St. Joseph Children’s Home, founded in 1849, moved to its historic site on Louisville’s Frankfort Avenue in 1885. At the time, a crowd of more than 10,000 gathered for the groundbreaking because they recognized then – as so many still do today – the importance of the organization’s mission. It’s here children who have survived trauma and child abuse are given a safe, nurturing home and the chance to thrive.
The 131-person St. Joe’s staff manages an 80,000-square-foot facility that offers on-site living cottages, a residential treatment program and a therapeutic foster care and adoption program. Since its founding, St. Joe’s has helped more than 75,000 children.
“They live with us, and our one goal is to make sure they have a connection,” said St. Joe’s CEO Grace Akers. “We want to make sure, if we can do that, they have a family.”
“What you see now and what you will continue to see is a place full of energy…It’s high energy, and it’s light and love.” — St. Joe’s CEO Grace Akers
Staff members also run a top-tier child development center for more than 200 children who come to St. Joe’s during the day from elsewhere around the community. The development center starts at nursery and toddler rooms to pre-K readiness — achieving some of the highest scores in Kentucky, said Akers.
“When our kids leave St. Joe’s, they’re ready for the next step and they’re ready to go to kindergarten,” she reflected.
The staff’s dedication and passion has always remained rock steady, but the facility itself — reaching nearly 140 years old — was showing considerable wear and tear. Outdated lighting; knob-and-tube wiring; inconsistent heating and cooling modified around the 1960s and managed with 55 window units; mechanical issues; leaky ceilings; and more than 360 windows that needed replaced. All of which come with age and were on the list for repair or replacement.
The St. Joe’s leadership team knew it was time to make significant investments to protect the safe space children needed. It meant launching an $18-million capital investment campaign. Fundraising began in 2019. Donors and its infamous annual summer picnic, held each August, would bring in much-needed financial support, but for this level of investment, St. Joe’s looked for funding support and savings from every direction.
“It was not uncommon for us to spend $100,000 plus, a year, just on maintenance and operations costs,” said Akers. “It’s just mind-blowing to think about, but prior to the renovations, we had the magic of an old building and all the challenges and problems of an old building.”
One resource turned out to be their local utility provider, Louisville Gas and Electric Company. The utility — and its sister Kentucky Utilities Company — offer a Business Rebates program for customers like St. Joe’s that are investing in energy-efficient upgrades that can ultimately save them money. Not only do the rebates offset customers’ initial costs, but the intent is also for the improvements to require less energy and maintenance, which then translates to bill savings over time.
“These rebates were part of our capital campaign, and we counted on them,” said Akers. “We’ll count on them through the end of the project.”
In fact, St. Joe’s already plans to apply for more rebates with their next major renovation: the gymnasium. St. Joe’s was familiar with the utility’s program after receiving rebates for lighting upgrades when they constructed the on-site cottages in 2014. When asked what the St. Joe’s leadership team would recommend to other LG&E customers?
“We want to make sure agencies and organizations have these rebates. They make it easy on us and they do the heavy lifting,” reflected Akers. “To me, that’s a recognition and a respect for organizations like St. Joe’s where our days are spent caring for children. LG&E recognizes that, they respect the mission, and understand what we do every day.”
Through a successful capital campaign and help from sources like LG&E, St. Joe’s was able to complete the necessary renovations and upgrades by the end of last year. The facility now has new LED lighting, new heating and cooling throughout the facility, windows and wiring replaced, and more.
Reflecting on the improvements, St. Joe’s Chief Advancement Officer Suzy Hillebrand said, “The space we can give children now lets them focus on getting better and lets us focus on helping them get better in the best possible situation.”
“What you see now and what you will continue to see is a place full of energy. It’s a noisy place and it’s the best place to be if you like noisy children, which we do,” said Akers. “It’s high energy, and it’s light and love.”
Visit the LG&E and KU Business Rebate program for more energy-saving ideas and a full list of improvements that qualify for rebates.
Eligible rebate items and amounts have changed since this story published. Please visit lge-ku.com/bizrebates for the current rebate categories and amounts.
