Charitable Peachy: Hale House

Clara McBride Hale was born April 1, 1905 and grew up in Philadelphia. After completing high school, she married Thomas Hale. Together they had two children and the family moved to New York City, where the family lived and worked until Thomas died in 1938. A few years later, in the 1940s, Clara Hale began taking in foster children. Over the years she cared for dozens of children and became known as Mother Hale. In 1969 at the age of 64, Mother Hale was prepared to retire when a woman and her child came to her door. The mother, a woman addicted to heroin, explained that she needed help and couldn’t take care of her child. Mother Hale took the child in.

Word spread. As the weeks and months went by, more and more women with babies appeared at Mother Hale’s doorstep, and, as she took in these children, her home became Hale House. The women were often dependent on drugs and alcohol. Her goal was to unite children back with their mothers and fathers, once they got their lives back on track. If this wasn’t possible, she found stable, loving families to take them in. Mother Hale believed, unconditionally, that all children, from all walks of life and circumstances, need and deserve love. With this love they will not only survive, but will overcome the hardships into which they are born. These beliefs became “Mother Hale’s Way.” Mother Hale was a strong believer in the power of family, education and the community, beliefs we keep alive through our programs today and the source of their slogan: Empower, Educate, Excel.

During the 1970’s and 80s, Mother Hale continued to take in children addicted to heroin and, increasingly, crack cocaine. The City soon took notice of her work, and Hale House was moved from Mother Hale’s five-room apartment to its current location, a brownstone on 122nd Street in Harlem. As the 1980’s went on the urban drug problem gave way to the AIDS crisis, and Mother Hale responded by taking in children who had lost their parents to the disease or who were themselves born infected with HIV. In the 1990’s the drug problem spawned a grim new reality now widespread throughout America – an increase in the number of women incarcerated and, consequently, unable to care for their children. Mother Hale continued taking in and caring for children until she passed away on December 18, 1992 at the age of 87.

Over the years, Mother Hale received more than 370 awards and was publicly recognized across the nation. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan recognized Mother Hale at his State of the Union Address for her remarkable and tireless work with at-risk children and families. Mother Hale attended and accepted this honor with the humility and reserve for which she was well-known. During the Address, he stated to Mother Hale and to the entire nation, "Harlem and all of New York needs a local hero. Mother Hale, you are the one." He declared Mother Hale "an American hero, whose life tells us that the oldest American saying is new again: Anything is possible in America if we have the faith, the will and the heart."

Still located in Harlem, Hale House Center has changed with the times. The Mother Hale Learning Center (MHLC) opened its doors in 2006. The Center provides high quality, educationally based childcare to families from a variety of economic backgrounds. By offering discounts and scholarships to nearly half of the families at the center, economically disadvantaged children have access to high quality childcare that otherwise would not be readily available to them and all the children are exposed to socioeconomic groups they might not otherwise encounter.

The Hale House Supportive Transitional Housing Program, in operation since December 2004, provides a temporary home for single-parent homeless families for 6 to 12 months. They are able to serve 19 families in well maintained, Hale House Center-owned apartments. At any point in time there are over 50 children in this program, from infants to teenagers. Keeping with Mother Hale’s mission, their goal is to enable families to remain intact, live safely in a good neighborhood, attend school, find employment, and, once their lives are stabilized, secure and retain permanent housing.

Harlem is in great need of additional sources for high quality, affordable childcare for working and low-income families. Their current Center consistently has a waiting list of more than 200 children, highlighting the need and desire for their services in Harlem. With your help Hale House Center plans to open a new early childhood Learning Center in Harlem in. The new Center would replicate the services of their current Mother Hale Learning Center, which, since its opening in 2006, has achieved great recognition and is now being referred to as one of the “top schools in Harlem.” They also are working to continue expanding their current programs so they can serve more children and help more families both stay together and thrive during these challenging economic times.

For more information:

Hale House Center, Inc.
152 West 122 Street
New York, N.Y.

www.halehouse.org