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Hephzibah Children's Association is located in Oak Park, Illinois. It was founded in 1897 by Mary Wessels as a home for two homeless boys. Well over 100 years later, and despite the demise of orphanages generally over the course of the 20th century, which accelerated dramatically in the 1960s and 1970s, it survives as an organization that in 2008 served a total of 1400 children.

The daughter of a prominent local physician, Mary Wessels wrote in a postcard to a friend in 1897 that "I have begun my work. I have two boys -- ages 6 and 7." In honor of her own mother, she named her fledgling orphanage after the woman in the bible who was no longer to be called desolate or forsaken but "Hephzibah," meaning "[Yahweh's] delight is in her," in her role as the mother of King Manasseh.

Over the next several years, Mary Wessels acquired two more homes for the increasing number of children needing care. When confronted with the fact that the raffles she was holding to fund her work were illegal, she and ten members of the community formed a Board of Directors and incorporated. In 1927, Hephzibah started construction on a new dormitory-style building designed to house 20 boys and 20 girls. In 1929, that building was formally dedicated. Remodelled and renovated over the years, it remains the organization's main building.

In 1975, what by then was called Hephzibah Children's Home ended its long-term residential program. Instead of going out of business altogether, however, as did so many institutions of its kind, it survived. It started by providing after-school care on site at more and more local schools. Later on, it developed a foster-care program that started out with one or two families but now has about seventy-five. Still later, it first developed a residential treatment center and then a longer-term residential program for the care of children who needed more time to recover from the damage done by dysfunctional families.

1 Director's presentation 8/25/08

2 HCA 100th anniversary book

3 2 Kings 21:1 and Isaiah 62:4

4 HCA 100th anniversary book

5 Minutes

6 HCA 100th anniversary book

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