Beech Tree News Network

If you call the Galilean Children’s Home in Liberty, Kentucky, more than likely, Jerry Tucker will answer the phone.  Jerry is the patriarch of the home—established in 1984—and continues to be a very hands-on guy.  His wife, Sandy, who founded and ran the home with her husband, passed away in June of 2007.
    Earlier this year, my sister, Rhonda, contacted me about attending a quilt auction held on the site in October.  On Saturday, Rhonda, Lorrie (my stepsister), and Mom (my stepmom) set out for the place, located near Danville.  Liberty’s landscape is a panorama of wooded hills and plush pasture land.  The Galilean Home is located at the top of one of those hills.  There are several buildings on the site, and they are all dedicated to raising the many children who have passed through their doors.  There is a sign at the entrance of the property that states the mantra of the ministry: Faith, Hope, and Room for One More. 
    The quilt auction, a fund raiser for the home, draws people from all over the state.  There was a crowd of several hundred.  Rhonda encouraged us to bring paper products and cleaning supplies as well, so when we arrived, we looked around for someone to direct us to a place to unload them.  Jerry, himself, greeted us and pointed us in the right direction.
    The quilts for the auction are all donated, and I was amazed at the collection—all 172 pieces.  Many of the old patterns were represented:  Log Cabin, Broken Star, Trip Around the World, Four-Block, Celtic Star, Nine-Block, and Star Within A Star.  Some went for nearly a thousand dollars.  Rhonda said the bids were down from years past.
    It was only after the auction, and after we left the actual mission grounds that I learned the story of the Tuckers and their vision for unwanted children.  We stopped in at the Bread of Life Café, which is staffed with some of the grown children who were raised at the home, and I began to pick up some of the brochures that told the story of these two extraordinary people.
    Jerry and Sandy Tucker  were a childless couple who adopted a 3 ½ month old baby with medical problems. That was just the beginning.  They seemed unable to turn down any child with special needs.  “I don’t think God gave me time to think about it,” Sandy wrote, “We took every child God sent us.”  Early on, they dreamed of having a place where they could take care of even more children.  That dream was realized in 1984, with the opening of the Galilean Home Ministries.
    The Home is funded completely through private donations, grants and fundraisers.  They do not rely on any government assistance.  About one-third of the Home’s support comes from Amish and Mennonite churches from across the U.S. and Canada.  The upkeep and maintenance is done by a paid staff of 130, about half of whom are responsible for child care.  The rest are cooks, teachers, laundry workers, maintenance men, groundskeepers, housekeepers and restaurant workers.
    The Home also depends on volunteers, an average of 50 children need care at all times.  In 1995, Jerry and Sandy opened the Angel House on the mission property.  It is a 9,000 square foot, two-story building that can house up to 50 infants.  The Angel House was built with the vision to house babies born to women in prison.  The women in local prison are able to visit with their children on a weekly basis, and are encouraged to care for their children when they are released. 
    Ove a thousand children have passed through the doors of the Galilean Home, nearly five hundred were newborns.  Many of the children were victims of abuse or neglect; some just had medical problems their families couldn’t deal with.  Not one was turned away.
    As I read the story, I marveled at the generosity of these two people, but more than that, I was in awe at their belief in the generosity of others, and their willingness to depend on that generosity when all around, there is evidence to suggest otherwise.  There is theft and fraud and murder and unrest in the news on an hourly basis, yet these people have drawn to themselves the most generous of the generous.  It was so refreshing to be in a place where people not only believed in the goodness of a loving God, but also in the goodness of loving people.