The Agency

I realize that I talk a lot about my agency, Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service, so here's some history and background in its own words (or those of the mission handbook).  My insertions are in italics; everything else is plagiarized (although I did add the Oxford commas, just because I support them in general.  Bonus points if you know what that means I did).  It's a smidge long, so feel free to peruse at your leisure.


The Beginning
The Little Sisters of the assumption Family Health Service, founded in 1958, has grown out of a long tradition of love and service that continues to this day.  Our history begins with the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Assumption, founded in 19th-century France by Father Etienne (Stephen) Pernet and Antoinette Fage.  These two visionaries dedicated their lives to serving God and loving the poor and marginalized.  The congregation grew and spread worldwide, and its work with families in poor communities eventually led to the establishment of the LSA family health service.


The Founders
Stephen Pernet was born into a farming family in France in 1824.  He left the farm to enter the seminary, becoming a priest and teacher.  At that time, rural families were moving off the land and into crowded, inadequate housing in the cities to find work.  When Stephen began running a club for working-class children, he was shocked by the poverty that he saw and moved to respond.  His vision was to found a religious congregation of women who would serve he poor directly, in their homes, at the heart of the family.


(I heard once that he got the idea for women to visit homes when some of his students were absent from school for a while.  To find out why, he went to their homes only to find their mother ill with one of those horrible 19th century diseases.  When he asked what he could do for her, she replied, "Nothing.  I need a woman.")


Antoinette Fage grew up with hardship and instability, having lost both parents to abandonment and death at a young age.  A serious fall as an adolescent caused her lifelong pain.  With no family, Antoinette was taken in by her mother's friends and went to work as a seamstress.  This early suffering and exposure to poverty created in Antoinette a sensitive heart and deep compassion for others.  She was working as the director of an orphanage in Paris when she met Stephen Pernet, in 1864.


This meeting proved life-changing for both of them.  Stephen was convinced that Antoinette was the leader he had been seeking to guide his new community of women.  And in 1866, Antoinette, taking the name Mother Mary of Jesus, became the first general superior of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Assumption.  Their missin was to serve God by nursing the sick poor in their homes.


Growth and Expansion
From the beginning, the Little Sisters believed that their dream would be best realized by working together with like-minded people of the community.  Several lay groups were organized to pursue a collaborative mission.  Affluent men and women volunteered to help the sisters in their efforts, and fathers and mothers of the poor familiess banded together to support one another and improve their conditions.  This spirit of partnership continues to inform the work of the Little Sisters f the Assumption and the organizations they have founded.


Many mission houses were established, first in France, then England, then the United States.  Now, there are mission sites in 24 countries worldwide.  The work of each site has developed in response to the specific needs of the community, but always is driven by commitment to the family, to poor and working-class people, and commitment to change the social order to create a more just, loving, and equitable world.


LSA in NYC
In 1891, the Little Sisters came to New York city, settling in the Lower East Side to continue their work of home nursing.  By the 1950s, they had moved up to Yorkville, caring for families on the East Side, in Harlem and the South Bronx.  The sisters soon realized that it would be important to focus their work on a specific neighborhood, and after much community consultation, decided in East Harlem.  Here, hey could continue their work with families and launch important partnerships with East Harlem Interfaith and Mount Sinai's department of community medicine.  In 1958, five Little Sisters of the Assumption - four nurses and a social worker - set up shot in their new site on 115th Street, across from the Department of Health.


Soon, the organization grew, adding new staff, students and volunteers, and luanching new initiatives.  Their community organizing work expanded.  the agency continued to collaborate with East Harlem Interfaith and began the East Harlem Nurses Association, affecting national legislation on health, welfare, and housing policy.  In 1970, the Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service was established as a non-profit corporation with an independent Board of Directors.


LSA Today
In 1974, the LSA Family Health Service moved to 119th Street, taking over a deteriorated brownstone owned by Holy Rosary Parish.  Over time, the agency's departments and programs developed, always in direct response to the needs of the community.  When the visiting nurses found that the kitchens of their patients were empty, they started the food pantry.  When new immigrants began to come to East Harlem in large numbers, GED classes gave way to ESL.


Eventually, the work started by nursing sisters expanded to include all of the programs we have today:  Preventive Services, the Home Health agency, the Early Childhood Program, Community Life, Advocacy and the Food Pantry, and the Sharing Place and Education and Youth Services.  these programs were housed in a patchwork of two brownstones, two storefronts, and borrowed school classrooms on and around 199th Street.  When the agency outgrew these sites, LSA built our beautiful, brand-new building at 333 East 115th Street, uniting all the programs under one roof.  The doors opened to the community in March, 2004.


In addition to the site in east Harlem, the Little Sisters of the assumption have two main centers in the US: Project Hope, in Dorchester Boston, MA and Pernet Health Services, in Worcester, MA.  Here and worldwide, the Little Sisters of the Assumption and the organizations the founded continue to carry out our mission of love and service.