Masonic Children’s Home

“I feel like I get a chance.”

“Why can’t basketball players go on vacation? They can’t travel.”

One of Rudy’s favorite things about living at the Masonic Children’s Home is joking around with his roommates. He has no problem thinking of jokes, like this one, on the spot.

“I like making people smile and laugh,” Rudy said. He has been at the children’s home for three years, and said he’s enjoyed it ever since he stepped foot on the campus.

“I was excited to come here. My friend, Tony, helped me visit, and he’s a good friend,” Rudy said. “Then I realized that he was in the same cottage, so I was really excited.” Forming friendships is important to all the children at the children’s home. Rudy said he spends a lot of time hanging out with his cottage roommates, who have become his best friends.

“We like to play outside and play football, basketball and soccer,” Rudy said. “I get to practice sports with people better at them than me. I get to watch them and learn how they play.”

Rudy is thankful for the opportunity to play sports alongside his friends because he already knows he wants to be a professional athlete when he grows up. He’s not sure yet which sport, because he likes

them all, but being at the children’s home helps him to grow closer to achieving these dreams.

He also likes math and is able to practice it frequently at the children’s home with the help of in-house tutors. Practicing helps him feel better prepared for school.

“I wasn’t good at math until I got here. The teacher here taught us a lot, and now I know my multiplication and division tables,” Rudy said.

Aside from gaining academic and social skills at the children’s home, Rudy is also learning to grow up with kindness and compassion. He said the house parents’ actions show him how to treat others.

“The house parents can sometimes be strict, but they teach us to not be disrespectful and to use manners,” Rudy said. “They teach us to be good gentlemen.”

The kids are provided chances to make a difference in the lives of friends and neighbors through volunteering and community service. One project had them sorting through plastic caps and lids collected in the local community to send to Green Tree Plastics, which makes benches out of the recycled plastics. The project will provide two benches for Bainbridge Elementary School.

Rudy is thankful for everything he is learning at the children’s home and all the opportunities he has now that he didn’t have before.

“It’s a good place to be,” Rudy said. “I feel like I get a chance.”

At the beginning of 2021, we said goodbye to Virginia Migrala, director of children’s services, who retired after 42 years with the children’s home. Life for the youth continued uninterrupted as we welcomed Mark Kurzenknabe to the position. New to the role of director, Mark is not a new face at the children’s home. He has served as assistant director since 2004.

Last year, in addition to providing essentials, education and purpose for our youth, donors, like you, stepped up to help them participate in extracurricular activities, including sports, to encourage kids like Rudy to find their passion and win at life. YOUR SUPPORT in 2021

• Completed 1,482 hours of inservice staff training

• Cheered on 10 KIDS in sports

• Welcomed 8 NEW CHILDREN

• Supported 7 STUDENTS in college

• Celebrated 1 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE