The Mission of Milagro House
Milagro House is a long-term, education-based program committed to restoring the lives of homeless women and children. We provide shelter, support and guidance to our families, promoting personal integrity, self-reliance and social responsibility.

A Short History of Milagro House
Our program was started in 1998 as a transitional housing program for homeless mothers and their children.

Initially, Milagro House was located in one rented row house in Lancaster's 7th Ward. The houses around us were condemned and our neighbors were drug dealers and addicts. Since 1998, Milagro House purchased several additional properties on that same block of South Christian Street. That location now provides homes for nine families. In addition to the residences, and in what used to be a true corner "drug" store, we opened the Milagro House Education Center where GED, remedial and enrichment education classes are taught.

Then, through the generosity of a local donor, we were able to purchase a beautiful building right around the corner on Howard Avenue where we will be moving our expanded school in 2010. As we have from the beginning, on South Christian Street we continue to run a "give-away shop" where we distribute, at no cost to our neighbors, donations over and above what our residents need. The drug dealers never visit our block—our street is quiet, peaceful and clean.

Nine more families reside at our West Chestnut Street house—the Stoudt Family Center for Education. When we first announced our plans for the Stoudt Center, there were those in our new community who feared the value of their properties would drop once a "shelter" was in their neighborhood. Milagro House won the support of our west end community, and the Lancaster courts, and our families moved into what used to be a fraternity house on the corner of College and Chestnut. Happily, most of our neighbors now stop by with donations or goodies for the kids. They've seen that we are a good neighbor and that our families are not so different from their own families.

Milagro House has an annual operating budget of approximately $500,000. We are funded solely by the private donations from the Lancaster Community—individuals, businesses, schools, churches and service and fraternal groups, as well as the grant monies we receive from foundations. We hold fundraisers, including our "Evening of Miracles" held in the fall, which add to our coffers and bring new supporters to our program. Milagro House does not solicit or receive government funding. This has allowed us to operate our program without the strict guidelines and limitations that often accompany public funding.

Since 1998, Milagro House has provided services to hundreds of families, including over one thousand children. Women who complete our program remain part of our permanent supportive housing program and can take advantage of our services while they are in their own housing. This helps them to maintain their independence and build on their successes.

Women come to us from many paths. Word of mouth and referrals by areas hospitals, agencies and rehabilitation services insure that we will never lack for residents. We rarely have rooms open for more than a week or two. The hard work and success of our residents helps inspire us to continually improve our programs to better serve the women, their children, and our entire community.

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Milagro House and the Purpose of our Program
Women come to Milagro House for many reasons. Some are recovering from addiction, some are suffering with mental illness, most of them have been abused. Some suffer with low self esteem, insufficient education, inadequate parenting skills or poor self discipline. All of them are mothers and all of them are homeless.

Our program offers women and their children the support they need to achieve success. In addition to housing, our primary focus is education—this is what sets our program apart. But we also provide weekly mental health counseling, budgeting and parenting support.
Milagro House is a program that makes a difference in our community as well as in the lives of the women and children we work with.

Women who enter Milagro House come with a commitment and determination to move ahead in their education and gain the skills to support themselves and their children and to manage their lives after they move into their own housing. The women who come to Milagro House have the best possible opportunity to succeed in the new lives they have chosen for themselves.

We provide:

• A clean, safe place for them to live with their children
• Food, clothing and personal items until they can afford their own
• A focus on education and training that will lead to sustainable employment that pays a living wage
• An organized environment with limitations and rules that promote responsibility as well as independence
• Intensive, individualized, daily service coordination to help them navigate the complex world they must learn to live in on their own

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