By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor
March 19th, the feast of St. Joseph, is often obscured by the revelry and secular celebration of that “other” saint’s feast two days earlier. With all due respect to the great St. Patrick, the 19th will go down in local history as the day that life took a giant step forward in the greater Syracuse area.
Joseph’s House, a facility dedicated to promoting “the sanctity of life and the dignity of women” is celebrating ten years of service to mothers dealing with an unplanned pregnancy or homelessness. It is an organization that has grown in its mission as the need for its services has continued to increase. This week, on the feast day, Bishop Douglas J. Lucia celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in the chapel at the organization’s home on Court Street in Syracuse.
From left, Deacon Scott Harris, Joseph’s House executive director Bronson Kopp and Bishop Douglas J. Lucia.
The facility opened on March 19, 2014, five years to the day after a time of prayer in front of Planned Parenthood in Syracuse blossomed into an inspiration “to open a home for the least of God’s children, the women who would be left homeless should they choose life for their unborn babies” as stated on the organization’s website.
Bronson Kopp is the executive director of Joseph’s House, a position he has held for almost seven of the facility’s ten-year history. He has helped guide the growth in services Joseph House has undergone. “When we started, we probably had three full-time staff and maybe seven part- time. We now have 12 full-time and 14 part-time,” he shares. The numbers reflect the expanded array of services available to clients in need.
“The organization was started as just a small, simple idea of ‘let’s have a home for women who need it or are pregnant or don’t have a place to go.’” Kopp adds that the growth has come in numbers of clients served as well as services offered. “We have counseling, and we have multiple life skills classes every day, focused on spiritual, physical, mental wellness, and health and recovery. You know, it’s just remarkable.”
There is a common thread that runs through the fabric of the lives their clients led that brought them to Joseph’s House. “What we’ve learned is that it’s trauma. It’s trauma that the residents have been through. It’s trauma that you don’t become pregnant or are in a challenging housing situation without experiencing some pretty severe trauma.” He adds that for most of the women who come to Joseph’s House, it’s a trauma that has been repeated in their lives from childhood.
Joseph’s House partners with various organizations to provide a network of help for those they serve.
During the height of the covid pandemic, many shelters had to curtail services. Kopp is very proud that Joseph’s House did not miss a day of service during that time. But because some shelters have not been able to get back to full capacity, it has put added stress on available housing for women in need. “There’s nowhere for them to go. The hardest ones we get are the ones where we have to say, ‘Well, did you try this place?’ You might have one or two options, but it’s not a good option, you know, that there’s nowhere to send them.”
Many supporters wore red to the Mass, the traditional color associated with St. Joseph.
Kopp and his team are constantly working to provide a nurturing home for women facing an unplanned pregnancy or possible homelessness. An environment that provides physical, emotional and spiritual care is the core of the Joseph’s House mission, one informed by the Catholic faith and tradition.
Joseph’s House does not receive funding from any outside sources and relies on private donations to support an annual budget of $1.3 million. Kopp’s faith in God and the faith of supporters keeps the programs and facility growing.
“There’s no other way this happens,” he shares, “without Him guiding and bringing us the people that care about this, and care about our residents, and say we want to be part of it.”
To support Joseph’s House visit jhfw.org.
