Why the Need for Change?
In the first two articles for Ruth Harbor Insiders, we described the heart and vision of our founders and the movement of maternity homes on which our legacy is built. The question to ask, then, is why the change? What is driving the need for Ruth Harbor 2.0?
Our culture has changed significantly since our founding over 24 years ago. The needs of the women calling Ruth Harbor have changed significantly.
As we described in our first article, the founders envisioned a home for women not far removed from themselves but were experiencing an unexpected pregnancy and needed a place where they experienced grace and not shame.
In 2024, however, we see needs that far surpass the challenges faced in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most women coming to Ruth Harbor today are pregnant, homeless or do not have a stable living environment, have limited access to healthcare, struggle with various degrees of mental illness, have experienced significant trauma, are involved with the criminal justice system including felony convictions, have multiple children with multiple men, have lost custody of one or more of their older children, have no stable means of employment, have limited job skills, and they are older. (Until 2022, the publicized age range for women eligible for Ruth Harbor was 15-23 years of age with exceptions; today, the minimum age we accept is 18-years old and up. This change was made because we received very few calls from minors for help and we received an increasing number of calls from women in their 20s and 30s.)
The World Is Changing
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” This underscores the reality that change is a part of our human experience. Ruth Harbor is in the midst of a season of change, and we are not alone. The world around us is changing. You see the impact of this everywhere you look. Visit Valley West Mall in West Des Moines or try to order something from the Sears Catalog. Change happens, and those who fail to recognize and adapt to the changing world will eventually cease to exist.
Fortunately, God has been gracious to us and helped Ruth Harbor recognize the need for change and given us the resources and the will to make the necessary changes.
The Key to Effective Change: Stay Mission Focused
Many organizations attempt to navigate significant changes but lose their way. They may still carry a semblance of the original organization’s branding, but the mission and values have changed significantly.
Harvard University, for example, was established in 1636 for the purpose of preparing and educating clergy for ministry. Harvard’s original mission statement emphasized the school existed to "advance Learning and perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches, when our present Ministers shall lie in the Dust." Today, Harvard is a completely secular institution with no connection to its original mission.
It is important to underscore that while Ruth Harbor’s methods are changing, our mission (serving women experiencing unexpected pregnancy or parenting young children) and our core values founded upon a biblical understanding of healing and restoration are unchanged.
With this commitment in mind, we are choosing to navigate through this transition to Ruth Harbor 2.0 with transparency and humility. The reason we started this newsletter is to bring you along with us and help you to understand the changes we are making and the reasons for these changes.
We also want you to know our board and staff are fully engaged and unified in this journey. This is a collaborative process, and we will follow a practice of continuous improvement, recognizing the need to assess and evaluate before making adjustments.
Next week we will begin to touch on the root cause of the problems confronting the women we serve.
Thank you for joining us in this journey!
Key Lessons
While the world is in the midst of a generational shift that happens once every 80 years or so, change is not uncommon over the span of history. Just like there are seasons that change from Spring to Summer to Fall to Winter and then repeat, so it is with humankind. This is how God designed His creation.
People, churches, and organizations that fail to recognize the need to change will eventually cease to exist.
Ruth Harbor’s mission is unchanged, but our methods are adapting to the needs of our residents in the 2020s.
Resources
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End (Howe): for those interested in history, this book provides an interesting read into the generational cycles recorded throughout the history of Great Britain and the United States.
RuthHarborCares.org (our website for those interested in joining Ruth Harbor as a financial partner).
RuthHarbor.org (our website for women seeking help).