Women who get pregnant unexpectedly and feel they have nowhere to turn for help with their babies have been finding an extended family of sorts at the Our Lady Of Guadalupe Home in Windsor for the past four years.
The home provides a safe place for women to stay for up to a year while working through various challenges from addictions to past sexual abuse, according to president and co-founder Sister Linda Dube, who described her role as satisfying work.
"They're happy. They're comfortable with each other, and they're looking after their babies, and the babies are happy, and I get to hug babies," she said. "All of those things are very rewarding to me to see that kind of joy and that kind of comfort in women who may not have come from that sort of a comfortable background."
The home was born out of prayer, according to Dube, but you don't need to be religious to feel welcomed by the 15 staff members who work around the clock.
"They're called support workers, but in reality we think of them as house mothers. Sort of like mothers to the women, grandmas to the kids, aunties and that sort of thing."
The youngest person the home has helped was 16, the oldest was in her 30s.
The home can house up to seven mothers and babies at a time, but there are are only four women staying there now. Two of them have already given birth, while the other two are expecting.
Our Lady of Guadalupe relies on donations and two annual fundraisers to continue serving the community.
A benefit dinner for the home will be held at Fogolar Furlan Club on April 27.