Mary's Shelter

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Welcome to Mary's Shelter & Mary's Home

On September 8, 1995 Mary's Shelter opened its doors to young women in a crisis situation. Our goal is to provide temporary housing, while assisting the young women to coordinate counseling, education and quality prenatal care. The ultimate outcome is having a healthy infant born to a healthy, well-informed mother. The resident and counselor develop a plan of action with attainable goals, focusing specifically on achieving independent living skills.

Mary's Shelter is licensed by the State of Pennsylvania as a Maternity Home and as a Private Children and Youth Social Service Agency, which serves the needs of homeless, pregnant young women.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for admission and services without regard to race, color, religious creed, ancestry, national origin, age, sex, handicap or disability, sexual orientation, AIDS or HIV status.

Can you help raise awareness as well as funds? Consider taking part in our baby bottle campaign. Members of your group take home an 8oz baby bottle for 4 weeks and collect change. The bottle sparks conversation among friends. And its amazing how quickly the change adds up. For additional information call Chris at (610) 603-8010.

15th Anniversary banquet - sept. 23

Mary's Shelter Annual Banquet is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010 - Celebrating 15 years of Changing Lives!
View more information here

My name is Yolanda and I came to Marys Shelter in August of 2008. I was renting a room from a family who asked me to leave with very little notice.I was four months pregnant at the time.I didnt know what I was going to do.I was so scared.The father of the baby was not involved at all and my mother was living in an assisted living center.I had no one to go to for help. Being alone and four months pregnant was already scary but not having a place to live was overwhelming and really scary.There were moments I just didnt want to exist anymore.
A friend of my mothers had said something about a good shelter that could help me, but I didnt pay attention I was too depressed.I just put the information in my purse and forgot about it.One day, desperate for help and a place to live, I found the piece of paper that was in my purse and low and behold it was the number of Marys Shelter.
I was scared to call at first, but I finally got up the courage and right away on the phone I felt encouraged.I scheduled a face to face interview with Dani.I didnt know what to expect but once I got there, I was shocked to see how homey everything was it didnt look like "the shelters you picture in your mind." I didnt have any prenatal care and I wasnt working or going to school. I wasnt doing anything, so I wasnt sure they were going to like me. But Dani made me feel like I was important and like I could do anything if I just believed in myself and worked for it.
After I moved in, the staff at Marys Shelter forced me to open my eyes and start being independent. I focused on making a better future for me and my son. Of course there were times when things got tough and I felt overwhelmed by it all: the appointments, the chores, the classes and the different personalities. But I had to think about my son and so I did what I needed to do. I started going to Berks Technical Institute for the Medical Assistant training and started counseling and medication for my depression.Stacey even worked with me on budgeting and Im almost done paying off some of my back bills. I had not been around a lot of babies, so the parenting classes were wonderful.My son Julius was born on January 17th.
So have I met my goals?...school, paying off bills, getting over being afraid to cook and change diapers, becoming more independent check, check, check and check! Im so proud of myself and I am definitely more confident. I cannot thank Marys Shelter enough for helping me and my son.I love you all!