Who Are We » Mission Statement » History » Board of Directors

Our History:
House of Ruth was founded by eight women, who worked on the incorporation between December 1991, and August 1992. The founding board consisted of Sharan Benton; Anne Bindner; Liz Bindner; Betty Blandford, SCN; Sharon Cook; Sharon Gray, SC; Rebecca Miles, SCN; and Marilyn Spink, SCN, chair.

House of Ruth was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the state of Kentucky on August 6, 1992.

During the succeeding year, the founding board leased two offices at St. Anthony Parish in Louisville, sought funding, and began to inform the public about the organization. They drew up a mission statement, philosophy, goals, and services to guide the new organization. Sharon Cook from the founding board had a background in social services and began to connect with AIDS groups and other agencies in the Louisville area.

In August 1993, the board hired Julie Driscoll, SCN as Executive Director and she began full time service in September 1993.

In December 1993, a part-time clerical assistant was hired and in January 1994, Sharon Cook was hired as Program Director and was funded by a United Way Priority Grant.

The number of families and individuals who come for services has consistently grown. House of Ruth began in 1993 serving 8 families. In 1994, 35 families were served. Those numbers have grown each year: 1995-75 families; 1996-120 families; 1997-175 families; 1998-250 families and 1999-375 families. From 2000 to the present we have had an 80% increase in number of families. In 2008, we served 1,162 client household members.

House of Ruth quickly outgrew the two leased rooms at St. Anthony. Representatives met with Archbishop Kelly and his representatives and asked about some available property in early 1994. House of Ruth moved to St. Ann Parish property on Algonquin Parkway on August 6, 1994. Here there was a year-to-year lease. There were efforts to buy some of the property for a permanent place or to work out a long-term rental agreement but both efforts were unsuccessful.

In July 1995, Sharon Cook and Julie Driscoll collaborated with two physicians at University of Louisville to begin a one-stop clinic for women and children affected by HIV. It began one day per month and has grown steadily, expanding to a daily clinic for all HIV+ persons funded with the award of a federal grant. The clinic is called WINGS and is a part of the U of L system.

The growth in clients has caused growth in staff – from one in 1993 to 15 today; 11 full time and 4 part-time.

In the Fall of 1998, House of Ruth negotiated with St. Matthew United Church of Christ and New Directions Housing Corporation about the possibility of receiving a gift of the St. Matthew United Church of Christ property. St. Matthew accepted the proposal. The church gave their property to House of Ruth with the agreement that New Directions would continue a learning center they had been conducting on the property. Both groups agree to use the buildings to serve the surrounding neighborhood. The Latino Coalition also had an office on site but left for their own building in 2004.

On April 29, 1999, House of Ruth staff moved offices into the house on St. Matthew property. Renovation of a portion of the church building for offices began soon after and on October 9, 2000, the staff moved into the new offices. The house has since been renovated to a duplex for two client families.

During 2000, House of Ruth also completed the renovation of another duplex near the offices and two families have moved in. We also purchased two condominiums for families. We have built another duplex with one and three bedrooms on Hancock. In February, 2001, we took ownership of Glade House and four condominiums at the request of Community Health Trust. We currently own 17 scattered-site housing units and are partners in two collaborative grants, which provide us with 4 more one-bedroom units. All of our properties are housing HIV+ persons and their families. These capital projects were made possible by a number of grants from city, county and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.