Women's Activism NYC

Clara Hale

1905 - 1992

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Clara Hale is an American Humanitarian who is also known as Mother Hale. Hale was the founder of Hale House Center which was a house for children who were not wanted and were born with an addiction to drugs. During the 1940's, She started caring for the community children in her home. She had many skills that she shared with the parents around her, she taught parents the essential skills in parenting, as well as doing an extraordinary job at finding homes for homeless kids. Hale was a foster parent and took care of many children, through her humanitarian actions, she was called "Mother Hale." In 1969, at the age of 64, she had became the foster parent of a child who was addicted to cocaine. Through the needs of the children, she opened a foster care program, called "Hale House." The Hale house was a platform which would help mothers with addictions that would require them to live in the Hale houses with their children and then they would enter a drug rehabilitation program. The Hale House extended their services to care for children who were effected by HIV as well as those children who lost their parents due to HIV. In 1991, she started caring for 1,000 infants and toddlers, and through her service for the community she had won many awards and honors. One of the honors she received was, the honorary doctorate from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, another award she won was the public service awards from the National Mother's Day Committee and the Truman Award for Public Service. In 1985, President Ronald reagan had referred to Hale as an "American hero'' for her continuous service and consistent work for the children in the community.

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