St. Joseph's House is a nonprofit – housed in and run solely out of the LaHood family home – serving children and teens with intellectual and developmental disabilities. During the school year, SJH offers home-based after-school care, which enables our parents to hold jobs. Nutritious meals are served and all necessary medical care for each child is provided.
St. Joseph’s House is open on days of weather-related school closings and during the long summer months. Our ten-week summer program, fondly known as "Cubby Camp," is anticipated all year long. The school afternoons and summer days are filled with crafts, games, and field trips to the park, movies, bowling alley, zoo, museums and pool – just about any place children like to go. We allow ‘kids to be kids’ while encouraging independence and choice. At St. Joseph’s House, all different abilities are recognized and honored, as each child is celebrated for the tremendous gifts he/she brings to our home and our world.
SJH is also a place where parents, siblings, and friends find support and steadfast friendship in one another. The children and families of St. Joseph’s House face daunting circumstances and navigate complex systems. As they are able, families contribute a nominal fee for all of our services.
Relying solely on the support of small foundations and private donors, St. Joseph's House has served more than 50 families over the past 34 years.
Isaiah’s Promise was founded in 1995 to provide families, who decide to carry to term after receiving a severe or fatal prenatal diagnosis, support, information, friendship and hope. We understand, first-hand, the need to support these families who, after making this courageous, loving decision to continue the pregnancy, often feel isolated and alone. We draw on our own experiences – each of us, despite the diagnosis, carried to term. Although our babies’ lives were incredibly brief, they changed our lives forever.
Over the years, we have helped hundreds of families in the Washington Metropolitan area and across the nation reframe their expectations. We help them grieve the baby they were expecting and accept and love the baby they are going to have. Through emails and phone conversations we help families walk the path of an uncharted pregnancy. We know the sorrow and pain the diagnosis can bring. We focus on the baby you are carrying and the love that surrounds your baby. We help you create memories and find ways to celebrate your baby’s life - no matter the condition or duration.
Our mission at Isaiah’s Promise is to help each family find some joy, fulfillment and peace in their decision to continue the pregnancy. It is our privilege to share in their journey as they find some meaning, some comfort and some hope in the knowledge that they gave their baby the greatest gift of all - the gift of life.
