Jeremiah’s Place Provides Crisis Child Care

One of the first calls Jeremiah’s Place received was from a mom who escaped domestic violence but couldn’t keep her kids at the shelter while working. She didn’t want to take them to their established daycare for fear that the violent partner would come for them, says Eileen Sharbaugh, co-founder and director of volunteer services for Jeremiah’s Place.

While providing short-term daycare for the children, Jeremiah’s Place also helped find a long-term solution. “We connected the mom who had escaped domestic violence with a transitional housing organization and identified alternative childcare options for her son,” says Sharbaugh.

That’s the mission of the “crisis nursery” that’s there for children and families during times of crisis, such as a death or illness in a family, bouts with mental illness, homelessness, domestic violence, divorce—any time when there is no other option for safe, short-term childcare.

On Tuesday, January 26th, Jeremiah’s Place was provided much-needed financial support when it was given the quarterly “Impact Award” by 100 Women Who Care Pittsburgh. The group, founded in June 2015, meets every three months to hear pitches from local non-profit organizations who pitch on the spot if their names are chosen from paper slips in a glass bowl.