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Author: Regina Brett, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Every time I get to tuck my grandbabies in bed, I whisper to them how much they are loved.

“Who loves you bigger than the sky?”

“Gita,” Asher says, naming me first.

“Who loves you bigger than the mountains?”

“Mommy,” Asher says.

“Who loves you bigger than the ocean?”

“Daddy,” Asher says.

He and his sister, Ainsley, are tucked in every night with hugs and kisses and love.

Not every child is so lucky.

The children who come to Providence House often arrive with everything they own in a blue plastic bag. All of them have been abused or neglected or are on the verge of those.

Providence House is a crisis nursery and a shelter for at-risk babies and children up to 6 years old, children like the 4-year-old who went hungry so often, he hid food to feed his baby sister.

Children like Bobby, who came there after his fourth foster home didn’t want him. He came back to Providence House many years later carrying a fire truck with a bow on top. He said to give it to a little boy like him.

“I was here two weeks, but all I remember was my 5th birthday party. It was the first one I ever had,” he told the staff. Then he started to cry. “I remember people singing to me and hugging me. It was the first time someone told me, ‘I love you.'”

Children like the three who showed up one winter in a van, sitting on black garbage bags filled with their belongings. Their mom had been badly beaten and fled her partner. The children stayed at Providence House for a month while she recovered and found a safe place for them to stay.

Children like the two girls whose mom is dying of leukemia. Their mom grew up in foster care and didn’t want her girls sent there. An oncologist introduced their mom to Providence House so they would have somewhere to stay when she is too sick to care for them.

The stories both break your heart and fill it.

One day a woman drove up with a van full of things from the Providence House wish list at www.provhouse.org She cried as she told them that 20 years ago she came there drug- and alcohol-addicted. She and her baby girl had been evicted. She’s now clean and sober and got her child back. “I held a baby shower at my office for you because I always swore I would pay you back for helping me,” she said.

Another day, a letter came from Iowa. A woman thanked the staff for protecting her and her daughter when she fled an abusive relationship. Inside the envelope was the child’s first grade report card. It had an honor roll star on it. “I would never have seen this if Providence House hadn’t been there for me and my daughter,” she wrote.

Last year Providence House protected 137 children.

Last year, Providence House had to turn 120 children away.

They need help to help more children.

Providence House has launched a $1.8 million, three-phase project. It will put business offices and living areas on one campus. It will allow them to raise the age of children they shelter to 10 years old. It will allow siblings to stay together in one room. It will create a Family Intervention Center to help parents become better parents.

On Sunday, Providence House holds its City2City 5K Child Abuse Prevention Run. Registration is at 8 a.m. The race starts at 9 a.m. at Tower City in downtown Cleveland. It ends at Providence House in Ohio City. Pre-registration is $15; race day. $20. (For information contact Hermes Sports at 216-623-9933 or go tohttp://www.hermescleveland.com/roadracing/events/city2city.asp

Children deserve a safe place to sleep. Let’s help Providence House tuck them in so they fall asleep knowing just how much they are loved.

Join Regina Brett at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on WKSU FM/89.7 for “The Regina Brett Show.” This week: How to reward employees. To reach Regina Brett: rbrett@plaind.com, 216-999-6328 Previous columns online: cleveland.com/brett

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Author: Tonya Sams, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Providence House will celebrate the expansion of its West 32nd Street campus with a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 a.m. today.

“We are so excited,” said Natalie Leek-Nelson, Providence House president and CEO. “This will allow us to meet state requirements and increase the number of children we care for. This is the largest expansion in Providence history.”

Providence House protects Cuyahoga County children who are at risk of being abused or neglected. The nearly $2 million, three-phase project combines all of its administrative offices and residential areas onto one campus.

Some of the residential areas and administrative offices are in Leo’s House, across the street from Providence House.

Providence House founder Sister Hope Greener, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson; Joseph Gauntner, Cuyahoga County deputy chief of staff for health and human services; Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman and County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell were expected to join staff, board members and donors for the event.

Providence House raised the funds from private donors, companies and organizations, as well as the Ohio Department of Mental Health and the City of Cleveland’s Vacant Properties Initiative.

Leek-Nelson said child abuse cases were up 25 percent from January 2010 to December 2011, according to the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, a statewide child welfare monitoring organization.

Last year 21,209 calls about suspected child abuse and neglect were made to 216-696-KIDS. Cuyahoga County ranks No. 1 in Ohio for child abuse and neglect cases.

Leek-Nelson said that many parents who take their children to the campus want to end the cycle of abuse and are taking responsibility. Leaving their children in a safe environment allows parents to focus on their own well-being so that they can be good caregivers.

“Ninety-nine percent of the children are reunited with their families,” she said. That usually occurs within a month.

Construction is to begin Wednesday. Demolition on six homes on the site has begun. The first stage, which includes a new 7,000-square-foot wing to the Crisis Nursery in Leo’s House, is to be completed in November.

Providence House now takes in children up to 6 years old. But this expansion will raise the age limit to 10, allowing siblings to stay together in one room.

This part of the expansion will also help to increase the number of children that Providence House can protect. The number of children who reside there will increase from 12 to 20, which will allow a yearly total of 250 children.

The second part of the expansion includes transforming Providence House into a new Family Intervention Center. The center will help provide parenting education and six months of aftercare once children are returned to their parents.

The final stage includes the creation of the 60,000-square-foot Children and Family Campus with the Children’s Village Homes and Education Center. This will allow all the facilities to reside under one roof. That project is expected to be completed by 2020.

Leek-Nelson said that in the last four years, 422 children had to be turned away.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “These children need this. We have to grow to be able to help them.”