by Kathryn White
Special to The Leaven
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Students from Bishop Ward High School here and St. James Academy in Lenexa worked together on April 1 to make Galatians 25’s “Fruits of the Spirit” a reality. Together, they spent the day cleaning brush, moving mulch and prepping the property at Nativity House, a pregnancy center for unwed mothers, to be ready to plant trees for a giving grove orchard in Kansas City, Kansas.
Nativity House provides faith-based shelter, education and hope for pregnant adult women who experience homelessness. Bishop Ward president Jay Dunlap attended the service project with his students.
“Ms. Carrie Lally teaches our environmental sciences class,” said Dunlap. “She loves to have the kids doing environmentally oriented hands-on projects. This is a perfect fit both to serve and to do something that’s beautifying and protecting the environment here.”
The services Nativity House offers its residents are extensive.
“We can help them with job placement and job training,” explained Sarah Crouch, a case worker who helps at the two-story home. “If they need their GED, we can help them to earn their GED or even high school diploma. We just come alongside and we provide everything that they need.
“The women can stay here, rent-free and utility-free, up to a year after delivering their baby.”
Nativity House can house up to three moms and their babies; they also help moms who don’t live in the home but still need support through mentorship, education, spiritual development, counseling and career development, at no cost to the mother.
Deacon Kevin Cummings, from Curé of Ars Parish in Leawood, serves the community and believes in what Nativity House is doing for birth mothers. And birth fathers.
“We’re preparing mothers to have their babies and keep them, so they don’t go into social service or are taken away from these mothers,” he said. “We’re also [preparing] fathers. Dad’s influence on a child’s life is important.”
Why an orchard? In the middle of Wyandotte County?
“Our orchard will be a 12-treed orchard,” explained Matt Loehr, CEO of Marian Ministries of Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri. “It will have primarily pear trees, and a couple of peach trees.”
“The ‘Giving Grove’ brings people from the community together,” he continued. “The moms from the home work the orchard to keep it up. High school groups, Scout troops, public School of Religion groups come and help spread mulch.”
Loehr wears many hats at Nativity House.
“I lead group therapy and individual therapy. I take out the trash and work in the yard,” he said. A clinical social worker by training, Loehr also holds a Ph.D. in human development and family studies.
It won’t just be the moms who will benefit from the orchard. Bishop Ward’s environmental science class lent a hand for an additional reason.
“I think it is important to plant an orchard at the Nativity House to help the biodiversity around the area,” said Tirso Torres Vina, who attends Blessed Sacrament Parish in Kansas City, Kansas, and is a sophomore in the class.
“It would have more benefits than disadvantages,” he said. “The best part of the service trip for me was knowing that my class and I were helping out single and pregnant women in need.”
For more information, visit: www.nativityhousekc.org.
