Construction began in 1925 on the 176-acre (0.71 km 2) location, and the residents moved to it on August 15, 1927. Matthews on Frankfort Avenue, at the cost of $9,400,000. Thus, the decision was made to construct a larger orphan's home than the original in Louisville, to the present-day location in Louisville/St.
World War I and the Spanish influenza outbreak during and immediately after the war caused overcrowding. A tornado on June 2, 1875, damaged the roof and center walls of the original building, but no one was injured. The cornerstone of the original home, located north of Avery Street between First and Second Street in what was previously a cornfield, was laid in 1869, with the first resident admitted on April 7, 1871. The initial starting funds for starting the home was $30,000, with additional funds totaling $20,000 and $12,000 separately. The Kentucky General Assembly chartered the organization in January 1867. It started when a group of Louisville Freemasons on Novemgathered with an intention of creating such a home.
And even more than that, you’ll make sure they have a connection and relationship that will help them weather through the worst days of their lives.The Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home was formed in 1867 due to a discussion on Novempondering what to do with the number of widows and orphans of Masons caused by the American Civil War the 1867 founding makes Kentucky's Masonic Widows and Orphans Home the oldest Masonic home in North America. Your gift today will give an orphan and a widow a home, food, clothing, and educational opportunities. When a woman is left on the streets with no way to feed herself or her small children, you can save her from disgrace and despair. When a child isn’t safe at the hands of an abusive relative, you can be his protector. You can reach into an orphan’s or a widow’s darkest hour and rescue them. Women and children like these two need your help to find each other. Your Opportunity to Bring Orphans and Widows Together They experience their brokenness together.Īnd they heal and find joy again together. I promised myself never to forget that moment, because that is why God calls us to care for both orphans and widows. If you’d seen this beautiful encounter, you would’ve shed a tear like I did. Strangers in grief, united by a gut wrenching loss. Though they had never met before, they understood each other’s pain. I saw in that moment more clearly than ever how the widow and the orphan help each other when we give them the chance. They collided in the middle of the room, wrapping each other in an embrace and dissolving into tears it seemed as though their pain-filled hearts both broke open at the same instant. It took a few tries, but finally, the girl took off towards her. The woman set her bowl aside and motioned for the little girl to come to her. Suddenly, the helpless little girl in the doorway looked up at the woman in the corner, whose eyes lifted as well. I started to understand God’s heart behind his command a little bit better.īut after what happened next, a wave of realization washed over me.
Now here I was, standing in front of an orphan, and a widow, seeing their grief spread raw before my very eyes. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” She just sat there on a stool, shelling beans into a shallow woven bowl. Her pain was still so fresh and heavy, just like this little girl’s. She was also new to the Kinship, having just lost her husband and her family. Meanwhile, a forlorn widow sat in the corner. She was paralyzed in the entryway, just staring at the floor. This heartsick little girl was still in shock. Just hours before, she had been playing outside while her parents worked in the fields nearby when suddenly a landmine exploded. She was around eight years old and stood silently as adults, the Kinship pastor and the good Samaritan who brought her there, talked over her. I stood on the cool tile inside the church and watched a young girl approach the doorway. It seemed like the sky would explode with rain any second. Picture a hot, tropical afternoon in one of the first Kinship Projects. I experienced a moment like that years ago which remains just as fresh in my memory as the day it happened. You know those “ah-ha” moments that change your life forever? In an instant, you realize your whole future is laid out in front of you.