [...]