[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 41 (Friday, March 22, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H2670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE WERNLE HOME

  (Mr. McINTOSH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker, today I rise with a report from Indiana. 
Today's report lists the Wernle home in Richmond, IN, that Ruthie and I 
have visited. It was founded over 100 years ago by the Lutheran Church 
as an orphanage. Today Rev. Paul Knecht and Mike Wilson run the Wernle 
home as a home for young boys and girls, many of them from abused 
families, to give them a chance for a better life. For older children, 
they are prepared for independent living and GED testing, and children 
learn responsibility.
  They have a chance to earn a $5 allowance each weeks by performing 
tasks around the Wernle home. They are also taught community skills as 
they play and work together in their daily lives. The Wernle home 
receives a lot of support from local businesses in Richmond, IN: the 
McDonald's, the local newspaper, the Palladium-item, Van's Meats, the 
symphony and many other business and community groups.
  It is the children at Wernle home, children who come in all sizes, 
races, and religions who those men and women are working to give a 
better life. The good folks at the Wernle home are Hoosier heroes, and 
I raise them up today and commend their efforts. The magic of the 
Wernle home is a smile in the child who is loved.

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