05/20/2026
We are saddened to hear of the passing of Jeffry Armbruster who played an instrumental role in fhe founding of Blessing House 20+ years ago. We wanted to share our founding story and a copy of the press release from his office announcing the introduction of Senate Bill 242 that permanently enabled the formation of children's crisis care centers in the State of Ohio.
20 years ago, this press release was issued by Senator Jeffrey Armbruster's office announcing the legislation that he was sponsoring that permanently authorized the operation of children's crisis care centers in Ohio. We have told the story many times of how we opened Blessing House, but this was the final and most crucial step that allowed us to begin doing what we do.
When Sr. Mary first contacted the Job and Family Services licensing office to find out how we would be able to get a license to open, she was told that it couldn't happen because children under the age of 6 were not allowed to be in congregate care in the State of Ohio. Sr. Mary's was not taking no for an answer and so she responsed: "Well, we will invite you to our open house!"
We contacted Senator Armbruster's office, then he and his administrative aide, Katie Kuhns, got to work on our behalf. They advocated with JFS and other agencies to help them understand what a "residential center for children whose families are in crisis" actually would be. After 2 years of conversations, meetings and trips to Columbus, we were finally permitted to open under existing rules with waivers in April, 2005. But attached was a condition that we needed to work with another organization operating a similar facility to pass legislation and develop permanent rules that would license and monitor children's crisis care centers. And the legislation had to be passed within the next year.
In December, 2005, Senate Bill 242 was introduced by Jeffry Armbruster on the Senate floor and it then passed in May 2006! Coincidentally, it ended up that the person from JFS who Sr. Mary talked to in that first conversation and told her she couldn't do what she wanted to do, became our licensing agent and, yes, Sr. Mary did invite her to our open house! She was also very helpful during those first years as one of our positive supporters.
We are grateful for the support we have received from Mr. Armbruster and appreciate his commitment to our community. He will be missed.
