The year was 1871. A young woman lay dying at Louisville’s City Hospital, overcome with sadness, knowing her young son had no place to go, no one to care for him.
“I have loved the church,” she told her pastor William A. Broadhurst, who was at her bedside. “It has been my desire to live to raise my boy that I might see him a Christian, but God wills that I must die now. Can I hope some Christian will take my boy? Why have we no home for such as this, like others?”
Brother and Mrs. Broadhurst took pity on the child and welcomed him into their home, where the Broadhursts and members of the Floyd and Chestnut Street Church congregation cared for him.
With the support of his church members, Brother Broadhurst went to work to establish a home that would care for widows and orphans from Christian Churches across Kentucky. A home where they would find protection, care and friends.
In May, 1884, the dream becomes a reality, and the Christian Church Widows’ and Orphans’ Home of Kentucky opened its doors at 1013 East Jefferson Street in Louisville.
About the home Brother Broadhurst wrote: “(It) is a fact. Its work is already on record. Hearts have been made happy that were sad in the fearful thought of being homeless and friendless.”
This is the faith-inspired legacy of caring from which Christian Care Communities grew.
Today, as Kentucky’s largest faith-based provider of senior living, services and long-term care for older adults, Christian Care Communities continues this legacy of caring. Nearly 70 percent of the older adults we serve today are simply unable to afford the care and services they receive. But, we continue to provide care to the often forgotten elderly who need a place to call home … compassionate care for those facing loss of health … hope and healing for individuals and families coping with grief, illness and loneliness. At Christian Care, “enhancing the journey of life” means devotion to the care, service and programs that make a real difference in the quality of life and health of older adults and their families.