Reformed Presbyterian Woman’s Association

Reformed Presbyterian Home Founded 1897
Disabilities Ministry Founded 1986  Revitalized 2017
Robin’s Nest Founded 1996; Closed 2015
Robin’s Learning and Lending Center Founded 2000; Closed 2002
Upper Rooms Founded 2007

In 1890, a member of the Wilkinsburg Reformed Presbyterian Church lost her hand. Unable to work and therefore unable to support herself, she applied for admission to the United Presbyterian Home in Wilkinsburg, but there was no room for her. Her plight came to the attention of the women of her church and served as a catalyst for action. The women petitioned the Reformed Presbyterian Synod to consider “the necessity of taking steps to provide a Home for Aged Persons and an Orphanage if found praticable.” At the same time, Mary McKee Morton of the Allegheny congregation asked her aged father, John A. McKee, to make financial provision for a home in his will. Acting on his daughter’s suggestion, he left $5,000 to the Synod on the condition that a work be started within five years. Mr. McKee died a month later.

Fearing that the $5,000 would be lost because of inaction, the women again petitioned Synod in 1895. Synod’s response was to approve the cooperation between the women of Pittsburgh Presbyterial and Synod’s Board of Trustees “in the matter of establishing a widow’s and orphan’s and aged people’s home.” Soon it became apparent to the Trustees that it would be appropriate for the women to assume sole responsibility for the work and recommended the same to the Synod of 1897, which passed a resolution stating “that the board of Trustees of the Synod be relieved from further work, management and responsibility in connection with the Home, and that Synod, by formal resolution, commit such management and responsibility from this time forth to the women of the church under the corporate name of Reformed Presbyterian Woman’s Association.” In anticipation of this resolution, the RPWA was chartered in March of that year. The doors of the Reformed Presbyterian Home were opened that same summer.

While the founders first step after incorporation was to open a home for the elderly, their overall plan was for a broader scope of service.  Initially the predicament of a disabled woman had spurred the women into action, their first petition to the Synod mentioned children.  So it was with excitement that the RPWA established the Committee to Address Disability Issues in 1986 and Robin’s Nest Day Care Center in 1996, fulfilling, however modestly, the original intent of the founders.

The Board to Address Disability Concerns, as it was later named, was established to support congregations, sessions, and families of the RPCNA in assisting people with physical and mental disabilities through wise, loving counsel and financial donations.  Over the years, donations have been used to build disability accommodations at RP church buildings and to provide scholarships to disabled people to attend RP camps.

Robin’s Nest, a charitable, nonprofit, child day care center, was established to support parents working at the RP Home as well as those in the surrounding neighborhood, many of whom were low-income, by offering loving, affordable care for children.  A bequest to the RPWA was allocated for the purchase of the house at 2404 Perrysville Avenue, across the street from the RP Home, which was converted into the day care center.

In 2000, Robin’s Nest was awarded a two-year grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare to operate a center to train and support child care providers in the neighborhood.  The center had one full-time employee overseeing a library of resources for providers as well as books, videos, and toys for use by day care providers.  The center offered free classes designed to train caregivers and published a monthly newsletter to the Perry South neighborhood.  When no further funding became available, the ministry ceased to exist.

In 2014, the RPWA at a special Association meeting voted to close the Robin’s Nest ministry in order to focus all efforts and resources on the core ministry to the elderly and adults in need of short-term skilled nursing.  Project Destiny, a Christian ministry to youth, purchased the property in 2015 and now operates a child day center there.  They continue participating with the RP Home in intergenerational programs and activities, which both the seniors and the children enjoy.

The RPWA’s ministry expanded in 2007 with the completion of the Upper Rooms apartment building, which includes The Upper Rooms, Inc., a HUD program for low-income, frail elderly and the independent living Vista apartments.  (See the following article for further information.)

Due to ever-changing and expanding government regulations and continual changes in the health care industry, small independent facilities, like the RP Home, have faced significant challenges to survive in recent years.  In 2017, the RPWA Board took the proactive step to approve the RPWA entering into a Management Services Agreement with Baptist Management Services, a subsidiary of Baptist Senior Services and an affiliate of Baptist Homes, a faith-based Continuing Care Retirement Community serving over 700 seniors on two campuses in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.  The two organizations had worked together for many years in the former Faith-Based Network and recognized that they have very similar missions and operating styles.