New York Foundling<\/a>, one of the city\u2019s most successful child welfare agencies that provides shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children. Both its longtime medical director \u2013 the late Dr. Vincent Fontana \u2013 and founder of the hospital\u2019s Blaine Hall Initiative for children with behavioral problems \u2013 Sister Teresa Kelly \u2013 are winners of Christopher Awards for their work. For the past few Christmases, our staff has contributed toys and clothing to the children there.<\/p>\nChurch historian Pat McNamara has written a wonderful piece about the creation of the foundling by a selfless and heroic nun named Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon. Here\u2019s a sampling:<\/p>\n
The babies showed up at the front door of the house, in a variety of outfits and packages. Some were dressed in rags, some in fine clothing. Some had a dollar pinned to their blanket, all their mother could afford. Sometimes notes were left. One mother wrote:<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cIf in years to come I could hear that he has a home and some friends, I could die in peace. If I should not hear this, it would haunt me to the day of my death. Please, in God\u2019s names, remember the last request of a heart broken mother and be good to my dear little Charley\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Another wrote: \u201cThis little child has suffered since she was born\u2026. My husband is dead and I have nobody to help me.\u201d One child was sent by a \u201cwronged and heartbroken mother with no one to take an interest in her but God.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the fall of 1869, a group of Catholic nuns rented a house on East Twelfth Street in Manhattan\u2019s Greenwich Village to care for the unwanted and the abandoned children of New York. Their leader was a determined, compassionate woman named Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon. Over the course of the following year, over a thousand infants were dropped at their doorstep. These Sisters of Charity, as they were known, were meeting a major social need of the day.
\nRead the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Christophers have a longstanding connection to the New York Foundling, one of the city\u2019s most successful child welfare agencies that provides shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children. Both its longtime medical director \u2013 the late Dr. Vincent Fontana \u2013 and founder of the hospital\u2019s Blaine Hall Initiative for children with behavioral problems \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Abandon No One<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Christophers have a longstanding connection to the New York Foundling, one of the city's most successful child welfare agencies that provides shelter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/03\/abandon-no-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abandon No One\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Christophers have a longstanding connection to the New York Foundling, one of the city's most successful child welfare agencies that provides shelter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/03\/abandon-no-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christopher Closeup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-13T13:54:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-01T16:12:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Rossi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Rossi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/03\/abandon-no-one\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/03\/abandon-no-one\/\",\"name\":\"Abandon No One\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-13T13:54:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-01T16:12:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d\"},\"description\":\"The Christophers have a longstanding connection to the New York Foundling, one of the city's most successful child welfare agencies that provides shelter\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/03\/abandon-no-one\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/03\/abandon-no-one\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/03\/abandon-no-one\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Abandon No One\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/\",\"name\":\"Christopher Closeup\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d\",\"name\":\"Tony Rossi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tony Rossi\"},\"description\":\"After graduating from St. John's University in New York with degrees in Communications and English, Tony Rossi found a job at the Catholic media organization, The Christophers, that allowed him to indulge his interest in religion, media, and pop culture. 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