Timeline1988Sr. Margaret Scheetz is inspired by the film God Bless the Child to offer a service for women and their children in the Mahoning Valley a chance to break free from the cycle of poverty and homelessness. 1990Ursuline Sisters receive a donated Tudor home on Youngstown’s Northside. 1991The first four families move into the first apartment complex where the mothers began to earn their degrees. 1992Beatitude House obtains the second apartment complex, which offers shelter for an additional four families. 1993Beatitude House obtains a third apartment complex, which offers housing for an additional four families. The third apartment complex brings the number of family housing available to 12 and is rightfully named “A House of Blessing.” 1996Established an education and career preparation program, The Potter’s Wheel, offering job placement services, computer classes, math tutoring, child advocacy, GED preparation and counseling services. 2000Trumbull County Housing Collaborative invited Beatitude House to join and establishes a Warren location. 2002New transitional housing site was opened and houses seven homeless families. This site, in Warren, also houses education and career preparation programs. 2006Permanent Supportive Housing program begins for homeless women with disabilities or who have children with disabilities that keep mothers from being able to work. Four of these apartments are located above The Potters Wheel on Youngstown’s Westside and others are homes throughout Mahoning County. 2009Beatitude House is selected to participate in the Mahoning Valley Community Wealth Workshop Series. The series is designed to assist high-performing nonprofits as they develop social enterprises to help sustain their programs and services. Beatitude House launches Beatitude House Green Clean. 2009Beatitude House completes an expansion to its transitional housing facility in Warren, bringing the total number of families living at A House of Blessing in Warren to 13. The expansion also includes a classroom, playroom and office space. Our StoryInspiration can take many forms and strike at any moment. For Ursuline Sister Margaret Scheetz, the inspiration to create Beatitude House came in the form of a film, God Bless the Child. This film, written by a Youngstown man, is the story of a mother and daughter caught in the cycle of poverty and homelessness in which, the mother must make the painful decision to give up her daughter, in order for her to lead a better life. Giving her daughter a chance at a life she felt she couldn’t give her. After seeing this film, Sr. Margaret was moved to take action in the community and help women and children break the cycle of poverty and homelessness. With a firm belief that education is the best way out of poverty, Sr. Margaret established Beatitude House. Beatitude House is a nonprofit nondenominational corporation of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown that addresses the needs of women and children in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. Throughout the years, Beatitude House has benefited from the generosity of those in the community whether it is in time or talents. In 1990 an anonymous donor gave the Ursuline Sisters a Tudor home on the city’s Northside. That building was transformed into an apartment complex for our Transitional Housing services providing shelter for women and children. The first families moved into the building in 1991 and soon two complexes were added to the program. Those complexes can house up to 12 families. Since its inception in1988, Beatitude House has expanded to offer education and career preparation services at The Potters Wheel. The organization has also expanded to the Warren area with a housing site that offers women there the same services found in Youngstown including the education and career preparation program. Sadly, in January 2001 Sister Margaret passed away, but her legacy lives on in her ministry, which continues to help the women and children of the Valley break the cycle of poverty and violence and build lives of stability and hope. |
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