USA > Pennsylvania > Change and challenge: a history of the Church of the Brethren in the southern district of Pennsylvania, 1940-1972 > Part 16
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In 1957, the Annual District Conference authorized The Brethren Home Board to proceed with a fund-raising campaign for a projected con- valescent wing. An organization for the solicitation of funds was estab- lished under the direction of J. Vernon Grim. The estimated costs for the new annex were $200,000, with an additional $50,000 needed for furnishings. The actual costs were $232,933. The campaign proposed to raise $75,000.
Plans for the convalescent wing were drawn by Harry H. Rohrer, a member of the Mechanicsburg Church of the Brethren. Ground was broken for the new building in the spring of 1959 and the wing was ready for dedication in 1961. This addition opened new avenues of service for the Home so that it could now minister to bed-fast patients and thus perform some functions formerly cared for at local hospitals. The Home was able to offer this service at a rate considerably less than that at most hospitals. The new addition to the institution qualified it for higher allow- ance from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Assistance.5
Services of dedication were conducted for the new annex on January 15, 1961. James Renz, the denomination's Social Welfare Director, was present for the occasion and spoke concerning the social welfare program of the brotherhood. The capacity of the Home had been increased to 115 persons by the addition.
The Sixties was a period of changing attitudes toward the aged and the aging. In the year 1960, more than thirty states established Commis- sions on Aging. In January, 1961, there was a White House Conference on Aging. Golden Age Clubs, begun as early as 1931 by a German refugee in Chicago, became popular with many communities and churches. Health and social welfare programs became major concerns nationally and internationally. People of the world suddenly became aware of the rapid increase in the number of aged.
The period from 1960 to 1970 was one of further progress in the life of The Brethren Home. The name was changed from "The Brethren's Home" to "The Brethren Home" (1962). The administrative board began to move the institution away from the traditional concepts of Homes for the Aged and investigated ways to involve the residents in the stream of life even if they reached the arbitrary sixty-five lines of demarcation. The Home served the community without discrimination, even though it continues to offer preference to Brethren applicants. It has continued to operate as a nonprofit institution in an age in which only ten percent of the nursing homes are nonprofit.
Repeatedly reports came to the District Conference concerning the need to find more space for residents. Henry E. Miller was appointed in 1964 to make a study of the need for bed space. The 1964 report to the District Conference said:
"We believe that the district should anticipate an addition to the Home in the not too distant future if demands for such services continue to increase and we do believe that they will."
Meanwhile, the Brethren Home Board continued to improve the existing facilities. The area to the back of the main buildings was black-topped for parking (1963); the pond was enlarged to give added fire protection and to add to the beauty of the grounds (1965); an addition was made to the dining room area with the aid of a special contribution (1966); and the lobby was redecorated and improved by the addition of a Gift Shop with funds from the Women's Auxiliary (1967).
By 1967, it became obvious that improvements were essential. The Home had been approved for Medicare payments and the Social Security
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Administration approved the Home as a nursing care facility. However, further inspections would not permit the original building to pass state requirements (1968). A report to the Annual District Conference said' "We must change the original building or it must be abandoned."
The District Conference at Carlisle (1968) authorized the planning for a third building. A special District Conference on November 2, 1968 in the Carlisle Church authorized The Brethren Home Board to make a series of changes. The conference authorized the construction of a new wing similar in design to the infirmary wing of 1961. It authorized reno- vations in the original building to make it usable, and the construction of an adequate water and sewage system to meet the needs of the new construction. It authorized the privilege of securing professional help in fund-raising and permitted The Brethren Home Board to enter into all contracts essential to build. A debt limitation of $1,000,000 was imposed by the conference.
In 1969, The Brethren Home Board requested the Chambersburg Con- ference to raise the debt ceiling to $1,250,000. The conference authorized a ceiling of $1,450,000. The building program was confronted with rising building costs at the rate of one percent created by a continuing national inflation. The construction of the new addition actually cost $1,447,889.86, including the costs of the sewer line to New Oxford ($104,000) and a new water tower ($58,156.89).
The new wing to The Brethren Home was of fire resistant construc- tion. It contained two elevators, a modern kitchen, a new dining room, a chapel, numerous lounges, a patio, some carpeted rooms, a crafts room, a new entrance with a lobby, a gift shop, and administrative suites. The administrative area is air-conditioned. A security system in the building warns when doors are opened after they have been closed for the night. The capacity of the Brethren Home was increased to 164 residents by the addition.
A service of dedication for the new building was held on Sunday, September 26, 1971. Dr. A. G. Breidenstine spoke concerning, "Frontiers of Aging". Mr. Richard Higinbotham, mayor of New Oxford, was also present to offer his congratulations. Guided tours were conducted for the guests who came to the dedicatory services. Throughout the month of September, a series of special programs was presented at the Home, including a Birthday Party, a Kite Flying demonstration and an unusual picture and musical presentation entitled, "Almost Paradise". The Stay-Young Club of the Fahrney-Keedy Home presented a program called, "A Musical Tribute to George M. Cohan".
In 1971, the Home was given a 1-A classification by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. This is the highest classification given by the department to skilled nursing homes. The classification assured The Brethren Home of continued participation in the Medical and Public Assistance programs and of Medicare for those who are eligible for it.
Mrs. Esther Pentz served the Home as an able administrator from its beginnings at Cross Keys. She retired on January 1, 1971 and was honored for her unusual devotion and service through the decades of change. The Brethren Home Board placed her portrait in the lobby of the new building. In a statement concerning her services, the board said: "The very high quality of dedication Mrs. Pentz has exercised has set for us a high standard for her successor". In the meantime, Mrs. Carol Zook, who served in the Home's nursing department for many years, was ap- pointed acting administrator of the Home. She had served for ten months as assistant administrator under Mrs. Pentz.
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Harvey S. Kline
In 1971, the Brethren Home Board announced it had secured a new adminis- trator. Harvey S. Kline, former pastor of the Chambersburg Church of the Brethren, accepted the responsibilities for the en- larged institution. He had served as a member of The Home Board since 1967 and had proven himself as an able administrator at congregational and district levels. On February 14, 1972, he became a licensed professional administrator after passing state examinations. Under his leadership, the story of The Brethren Home is being told to the churches of the district The program of the Home is becoming a total ministry to the person, meeting the social, vhysical, psychological and religious needs of the residents.
"Several of the guests made positive comments in regard to the type of care they receive."6
When the original building would no longer pass state inspection, the area was remodeled to provide office space for rental. The Southern District Office was located on a portion of the first floor of the building. The new Lincoln Intermediate School Unit, comprising Adams, York and Franklin Counties, acquired the remainder of the first floor for its admin- istrative offices. A lease was granted to this new school organization for five years.
A Meals-on-Wheels program was begun on June 5, 1972 for the Abbottstown, East Berlin and New Oxford areas. Although the pro- gram was not initiated by the Home, the Brethren Home kitchen provides the meals for the Abbottstown and New Oxford areas. Meals are pro- vided for older people who are handicapped and unable to provide their own meals. Mrs. Carroll Volland, of East Berlin, is chairman of the pro- gram which furnishes nutritious meals to the elderly.
Since 1940, the Brethren Home Board has been served by the fol- lowing chairmen: L. H. Leiter (1940-1943), W. G. Group (1944-1946, 1948), W. W. Leiter (1947, 1949), James C. Sellers (1950-1952), Dr. John R. Herr (1953-1960, 1962-1966), Richard R. Grim (1961) and Ronald H. Rowland (1967-1972).
THE CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY
Since 1909, the Church of the Brethren has perpetuated a Child Rescue Mission. The work of this agency was designed "to foster senti- ment and to assist state districts to organize and to give the work of rescuing children as much influence as they possibly could".7 The South- ern District formed its Child Rescue Mission in 1913 to assist in placing orphans and neglected children with foster parents. Churches also formed committees to work with the district committee in receiving and placing these children.
The program was expanded in 1922 into a housing and custody care service. The District Children's Aid Society purchased a large residence at 630 South Hanover Street in Carlisle. For the next thirty-eight years, this Home became a shelter and custodial center for nearly one thousand children. In 1955, for example, the Home had twenty-three children; in 1959, it cared for twenty children. These children were supervised by house parents and were taken regularly to church services in the Carlisle
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Church of the Brethren. On July 1, 1960, the Home was officially closed because it no longer passed state inspections. The Children's Aid Society agreed to sell the building for $27,000.
The Children's Aid Society began to project plans for a new and larger Home. The District Conference of 1960 authorized the Society to purchase land and to proceed with plans for a new Shelter Home in the Carlisle vicinity. Seven acres of land were purchased on the Walnut Bottom Road west of Carlisle for the sum of $20,000. A special District Conference in April, 1961, approved the continuation of the work of the Society and encouraged the projection of a new type of ministry to be rendered to troubled children and youth. Plans were also approved for the construction of a new Shelter Home.
Construction of the new Home was begun with a ground-breaking ceremony on September 24, 1961. Although rough winter weather ham- pered construction, the building was completed for a dedication service on November 18, 1962. The structure was officially opened on December 1, 1962 to receive children. Space was provided to care for twenty-six children with ample quarters for superintendents, house parents and other workers. The cost of the Home had been $172,146.55.
In spite of diligent and consistent efforts on the part of the Children's Aid Society to establish a Home for children, a changing philosophy on the part of the state and the county organizations prevented the fulfillment of this goal. Members of the Society made earnest efforts to staff the Home with fully-qualified directors and workers in order to minister to children from broken homes. Even these efforts were destined to fail. The Home had been constructed with encouragements from the Cumber- land County Children's Services, the Cumberland County Commissions and representatives of state agencies. Whenever the Home was completed and ready for use, no referrals were made by the state or the county organiza- tions. The program was undergoing a change in philosophy with reference to child care.
The Society reluctantly agreed to close the Home effective March 1, 1963. An impartial committee was requested to survey the contemporary child welfare program and to consider the options which were available to the Society. This committee was composed of Dr. John Herr, Robert L. Cocklin, Bruce Anderson, Irving Glover and Naomi West. The committee concluded that steps should be taken to dispose of the Shelter Home. The committee commended the efforts which had been made by the Society to foster a program for distrubed children, but suggested instead it might investigate other forms of child welfare through foster home care or related fields in marriage counseling and the prevention of broken homes.
A special District Conference at Gettysburg on April 23, 1963, gave the Children's Aid Society permission to sell the Shelter Home. When the Society could not receive a fair bid for the new building, it began to investigate alternative programs for the use of the building. By 1964, the Children's Aid Society approached the District Conference with this report:
"We, the Children's Aid Society, feel we have found an area of service in the Cumberland County School Board's Special Service Pro- gram. About 120 children from Cumberland, parts of Franklin, Adams, Perry and Dauphin Counties will attend classes daily in the Home. These are severely retarded, physically handicapped, partially- sighted and emotionally distrubed children. The Home became the headquarters for two psychologists, seven speech therapists, two teachers for the partially-sighted and one teacher for the blind."8
Members of the Southern District Board, meeting for a quarterly busi- ness session at the Carlisle Church of the Brethren, made a tour of the new
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Shelter Home on March 7, 1964. The members of the Children's Aid Society outlined the proposed program to the District Board members and asked permission of the board to proceed with the plans. The Board granted this permission, conditional upon its approval by the District Conference. Under the agreement, the Cumberland County Board of Education leased the Shelter Home beginning June 1, 1964. The sum of $8500 was to be paid to cover expenses and the lease was renewable.
Children's Shelter Home, Carlisle
Murray P. Lehman, a former chairman of the Society, expressed his sentiments concerning this new kind of ministry:
"Although the Children's Aid Society is not directly involved with the children in the Special Services program, the act of provid- ing an accommodation for others to administer a health program is a contribution to the needs of children not equaled by any other Breth- ren group".9
The Society has regularly investigated new areas of service to chil- dren. Its annual report to the District Conference covers a wide range of services. It provides food and clothing to needy children; money for costly medical and surgical services; and Christmas gifts for children in special schools. The Society gives support to the youth hostel program in India and this makes possible a boarding school education for several hundred children each year. The Society has supported children in Haiti, has underwritten support for the Christian Children's Fund of Richmond, Virginia and has given subsidies to Teen-Encounter and the Brook Lane Psychiatric Center.
Steps have been taken in recent years to transform the Society into a funding agency. A revised constitution, submitted to the district dele- gates for approval in 1972, contained this statement:
"The purpose of the Children's Aid Society shall be to aid chil- dren with special needs through the provision of an institution for their care and/or funding agencies, institutions, and families or per- sons which care for such children."10
The Society has given substantial sums of money to aid Camp Eder and The Brethren Home at Cross Keys. Since 1969, it has made regular grants to the camp to assist in securing leadership and in providing schol- arships for children. The organization has also given aid to the Waynes- boro Church Day Care Center and to the York First Church Day Care Center.
In 1969, members of the Children's Aid Society were seeking for a suitable shelter to care for children for short periods of time. In 1971,
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they found such a shelter in York. The Society purchased a building at 400 West Market Street and leased it to the York Rescue Mission Inc. for a period of five years. The building is equipped with facilities for recrea- tion for youth on the first floor, with living quarters for families and foster parents on the second and third floors. This structure was pur- chased in order to provide emergency care for children or complete families for short periods of time. The Children's Aid Society is also subsidizing the operation of these units.
The Society has made a discreet use of the stewardship which has been entrusted to it. In 1963, for example, it requested that it should be withdrawn from the district budget allocations. The Society is self- supporting and is free of debt. In 1969, it sold one-half acre of land at its Shelter Home in Carlisle for the sum of $76,500. The approximate assets of the Society in 1971 were $433,260.34.
Like other institutions of our society, the social welfare agencies of the church have faced decided changes. The members who have volun- tarily served on these boards and committees have faced perplexing and frustrating problems. They have responded admirably to the challenges of a changing culture.
In the years since 1940, the following persons have given dedicated service to the Children's Aid Society: H. Mitchell Stover, Mrs. Henry L. Miller, Michael Markey, M. E. Sollenberger, J. Monroe Danner, Mrs. Nor- man Kuhn, Harper M. Snavely, Mrs. Luther H. Leiter, Dr. John R. Herr, J. I. Thomas, C. Lowell Gearhart, Carl J. Adams, Paul Newcomer, Wayne Nicarry, Israel G. Royer, George A. W. Stouffer, Mrs. Monroe Danner, Walter A. Keeney, L. Anna Schwenk, Mary Hassinger, Murray P. Lehman, Mrs. George L. Detweiler, Mrs. Roy G. Hoffman, Martin Piper, Mrs. Oscar W. Anderson, Mrs. Howard A. Whitacre, Mrs. C. J. Hartman, Mrs. M. Guy West, John Myers, Mrs. Wayne Brandt, Mrs. Paul Stevenson, Earl Masimore, Mrs. Martin Brannan, Mrs. O. Wayne Cook, W. Carl Sheaffer, Mrs. Mark Roth, Mrs. Earl Hertzler, Luther Hull, Mrs. Roger Markey, Mrs. J. Stanley Earhart, W. Wayne Tritt, Mrs. Roger Forry, Mrs. Marvin Gibble, Mrs. Charles Sellers, Eugene Hartman, Charles Bieber and Mrs. Ralph Clopper ..
CHAPTER TEN
BRETHREN SERVICE
THE FIRST PEACETIME DRAFT
The world of 1940 was in a state of revolution. The fierce war which erupted in Europe and the continuing war in Asia were symptoms of a deeper revolution. Many journalists and editors joined in describing this as one of the greatest crises in human history. One author compared it to the unrest which followed on the heels of the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution.1 President Roosevelt warned: "When peace is broken anywhere, peace . . . everywhere is in danger."2 This was the beginning of an era in which many honored traditions were toppled.3
When the 76th United States Congress adjourned in January, 1941, it established a number of new records. The Congress had been in session 366 days and was noted as the most extravagant Congress to date. It had also passed the largest peacetime armament program in the nation's history.4 Finally, it had also passed the nation's first peacetime conscrip- tion act. The Burke-Wadsworth Bill appeared before the Congress in
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August, 1940. It was a private measure, created outside of the War Depart- ment and introduced without the support of the executive office.5
The conscription bill passed in Congress at a time when the nation was divided in its attitude toward the European war. A Gallup poll showed in October, 1939, that fully sixty-one percent of the nation did not favor conscription. By August 11, 1940, this attitude was reversed and now the populace showed sixty-six percent favoring some form of conscription for the nation's male population.6 America was demon- strating a split personality. It was wishing and working for the defeat of the Axis Powers while pretending to remain neutral. When the war broke out in Europe, some authorities predicted that America would remain neutral only so long as the Allied Powers were winning.7
The voluntary enlistment system for the Armed Services broke down. General George Marshall admitted:
"We have to have a great many men quickly. I cannot conceive of being able to obtain them on a voluntary basis."8
When Congress debated the conscription bill, the state of affairs in Europe had reached a critical stage. Germany had overwhelmed France and "the Battle of Britain" had reached a peak.
The executive branch of government was deeply concerned about the apathy of the nation. A band of war hawks along the east coast of the United States was deliberately fanning the flames of war.9 They were gradually convincing the nation and the nation was swinging from a posi- tion of neutrality to one of involvement in the war.
The conscription act passed the Congress in spite of the obstructionists in both House and Senate and in spite of the opposition of the press. On February 4, 1941, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order authoriz- ing Civilian Public Service to do work of national importance. The Order was necessary to involve conscientious objectors in a program in lieu of military service. Selective Service recognized two types of objectors: those who took exception to actual combat but were willing to serve in noncombatant positions under military jurisdiction; and those who resisted all forms of training or service under the supervision of the military.
The clergy of America won exemption from the draft by reason of pressures brought by the Catholic Church. Such exemption actually is one of the few remaining ties which the modern church has with the orig- inal Christian Church. For nearly three centuries after the formation of the church, all Christians were exempt from the service of the military. The church itself excluded from membership any person who engaged in such service to the state. When the church was won to the empire and her cause under Constantine, church leadership only was exempted from mili- tary service.
The housekeeping and educational phases of Civilian Public Service camps were assigned to various religious groups. After July 1, 1941, Selective Service funds were used for the support of the work phase of the program.10
With the passage of the draft act, the Church of the Brethren joined with other historic peace churches in forming the National Service Board For Religious Objectors.11 This organization was formed to provide a common channel for dealing with the government in matters relating to conscientious objectors.12 Offices were located in Washington, D.C., in order to act as a liaison between the government and any person who had questions relating to conscription and conscience. The National Service Board for Religious Objectors issued a monthly paper, The Re- porter, to 4000 Brethren and Mennonite ministers, former conscientious objectors or other interested persons.13. The literature was both informa-
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tive and interpretative with respect to Congressional actions and court actions against objectors.
At the district level, the Selective Service Act began to raise concern among the members of the Ministerial Board. One member of the board wrote to another:
"One matter gives me deep concern. With the Selective Service reaching into our churches and sending off to C.P.S. or to the service all young men as soon as they reach the age of eighteen, what are we going to do in the recruiting of the ministry? As you look over the district, do you Brethren see young men who might be called to God, who are eighteen or even younger, upon whom the church should now lay hands for the future ministry? I think we ought to be doing some tall thinking about the whole problem."14
On May 13, 1944, the Selective Service Act was changed to permit deferment for student ministers who were either already in the ministry in college or the seminary, or who were ready to enter the ministry. Special forms provided by the Draft Boards and signed by Ministerial Boards certified to the status of the ministerial candidate.
THE BEGINNINGS OF BRETHREN SERVICE
The new global conflict and the first peacetime draft in American history encouraged the Church of the Brethren to undertake new forms of ministry. The denomination's literature proudly recites how the church in former ages came to the aid of the drought-stricken, the refugee, the persecuted and the imprisoned. One of the favorite Scriptures of this period was: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."15 The crisis temper of the 1940s called forth from the Brethren new dimensions of Christian service. The charter statement of the Brethren Service Committee suggested that the church must be willing to minister to human distress and suffering "with- out regard to barriers of race, creed or nationality".16
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