The Home has invested time and funds to ensure the infrastructure behind the historic brick walls in our cottages on campus can continue to serve children and families in need as they have for more than a century.
A new ramp leads up to Whitfield Cottage. Cedar shutters line the windows and shiny black gutters hug the roof line of Uptain Cottage. These stand as living proof of what faithful restoration can achieve.
But more restoration is needed to continue the Home’s mission of housing vulnerable children and families with nowhere to go.
The Home is asking for pledges to help make significant improvements to the historic buildings where moms and children and young adult women call home.
Many new families and young female adults are moving onto campus to find stability and safety through our Secure Dwellings and Transition to Adult Living programs. We can help more when we renovate more properties.
The Home has been blessed with funds from churches that have been used for our renovations so far. First Decatur’s legacy of faith and service provided funds for new kitchen cabinets, roof repairs, and custom exterior shutters that uplift vulnerable families like Olivia and her two young boys who live in the First Decatur cottage today. These renovations will bless at-risk moms and children who live there for generations to come.
The Home also used First Decatur funds for much-needed driveway and parking improvements around our cottages as well as our playground renovation.
The playground and a pavilion are being built at the site of our former swimming pool to serve as an outdoor haven for children and their mothers living on campus in our Secure Dwellings program. It is being named in memory of Felicia Ayers Storey, a devoted leader whose nearly 40 years of service to the Home left a lasting mark of compassion and faith.
Generous support from the Alex W. and Sue A. Newton Foundation, Jane Newton, the Clark and Kelly Hammond Family Fund, and several anonymous donors helped make this meaningful playground project possible. This new space will not only bring joy to the children we serve but also stand as a lasting reminder that every child deserves a place to play, laugh, and belong.
