Our Story

Our Story

In 1995, the Community Stewardship Council, a St. Joseph Hospital Governing Board Committee, composed of area agency representatives and staff of St. Joseph Hospital, identified respite care as a need in the Howard County community.

Jane Brown and LaVerne Grothouse, volunteers and wives of local physicians, attended a workshop sponsored by the Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, a national organization who promoted the ministry of caregiving by volunteers. They were integral in forming a steering committee that began meeting in April 1996 to form a local group of Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers.

Thanks to extensive community collaborations, in August of 1996, the steering committee received sufficient funding to begin a project that they named Samaritan Caregivers, with incorporation and tax exempt status achieved shortly thereafter. The group developed the necessary organizational supports, including a mission statement, start-up funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, by-laws, board members, and office space, with the first board meeting in November 1996. The first Executive Director was hired in February 1997 and Samaritan Caregivers officially opened in May 1997 with six volunteers.

In 1998, Samaritan Caregivers was granted membership as a United Way agency, receiving its first allocation in January of 1999.

The Samaritan Caregivers office was first located at South Side Christian Church, where space was donated. The office moved to another space on Berkley Road, donated by St. Joseph Hospital in November 1998. In February 2000, another in-kind space became available at 2705 S. Berkley Road, Suite 4E. The ownership of another adjacent space, Suite 3C, was donated to Samaritan Caregivers by a local benefactor and after a total renovation, also provided pro bono by numerous community partners, the office relocated to its current location in October of 2004.