Simple, profound, tender love. When you ask the residents of the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Holy Family Home in Southwest Philadelphia, those words easily come to describe how the sisters offer the residents Christ’s love every day.
Along with love, their home that has stood at 53rd Street and Chester Avenue for almost 50 years now boasts extensive and innovative renovations.
Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, numerous donors, and special guests celebrated a Mass and ribbon-cutting to dedicate the $45 million renovation of the home, which will stand stronger and better equipped to serve residents for many years to come.
“It’s absolutely extraordinary,” said Sister Veronica Proffitt, LSP, who played a critical role in spearheading the renovation.
“We are offering them a more familial environment where things are closer. It’s so cheerful when you come in. It’s so bright compared to the old home. It’s accessible.”
Sister Veronica described how initially, the sisters reached a decision point of whether they would stay in Philadelphia at all, at a time when the home’s size was hindering their mission to serve the poor.
“Our homes were becoming too large with needs such as heavy healthcare. You begin to be taken too much into regulations that pull away from your charism,” she said.
“We would rebuild on a smaller scale, more efficient, more personal, back to what our founders did when we began, which is less staff, but with sisters involved completely in a family.”
>>>PHOTOS: Little Sisters of the Poor Celebrate Grand Reopening of Holy Family Home
The sisters and architects created a plan that would not only offer a brighter space, but provide greater personal dignity within every resident’s home.
“The Little Sisters of the Poor and their (residents) were never going to leave campus. They’ve always been here on this campus with us, and we’ve been doing projects around them,” said INTECH Construction Superintendent Steve Rhodes about the three-year construction process.
“It’s been a little challenging for us to tippy-toe around residents living here, but I think it’s been very entertaining for them. They’ve had a construction project in their lap for the last three years that they’ve been able to watch and follow.”
Rhodes deeply experienced the charism of the Little Sisters of the Poor in his years building their reimagined home.
“Initially, we started talking about the project and certain aspects that she has her hands in,” he said. “About a year ago, my mother passed away. That was an emotional time. She’s just been a good friend.”
Such care for the whole person now has a new home where simple, profound love can grow.
The newly designed structure serves 37 independent-living residents with newer studio and one-bedroom apartments.
The renovation also provides same-floor access previously unavailable to residents in independent-living units, which 18 residents in skilled care had enjoyed.
“We have given every resident a private room with their own complete bathroom. They now have a shower. They have cabinetry. They have everything they need for their own personal privacy. You can’t imagine how important that is until you don’t have it,” Sister Veronica said.
“They can look out the window and look at the birds and see the garden. They can come out of their room, down the hall to the dining room, around the corner to physical therapy, a little further to the chapel, to the recreation area where entertainment is provided, out the front door or the back door to their garden. Everything is available for them on their own level.”
She said residents have experienced simple but profound change.
“One resident said, ‘I actually have a living room and not a sitting room.’ Another one who has dementia and has been nonverbal sat at her window and wouldn’t move. Her daughter said, ‘I couldn’t get her to move from that window for an hour.’ She was looking at the birds in the birdbath, and the words that came out of her mouth were, ‘It’s beautiful,’” said Sister Veronica.
“A man came up to me that didn’t know us before and said, ‘I can feel the presence of God and his love dwelling here in this home.’ That’s really why we are Little Sisters of the Poor, to give ourselves without reserve to the elderly and their needs in the name of Christ, because he’s the one we’re serving who dwells among us and dwells in them.”
That defines the kind of dwelling resident Isabel deeply wanted for the remaining years of her life. The Puerto Rico native and longtime educator desired a place where she could live her faith and truly feel the love of home.
After waiting six extra months for renovations to be completed, she gushes while describing the love she receives from the sisters whom she calls “angels.” They also helped her through a major medical complication that began just days before she moved in.
“I can’t have words to express what these sisters did,” Isabel said.
“These sisters, their mission is so simple, but at the same time, very, very, very profound. It’s total, and so committed, what is most important, and mostly that big tenderness of God.”
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