About Us

The Joseph House is a non-profit charitable organization that provides direct assistance to people with low incomes.

The founder of the Joseph House is Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling. She began in Baltimore in 1965, where she established three fundamentals that remain true today:

1). Joseph House helps the poor.
We wanted to help the people who fall through the cracks of the welfare system and who cannot receive help elsewhere.

2). Joseph House uses volunteers.
We wanted to give people the opportunity to share in acts of Christian charity. We also wanted to minimize operating expenses so most of our money would go toward direct aid to the poor.

3). Joseph House depends on Divine Providence.
Through the generosity of free-will donations of money, food, and other resources we wanted to avoid government funding and the restrictions and regulations that often accompany it. We wanted the freedom of the Holy Spirit in responding to the needs of the poor.

Since 1978, the Joseph House has been in Salisbury, Maryland, attending to the needs of the less-fortunate on the lower Delmarva Peninsula.

The Joseph House is administered by the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, a community of Catholic women religious that was founded by Sr. Mary Elizabeth in 1974. Their convent is in Salisbury with an additional residence in Princess Anne, Maryland.

The Little Sisters oversee all aspects of the operation of the Joseph House. The work of the Joseph House is incorporated under their name, Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, Inc., which is a non-profit and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

Leadership

Sr. Marilyn Bouchard is Superior General of the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary. Sr. Connie Ladd is Vicar General.

Sr. Marilyn is from Green Bay, Wisconsin. She entered the community in 1991. Sr. Connie has been with the Little Sisters since 1986. She was born in Wilmington, Delaware and spent many years in Baltimore.

With assistance from an Advisory Board, the Council of the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary organizes the operation and development of the activities of the Joseph House.

An additional Advisory Board helps to guide the Joseph House Workshop, a program of the Joseph House that provides long-term shelter and job preparation for homeless men.