Clara Hale was born in 1905 and married soon after high school. She had two children of her own with her husband before he died of cancer leaving her alone to raise her son and daughter.

Clara Hale was a survivor but life wasn’t easy. During the Great Depression, Clara worked hard to put food on the table. During the Depression, Clara opened up her home to help homeless children and those parents struggling just to survive. She offered a roof to sleep under in the worst of times while hot meals were available to those who couldn’t afford to eat without Clara’s generosity.

In 1969, Clara’s daughter brought home a drug addicted mother and her child. It was perhaps the beginning for the home that would soon become known to all as The Hale House. In 1975, Clara gained the appropriate license to begin operating The Hale House and she began a crusade to care for children. Her funding for the house was often tough to secure but through private donations, Clara was able to make her house into a home for those who needed it most.

While Clara’s home became recognized as a haven for security, she took in the children no one else seem to want. Her doors were open to children who were left behind when their parents died from AIDS. She took care of children who were born addicted to drugs and cared for those who were born with HIV.

In 1985, President Ronald Regan mentioned Clara Hale in his State of the Union Address. The home that Clara built still stands today long after her death. Soon after Clara’s 1992 death, her daughter Lorraine moved in to take over. Today, Lorraine’s work as well as her mother’s continues through the efforts of The Hale House which is still in operation.