By Paige McKay Kubik | Vice President, Development & Communication
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! 2013 marks a huge milestone for Sheltering Arms as we celebrate our 125th birthday. In 1888, the first post-Civil War generation was coming of age in the southern United States. Electricity and other technological advances were transforming the city of Atlanta, bringing textile mills and box factories and a growing working class, including increasing numbers of women working outside the home.
A group of church women volunteered to help these low-income working families. One day as they returned clothes they had mended to one of these households, the volunteers found a little girl, at home alone, tied to a bedpost. Desperate, it was the only choice her mother had to keep her child safe as she worked long hours. The volunteers discovered the little girl was not alone. With mothers and fathers and older brothers and sisters working to make ends meet, there was no one to mind the children. Children were tied to window sills on the factory floor or locked up at home alone until the family's work was done.
The volunteers were moved to action, and began providing child care for the children and support for their families. They advocated with mill owners and city leaders to provide resources and space for their work. They worked with other similar "day nurseries" across the country, championing quality standards for child care and educating elected leaders like President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the needs of working women.
125 years later, the mission of Sheltering Arms as envisioned by these early volunteers is much the same. Young families still need affordable, quality care for their children so that they can continue to work and put bread on the table. Children still need a nurturing, safe, stimulating envionment where they can thrive and prepare for success in life. Sheltering Arms is still building strong children and families, and still advocating for communities and leaders to support them as they grow into independent, contributing members of our society.
Almost 50,000 children and six generations of families have been touched by the work of Sheltering Arms, thanks to those first visionary volunteers and thousands of supporters like you who have continued the legacy of our Founding Mothers.
Thank you so much!
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