Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Lighthouse Program Open House

Today we celebrated a very special event for Delaware, the opening of the first women's and children's residential treatment program. This morning's ceremony was wonderful. We'd like to say thanks to Governor Minner, Renata Henry, Jack Kemp, and Bishop Major Foster and his staff from Philadelphia Pentecostal Church and Delmarva Clergy United in Social Action.

It was an honor to be in attendance for today’s event, and there will be future posts to come on that, but for now here’s a few pictures. I also had the opportunity to sit down for an extended conversation with Shay Lipshitz and Bishop Foster. They had much to say about how this whole program came together, but just to give you a taste, here are their thoughts on today's celebration:

Shay: “It’s been a wonderful day for Brandywine, a wonderful day for the church. It’s been exciting to see a dream, that was something that was thought about a few years ago, actually come to fruition, and today we gave birth to it, so it’s pretty exciting.”

Bishop Foster: “Words can’t express how we feel, because the fact is, we’ve done something that God wanted us to do, to help people. And when you do that, that’s the joy you feel inside, because you’ve just made somebody’s life happier. To me it’s without words, what Shay and Brandywine have come in here to help us do what God wants us to be doing. So it’s overwhelming, and it was nice today.”






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We had a lot of fun when we came down. The program looks wonderful, the building is beautiful, and we're so excited that this has gone so well. :-) Thank you!!

-Jenn in Women in Transition.

Anonymous said...

It is wonderful to be a part of something so new and exciting. I look foward to the changed lives that will be the fruit of this endeavor.