Boys & Girls Haven is proud to celebrate 75 years of transforming lives and providing safety, stability, and support for vulnerable youth. Founded in 1950, we have served as a haven for children and young adults in need, offering them the tools and resources necessary to heal, grow, and thrive.
Our Story
Many great stories rest on the shoulders of a mighty protagonist facing a difficult quest. For Boys & Girls Haven, that hero came in the form of Father James C. Maloney, a Catholic priest whose heart was moved by the hundreds of orphaned, abandoned, and abused young people with nowhere to turn in 1940s Louisville.
Children who were orphans or came from abusive or otherwise unsatisfactory homes were sent to orphanages until the age of 14, at which time they would, by law, be returned to their families or sent to foster homes. While girls were more easily placed in homes, teenage boys often had no choice but to move into a rooming house and make their way alone in the world.
After being ordained in Rome, March 19th 1936, James C. Maloney returned to his home town of Louisville, Kentucky to celebrate his first Solemn Mass in his home parish, St. James.
Father Maloney was appointed as Catholic Chaplain and Athletic Coach at Ormsby Village, a parental home and school for neglected children.
During his time at Ormsby Village, Father Maloney noticed that young men over the age of 14 were falling through the cracks. He quickly sought to remedy the issue.
Armed with little more than a conviction and a prayer, Father Maloney secured homes for nine boys in the basement of St. Raphael Church and in private boarding homes. Later that year, he began construction of Kelly Cottage, the first building on the now iconic Goldsmith Lane campus.
On August 27th, almost exactly two years later, these nine young men, a cook, and Father Maloney moved into Kelly Cottage.
Miss Edith Wilson, the Mother of Boys & Girls Haven, changed the lives of more than 2,000 children who passed through Boys & Girls Haven during her 34-year tenure.
Over the last 75 years, the small home off Bardstown Road has evolved and flexed to continue meeting the needs of young people in the community, social services sector, and society.
