Gerard’s Embrace to house homeless mothers-to-be
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
In the Catholic Church, St. Gerard Majella is the patron saint of expectant mothers. In honor of that, a home for homeless mothers-to-be in East Troy is going to be named Gerard’s Embrace.
The home, which will be in the old rectory building owned by St. Peter the Apostle Parish in East Troy, is in need of some work before it can safely house the mothers-to-be.
“We used it as temporary housing and over the years people have stayed there when they were in need, but a couple of years ago, we discovered there was a problem with lead,” Suzanne Kasper, president of Gerard’s Embrace Inc., said.
Kasper said it was in 2014 when her own daughter, a homeless mother-to-be was staying there.
“We didn’t know there was a problem with lead until her baby tested positive,” Kasper said.
At that time, the building was shuttered and the thought was it wouldn’t be used again, but Kasper said she always had the idea for having the lead abated and opening it up again as a group home for homeless pregnant women.
“It hurt my heart, when she (my daughter) was living there it came to me that it would be a great house for people who needed a place to stay,” she recalled “I didn’t think lead should be the reason we didn’t do it. That can be fixed, but at that time, it wasn’t something I thought I could take on.”
Recently, however, the opportunity for Kasper to move forward with her idea presented itself.
“Father came to me and said, ‘Suzanne, you know that idea you had for a home for unwed mothers? I think we should do it, there’s another group who wants to do it,’” he said.
“So, when I talked to the pregnancy center in Elkhorn and the one in Mukwonago, I saw how this is truly a problem in this day and age,” Kasper said. “There are so many homeless pregnant women who get kicked out of homes and that confirmed there is a need.”
She said she had been “kicking around” the name of Gerard’s Embrace for a while, in honor of the patron saint and before she knew it, they had formed the non-profit Gerard’s Embrace Inc.
“After we formed the board and got our non-profit status, we had to go to the village to get approval for something like this,” Kasper said. “I wasn’t sure it was going to go any further at this point because there had to be an ordinance change and we needed a conditional use permit, but that happened pretty quickly.”
So, that leaves them with the problem of the lead in the building. They’ve had one rather successful fundraiser so far, the Sept. 25 Fun Day on the Farm, but they still have a ways to go.
“It was a great success along with being a ton of fun,” Kasper said. “It was at Healey’s farm on St. Peter’s Road and we had a great turnout.”
She said they are planning on making appeals to some of the area churches to help and that St. James United Methodist Church and the First Congregational Church UCC in East Troy are already “on board” and excited to help.
“We’re looking into learning how to write some grants as well,” Kasper said. “And, of course, anything anyone wants to give will be greatly appreciated.”
The only thing they don’t want now is physical donations of furniture or other items, as they have nowhere to store the items until the lead had been removed from the building.
“Once that’s done, we can have people donate those things, but for now, we just need funds to get the lead abated,” Kasper said.
“We’re hoping to be up and running in about a year,” she said. “That might not be possible, but it’s our goal.”
Anyone interested in donating for the lead removal can mail the check to Gerard’s Embrace Inc., c/o St. Peter the Apostle Parish, 1995 Beulah Ave., East Troy, WI 53120.
For more information, find them on Facebook or email gerard4moms@gmail.com.
