I had thought to make a list that would start with the most basic
needs and would move into the aspirational. It was important
that from the beginning this project was focused on our children.
It was never about a building.
Making the list was an emotional experience for me. I kept
wanting to move on to the big, bright, happy things we wanted
for our children, but the list of basic needs kept going. I’ve been
at Our House for nine years, and in that time, over 1,000 children
have come through our gates. When I asked myself the question
“what do we want for our children,” I saw the faces of each of
these children on their first day at Our House. Cold, hungry,
exhausted, scared, shut-down, angry, neglected, and abused. It
was hard to get past the list of basics: Safety. Stability. Love.
What I see in the Children’s Center is something miraculous.
There are over 100 children, each with a story, each learning,
filled with joy, experiencing their childhoods, playing, laughing,
safe, surrounded by adults who love them, in a building that says
Below: The toddlers now have an entire wall of windows with a playground view.