LORAIN, Ohio — A special crisis care home for children in Lorain will soon be tripling its size to help more families in need.
- Only family crisis center in Lorain county
- New crisis center can house 28 children
- There is currently a waiting list
The hand and footprints at the Blessing House in Lorain represent the hundreds of children who have spent time there.
“I love those hand prints, when we first started, we started with the very first child putting the hand print on the wall during their first visit, so on the walls right now we have just over 1,500 hand prints,” said Sister Mary Berigan, the director of Blessing House.
Parents can bring their children to the Blessing House for care while they work on getting their issues at home resolved.
“So. It’s a place they can go and be where they feel at home where, their needs are met, they are taken care of, and when it’s appropriate, then they can go back home,” said Berigan.
Karen Suzuki says Blessing House was there for her when she suddenly had to take care of her grandchildren when their father was arrested for “huffing” and child endangerment.
“It was just a great thing. They were able to lift some of my burdens and let me breathe,” said Suzuki. “I had no beds for these kids, they had no clothes, no nothing, and Sister Mary was like, just bring them, just bring them, they had the clothes on their backs.”
Blessing House currently take cares of 10 children maximum, but their new planned facility can house 28 children comfortably, so now Sister Berigan hopefully doesn’t have to turn any child away.
“We continue to run a waiting list every single day and there is nothing worse than getting on the phone with a parent who is struggling, got some reason that they need help, and saying I’m sorry we don’t have room,” said Berigan.
The groundbreaking for the new Blessing House will be this April.