The inspiration for Rowan House comes from the remarkable Rena Rowan Damone. A woman of vision, sensitivity and accomplishment, Rena remembers her experiences of dislocation and poverty in childhood and, later, of being the sole support of her children. Through her own determination and effort - and with help from a loving community of friends - Rena Rowan Damone has raised her four children and used her legendary gift for fashion design to become one of today's most successful businesswomen and a renowned philanthropist.
Rena Rowan Damone believes we must take action to help homeless families to help themselves. Responding to her own experiences, she established the Rena Rowan Foundation for the Homeless, a charitable organization committed to finding creative ways to help homeless women and their children gain independence and self-sufficiency.
Rowan House is the first project of the Rena Rowan Foundation for the Homeless. People's Emergency Center (PEC), a nationally honored and regionally significant shelter for homeless women, teens, and children, opened the building, named in honor of Rena Rowan Damone, on September 30, 1997. For more information about PEC visit www.pec-cares.org. A $1.5 million gift from Rowan Damone's Foundation jump-started the project. Rena Rowan Damone's philanthropic vision and her influence, encouraging the generosity of others, leveraged millions of public and private dollars, motivating countless entities and individuals to help the most needy among us.
Originally the Saunders Home for Old Men, built in 1893, and more recently standing vacant, the building is located on Saunders Park in West Philadelphia. In its new, creative re-use, Rowan House now features 26 units of transitional supportive housing for formerly homeless families. On site are a community room used as an election polling place, a commercial-grade kitchen used to train food service students in the welfare-to-work program, classrooms, Digital Inclusion workspace and training center, a dedicated counseling room for individual and group therapy and staff offices. The building is surrounded by and linked to its neighborhood with colorful three season gardens that include a playground for resident children.
At Rowan House, clients live in a safe and supportive environment, staffed 24 hours each day. They receive counseling, assistance, child care and health care. They learn parenting skills, and their children receive special developmental and educational services. Clients also receive job training and placement, all leading them to stable, independent, productive, healthy lives.
Rena Rowan Damone's vision and generosity give not only hope and dreams to the families of Rowan House, but also the ability to make those dreams come true.
For more information about Rowan House, contact:
Gloria Guard, President |
Phone: (215) 382-7522 ext. 244 |
(L-R) Gloria Guard, Rena Rowan Damone, Vincent Micciche, and Dianna Lubbe at the
Rowan House Ribbon cutting.
