SJ Orgs: Children`s Home or BurlCo

The Children’s Home of Burlington County is a non-profit organization providing Special Education, Residential and Emergency Shelter Services in Mount Holly, Burlington County, Ewing Township and Mercer County.

The Children’s Home began as a shelter to house the hundreds of orphans left from the Civil War. Since 1964, the home also took in children with one parent who could not afford to take care of their child. These parents were asked for a small contribution (50 cents) to pay for room and board. Children would stay at the home until they were 12 (due to the Home’s Constitution) and then were placed with a Burlington County family. Other children were returned to their families of origin. The home grew throughout the years to include a school and children were free to attend the church of any denomination they wanted.

In 1913, Mary A. Dobbins donated nearly $10,000 in bonds to the home for renovations. Over the years, she continued to be a strong donator and made the home a better place for the children. After she passed away in 1929, she left $400,000 to the organization, which has been an important part of the financial stability of the Children’s Home.

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Throughout the years, the Children’s Home has faced several obstacles with the change of the Child’s Welfare Movement. They remained flexible, and kept the well-being of the children in mind. The Children’s Home still provides support services, helping children and their families to become productive members of society.

The Children’s Home cannot exist without the generous donations of time and money from caring community members. If you are interested in helping the Children’s Home, there are several different options:

The Children’s Home always accepts cash donations, which can be specified for certain programs and projects. They also need donations of equipment, furniture, clothing, appliances, and computers. You can even donate a car through the Children’s Home Vehicle Donation Program. There is a planned giving option available, where you can eliminate capital gains taxes by choosing The Children’s Home to receive money later in life.

The Children’s Home also operates a thrift shop, stocking a wide variety of household items, books, music, furniture and collectibles at rock bottom prices. Friends and contributors of the organization donate all items. The home also operates a Dollar Clothing Store with most clothing priced at one dollar a piece. Both stores are open Monday through Friday from 9:30am to 4pm, Saturday from 10am to 4pm and Sunday from 10am to 3pm. The Thrift Shop is located on 694 Main Street in Lumberton. For more information contact (609) 265-8788. The dollar store is located in Plaza 38, Route 38 West in Mount Holly. For more information, contact (609) 267-3975.

The Children’s Home is in need of volunteers for a variety of different programs and services. They need people to help organize fund raising activities such as flea markets and bus trips. The thrift shop needs volunteers for sales, merchandising, picking up merchandise, and organizing. They also need trainers for the MIS department as Microsoft Office software trainers. They also need volunteers and interns for this department to perform routine software installations and update and basic PC hardware upgrades.

The Children’s Home completed the construction of their new school in 1996. The school accommodates 80 students and offers a full educational program along with multi-media resources. The school needs funding for its everyday operations. For contributions of $100 and above, you will receive an engraved leaf on the "Learning Tree" or an engraved rock mounted below the tree. Contributions are welcome at the following level: large rock-$2,500; medium rock-$1,000; small rock-$750; brass leaf- $500; silver leaf-$250; bronze leaf-$100.

The Children's Home of Burlington County is located on 243 Pine Street in Mount Holly. For more information, contact (877) TLC-KIDS or visit www.childrens-home.org.

For more on local Organizations, visit our South Jersey Organizations page.

Author: Melissa Samuelson