Fr. Scott with Mercy Home young people.

About Mercy Home

Your support of Mercy Home is more critical today than ever before

Each year, more and more children need care outside of their own homes simply to survive. Many no longer have a place that they can call home. At the same time, funding for not-for-profits that can provide children in need with a safe place to live is getting more and more scarce. That’s why your support of Mercy Home is more critical today than ever before.

Mission Statement

Mercy Home for Boys & Girls is a Catholic organization answering the Gospel call to minister to children and families in need.

Safety in the storm

So many young people face serious, sometimes life-threatening adversity. Abuse. Neglect. Insecure homes and struggling schools. Growing up surrounded by violence, poverty, and lack of opportunity, young people like these need a safe harbor.

Thankfully, Mercy Home for Boys & Girls has been that port in the storm for thousands of young people since 1887.  

Explore what’s possible with the support of friends like you.

We provide a home

Most of us grew up in a safe and stable home where we received shelter, food, clothing, and warm bed to sleep in every night. But a true home provides more than just these basics. It offers us love, laughter, and belonging. A home promises nurturing and growth. A home is where we are seen and heard.

Mercy Home for Boys & Girls offers kids just this kind of home. A place where they can grow into successful men and women who will one day create loving homes for their own families.

As a Catholic children’s charity based in Chicago, we’re dedicated to changing the future for the boys and girls, ages of 9-24, who turn to us for help in their most critical hour.

We live the Gospels

Our work is done in partnership with young people, their families, and you. Our healing ministry is rooted in our faith. And our purpose is expressed in our mission statement:

Mercy Home for Boys & Girls is a Catholic organization answering the Gospel call to minister to children and families in need.

Mercy Home:

  • Saves young lives by providing:
    • A safe, nurturing residential treatment home,
    • Community Care support for former residents and their families,
    • Community-based and site-based youth mentoring,
    • Promotes therapeutic, educational, vocational, spiritual and life skill development,
  • Is committed to raising public awareness of youth in need and encourages support to help them,
  • Is sustained by benefactors who believe in the miracle of God’s mercy in action.

We save young lives

Mercy Home gives the young people in its full-time care the tools they need to develop as people, as students, and as contributing members of society. We also assist hundreds more by connecting them to a vast network of accredited professional service-agencies throughout metropolitan Chicago.

We partner with our children’s families to promote emotional and psychological healing. And, we are committed to raising the public’s awareness about children in need. In short, we save children’s lives–thanks to the support that you share with us.  

Learn more about our history, our home,* and our leadership as well as the many ways you can play a role in our healing mission.


Work With Us

Do you want to make a difference in the lives of children and their families? Learn about the career opportunities at Mercy Home for Boys & Girls.


Sunday Mass

Sunday Mass at Mercy Home is the most popular televised Catholic Mass in the Chicago area. Join our “Parish of the Airwaves” in your own home every Sunday Morning at 9:30 a.m. on WGN Channel 9, and on cable and satellite. 

OUR HISTORY

Since 1887 we’ve been saving kids in need. Learn about how we started and how we’ve evolved to best serve the needs of at-risk youth.

OUR HOMES

Our boys and girls live in homes on two separate campuses. The West Loop Campus for Boys and the Walsh Girls Campus.

LEADERSHIP

In partnership with our President, Fr. Scott Donahue, our boards bring their diverse talents to helping us advance our work with children and families.