The Beginning
Three friends – Theresa Rousseau, Chris Taraschke, and Kathleen Wilson – started Mary’s Shelter in the Spring of 2007. They had helped establish a similar home in Orange County, Virginia and were inspired to open another crisis pregnancy shelter in the city of Fredericksburg. The pedestrian, city environment would allow a more independent lifestyle with easy access to jobs, stores, churches, libraries, and medical care.

The Phone Call
Before Mary’s Shelter had even become a tangible reality, the three friends received their first phone call. A Chinese man living in Massachusetts, whose work visa had expired, discovered that his wife was pregnant with their fourth child. Because of China’s strict one-child policy, they knew that if she returned to China still pregnant, she would be forced to have an abortion. They turned to Mary’s Shelter for help. The only problem being – no shelter existed yet! The three women knew they had to act quickly. They asked members of their local homeschooling group for help. Within one week, they had raised enough money to house their first resident, and her three children! Her husband returned to China, trusting that the newly-born Mary’s Shelter would take care of his wife and children. Within a few months, our first Mary’s Shelter baby was born. The three proud founders of Mary’s Shelter were there to witness baby Wilson’s birth.

Mary’s Shelter Begins
The next big question was: how to pay for this burgeoning ministry?
Providentially, St. Matthew’s Church helped solve that problem. Members of the Christ’s Hands Outreach Program approached Kathleen Wilson and offered to sponsor the next resident of Mary’s Shelter. The three women rented a small house in downtown Fredericksburg, and Mary’s Shelter officially opened its doors to its first residents. This prompted the three women to begin approaching other churches in the hopes that they too would want to sponsor a resident. Within 6 months, three area churches had committed to sponsor women at Mary’s Shelter.

Mary’s Shelter Today
From those humble beginnings Mary’s Shelter expanded from renting one tiny home to our current three rental homes with the space for 11 women and their children. We have finally gotten a physical office within our newest residence! We could not have done any of this without the generous assistance of many area churches, as well as many individual donors. We are grateful for all the support we have received in trying to build a culture of life in our community.