Our History
“I have begun my work. I have two boys, ages six and seven.”
This message—written by Oak Park’s Mary Wessels on a postcard addressed to a friend in 1897—is one of the few remaining records of Hephzibah’s beginnings more than a century ago.
Not long after Wessels sent this postcard, a local orphanage was destroyed by fire and she opened her home and her heart to a dozen more children. She named her fledgling children’s home “Hephzibah,” after her own mother.
Learn More about Hephzibah
Read the latest news and stories about Hephzibah.
OPRF Student Wins OP-RF Community Foundation Excellence in Philanthropy Award
Executive Director Merry Beth Sheets Interviewed on WGN with Hope Houses
Hephzibah’s Spring Appeal Raises over $15,000 to Update the Group Home
Hephzibah’s Rey of Sunshine
Auxiliaries Celebrate Hephzibah this Spring
Hephzibah’s Rock ‘N Roll Event Raises $36,600
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