Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
October 16, 2002
Mount St. Vincent Home starting new school building
119-year-old institution to expand with $3.5 million facility
By Jack Bacon
Mount St. Vincent Home for Children will break ground this month for a $3.5 million school for its special-needs youngsters, providing separate classrooms and therapy accommodations and easing crowding at the 119-year-old institution.
The formal start of construction at the home, 4159 Lowell Blvd., Denver, is scheduled at 2 p.m. Oct. 28.
Executive Director Dallas Rychener said the home now has 34 resident students living in three cottages at the home and 54 children who participate in the daytime special education and therapy programs. Total capacity at Mount St. Vincent is approximately 100. The new school will house classrooms and special therapy rooms to be moved from the first floor of the main building.
Mount St. Vincent takes care of children with severe emotional and behavior problems resulting from child abuse and neglect or violent trauma. Many of the participants in the day programs live in foster homes, said Jean Hagman of the home's development office.
"Very few are still with their parents," she said, and their problems make it impossible for traditional public or nonpublic schools to accommodate them.
The home's programs are expensive. Government support covers approximately two-thirds of the Mount St. Vincent budget, including most capital expenses of the home, but the other third of the costs, directly related to the children, come from charitable contributions, Hagman said. An important source is the Mount St. Vincent Guild, which has scheduled a major fundraiser Nov. 13 (see related story).
Rychener pointed out government support comes with special requirements for the programs the home provides, for example, minimum standards for therapy facilities and numbers of therapists.
Hagman said the lagging local and national economy is of special concern, because as incomes decline, so do contributions.
"It's the children who get hurt," she added.
Mount St. Vincent has provided care to children since the Sisters of Charity opened the home as an orphanage for boys in February 1883. The home was opened at its present site, on land Bishop Joseph Machebeuf persuaded the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to donate. Its mission changed with the times over the years and since 1969 has focused on care and education for children with special emotional and academic needs.
What hasn't changed is the sisters' commitment to take care of children with the most need, Hagman said.
Guild luncheon raising funds for Mount St. Vincent Home
The Guild of Mount St. Vincent Home for Children will serve up a benefit luncheon at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Denver Nov. 13.
A reception at 11 a.m. will open the event, followed by lunch at noon and a program featuring entertainer Lannie Garrett performing as "Patsy DeCline."
A drawing will close the affair, a major fundraiser for the children at the Mount St. Vincent Home in northwest Denver for special-needs and needy children. The school is expanding its facilities with construction of a $3.5 million school building. (See related story.)
First-, second- and third-place prizes in the drawing are, respectively, a Vespa motor scooter, a team-autographed Colorado Avalanche hockey stick and a night at the Hyatt Regency, 1750 Welton St.
All proceeds of the event go to books, supplies and programs for children at the home, which was opened 119 years ago and is still operated by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, publicity chairwoman Jo Dutton said.
The biennial luncheon, which alternates with the biennial Silver Bell benefit, is a major fundraiser among the programs conducted by the guild. The guild was founded Nov. 17, 1994, with Cathy Rinker as president.
Co-chairs of the Nov. 13 lunch are Rosalin Burns and Toni Stinton.
Tickets are $3,000 for 10 (corporate gold), $1,500 for 10 (corporate silver), $125 patron and $75 individual. Call Christine Hause, 303-988-4435
Contact Us
