HEALING SPIRITS. NURTURING CHILDREN. SERVING COMMUNITIES. SINCE 1877.
ABOUT US
The Presbyterian Factor
Although the Presbyterian Children's Village was founded by a group of Presbyterian women, it is not an agency of the Presbyterian Church USA, nor does it receive direct financial support from Presbyterian Church USA. The Village is supported by public and private funds, including gifts from individuals, foundations, corporations, and many area congregations.
Healing through Spiritual Guidance and Ministry
The Village serves clients without regard to religious affiliation and without a proselytizing mission; nevertheless, there is an attitude of Christian mission in the delivery of services. The Village employs a full-time chaplain who works alongside case workers and professional staff to meet the needs of many troubled youth and their families. Rev. David Sanchez likes to remind our youth that they are not alone. He incorporates chapel services, music, videos, and individual and group counseling into his chaplaincy, linking the children to the home faith community of their choice. Children participating in this ministry do so voluntarily. (No public funds support the chaplaincy.)
Meet Reverend David Sanchez - Reverend Sanchez, originally from Chicago, became an ordained minister on August 26, 2007, in Chicago. He believes he received his calling from God to be a pastor while serving as a church custodian for several years at Carter Westminster United Church in Chicago. There church elders recommended that he take pastoral ministry courses to fulfill God's will for him. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, receiving his B.A degree in Pastoral Studies. While attending Moody, he was the Associate Director at the Urban Youth Ministry in Chicago. Prior to this, he was the Youth Pastor for five years at Carter Westminster United Presbyterian Church in Skokie, Ill.
He left Chicago in 1999 to attend Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, PA where he graduated in 2003. Upon graduation from Westminster, he served for two years as an intern at Olney Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, was chaplain at Abington Memorial Hospital, and then became chaplain of the Village in 2005. His position as permanent, full-time Village chaplain is somewhat unique among child welfare agencies.
Since his chaplaincy at the Village, he has adopted a holistic approach to ministry. He offers optional spiritual guidance to complement therapeutic care for resident children through such avenues as Bible studies, grief counseling, chapel services, and support group meetings (called Value Groups).
Under Rev. Sanchez's ministry, the children at the Village participate in community service projects like periodic visits to soup kitchens to feed the homeless, weekly volunteer trips with five youths to places like the Broomall Presbyterian Nursing Home, and food distribution drives.
These chapel windows were originally in the Village facility when it was at 58th and Kingsessing streets in Southwest Philadelphia from the 1880s until 1960. They were carefully transferred to the Rosemont campus at that time for installation in the new chapel. The windows were originally donated by Catherine L. Haddock, the first President of the Village, 1878-1898. They are made of American Opalescent glass, which was invented in the mid-1800's by John LaFarge. This glass became popular in the late 19th century when Louis Tiffany of the famed Tiffany Studios in New York began using it extensively.
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