Word on Fire: What Can I Do? Natalie and Joe LaHood and St. Joseph’s House
- Katie Kaczmarski
- Sep 5
- 10 min read
Updated: Oct 2
Written by Mark Bradford for Word on Fire
I was recently introduced to Natalie and Joe LaHood and their family’s ministry of providing day care for families who have children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Theirs is an inspiring origin story of a family ministry undertaken in love that continues in a new generation with absolute confidence in the guidance and provision of the Holy Spirit.
This “What Can I Do?” series is intended to provide inspiration for others who feel called to do something but may not know what that something is. This is something any of us can do and will hopefully inspire others to do the same. Families who have children with disabilities often find themselves overwhelmed and unable to find time to manage their home affairs, much less catch up on work, or even grab a cup of coffee and a walk in the park. Being pro-life is supporting life and the families who lovingly accept children with exceptional needs for support into their homes.
Enjoy Natalie and Joe’s story of St. Joseph’s House, and ask the question yourself: “What can I do?”
Mark Bradford: Natalie and Joe, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview. Please tell us about the founding of St. Joseph’s House. When was it founded, who were the founders, and especially why was it founded?
Joe LaHood: St. Joseph’s House began in 1984 when I was born, the first child in my family, to Cubby and Dan LaHood. My mother, Cubby, had grown up working in our Presbyterian Church and doing outreach for young people with disabilities. At that time, many of these children were institutionalized, and as a young teenager, she, along with her parents, would take children with profound disabilities home with her for the day. As she grew older, she began to bring children home with her for weekends at a time. I think this experience was very formative for her and grew on her heart for many years. In her early twenties, she met my dad, who was also working with adults with disabilities. They married in 1983, and shortly after I was born, my mom wanted to be able to stay home while still staying connected to this work that was so close to her heart. She had a friend who asked if she would babysit her child with disabilities at her house, as they had no other option for childcare, and when she happily said yes, the foundation of St. Joseph’s House was laid. Within a couple years, over a dozen families would have their kids dropped off at our small home before and after school, and all day during the summer.
This work became a vocation in 1988 when my brother Francis was diagnosed with an almost assuredly fatal condition in the womb. My mom and dad found great support for continuing the pregnancy from a local Catholic priest, and this encounter and love led to the beginning of my mom’s conversion to the Catholic Church. My brother Francis died only a few minutes after his birth, but his love would reverberate through my family from that moment on and inspire the growing work that my parents had started four years previous. From that point on, St. Joseph’s House became not just their work but a true vocation, as they knew that if their precious child had been alive, he would have been severely disabled and they would have had few places to turn for support. St. Joseph’s House became a nonprofit in 1993 and has been run continuously out of the LaHood home ever since, now for over more than forty years and serving over sixty families.
How and when did you come to be involved?
Natalie LaHood: During my senior year of college, I worked in the dining hall every morning before class. A local day program for adults with intellectual disabilities had a job placement in the dining hall, so I had the privilege of working on the dish line every morning next to Laura. Over time, we developed a friendship and started a tradition of going for ice cream after our Friday shifts since I had no class. Laura was such a hoot, and it was a huge gift to just be her peer at work—no program roles or expectations like in the many “official” high school and college volunteer roles I’d had among people with disabilities—just two people who became friends making jokes while scraping food off of plates together day after day. Several years later, I discerned to serve abroad with a mission program whose focus was to be a ministry of presence—a friend—especially to those most lonely and suffering, and I was placed in a very poor neighborhood in Bangkok, Thailand. My relationship with Laura was one of a handful that inspired this decision, as she had helped impress upon me that one of the deepest desires of every human person is loving accompaniment through all of life’s ups and downs. During my time in Thailand, our community spent a lot of time visiting neighbors and caring for children daily in our home, many of whom had physical or intellectual disabilities. I learned and loved and grew so much there. After my time overseas, I landed in Washington, DC working in the nonprofit world, where I eventually met Joe. When he shared about the mission of St. Joseph’s House and how he grew up, it felt so familiar to the ministry I had just been living abroad, and I was so struck that this was something you could do as a family, in your own home! We very quickly had a deep understanding of one another and it was clear that we had similar desires for the future.
It is such a privilege to have a job where the most important thing is to try to truly see each of these kids for who they are and lean in and celebrate it.
Joe: My mom died at the age of fifty-eight after years of battling breast cancer and then ovarian cancer. At the time, there was no future plan for St. Joseph’s House following her death. My family wanted it to continue, but my brother was still in high school at the time and my sister just out of college, so we didn’t really know who or what would make that happen. Natalie and I, who were dating seriously at the time, had it on both of our hearts that we wanted the work to continue but didn’t really know how that would happen because we both had jobs and weren’t even engaged yet. In 2015, a couple months after my mom’s funeral, praying the Lord would guide us in this as he does in all things, we got engaged and soon after decided to take the plunge and commit to continuing St. Joseph’s House. Natalie began at the administrative helm, and the two of us started running St. Joseph’s House after-school and summer programs together, while I also remained teaching sixth grade at The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland.
How many individuals do you serve, and how is the mission lived day to day?
Joe: Over the years, St. Joseph’s House has served over sixty families. We currently serve seventeen different children and their families throughout the year. Our busiest time is our summer program, affectionately called “Cubby Camp” in memory of my mom. Cubby Camp is a nine-to-five summer camp that daily supports up to eight young people ages five to twenty-one with intellectual and developmental disabilities. During the school year, we host a couple respite days each month, on weekends and holidays. These days give parents a little break from the demands of daily care while allowing their children a fun day of recreation with their friends.
Natalie: We consider St. Joseph’s House a home-away-from-home for the “SJH kids” in our care. Our own five children, ages one to eight, are also just “part of the crew” in everything we do here—same as Joe and his two siblings growing up. We have a sign in our giant playroom that says, “My job is to love you.” And truly, beneath the feeding tubes, physical care, diapers, and daily routines, it all boils down to that. It is such a privilege to have a job where the most important thing is to try to truly see each of these kids for who they are and lean in and celebrate it. We have one SJH kid who loves to wear Disney princess wigs, like a comfort item. So, we have amassed a handful of them, and we always have them ready by the door for arrival time. One camper loves looking at people’s socks. She will go around the room and try to take people’s shoes off to see what socks they have on. For her birthday, we gave everyone a silly pair of socks to wear for her to enjoy at her party. A couple kids would play Sorry or Candy Land for two hours straight if given the chance—and they sometimes do, thanks to our amazing and generous teenage and young adult staff members whose most important job is to love these kids by “wasting” this time with them.
We all have gifts to offer, and the most important gift that we see ourselves facilitating is that of encounter.
Joe: It’s always been deeply important to us that our services be accessible to everyone who needs them; we never want finances to be a barrier. To that end, we survive solely on private donations, fundraisers, and a handful of grants, so that we can provide all our programming for a nominal fee (free for those unable to pay). We are also dedicated to providing care to children and families who would otherwise fall through the cracks. Oftentimes, a child’s intensive needs will preclude his or her participation in other camps or programs—even those specifically serving children with disabilities, which in themselves are rare. As long as it is safe and a mutually good fit, St. Joseph’s House seeks to welcome such children and provide the loving, quality care they need and deserve.
Joe, I know you have a background in special education. Did your family’s founding of St. Joseph’s House influence that interest?
Joe: I think living closely with children with disabilities certainly helped direct me to education in general. Growing up experiencing both the profound joy and struggle that can come in living in close communion with folks with disabilities helped me to see that amazing potential that every child has. And, as a teacher, your vocation does not simply involve teaching math, history, or science but connecting with students on a deeper level in helping them to experience a potential that they may not even themselves believe; it is helping them to see themselves as a child of God with all their faults, struggles, and strengths. I believe that is the job of a teacher, and SJH certainly led to a career path where human connection is so key.
How do you work to integrate the people you serve into the community? I’m especially interested in Café St. Joe.
Joe: One of the most important parts of the mission of St. Joseph’s House is giving the children in our care more opportunity to be involved in the community. The world often does not easily come to people with disabilities. Some people may be reticent to approach, feeling like they have nothing to offer, or just unsure of what to say. We go on trips out into the community every day, sometimes twice a day, to give our kids the space to truly become a part of the community and for the community to see that there is nothing to be afraid of. Over time, people at the local playgrounds, libraries, nature centers, and museums begin to recognize and welcome us. We all have gifts to offer, and the most important gift that we see ourselves facilitating is that of encounter.
Natalie: One of the ways we do this in our parish community, St. Jerome’s, is through a ministry we call Café St. Joe, which is part job-training opportunity, part fundraiser, and part community builder. One Sunday a month, we create a pop-up café after Masses where our St. Joseph’s House teens, friends from the local disability community, and high school volunteers sell hot drinks and donate baked goods. It’s like a bake sale, but with uniform aprons, real bakery cases, and festive seating—all supplies obtained from a grant from Catholic Charities. The coffee is from a direct-trade roastery called Furnace Hills Coffee that employs people with intellectual disabilities. We have a giant kids’ area with board games and seasonal crafts. Our biggest goal is to create a space where our wonderful SJH young people have the opportunity to be in a position of service; so often recipients of services, it’s so important for them to have spaces where they can share their gifts with the community. Some of the best moments are when our SJH teens get to show new high school and college volunteers the ropes in the café, from loading the bakery cases, to serving customers, to operating the register.
Do you have any favorite stories that speak to the impact St. Joseph’s House has had on a family or an individual?
Natalie: We have two recent Cubby Camp counselors who have pursued work supporting and advocating for people with intellectual disabilities. One credits her friendships with young people at St. Joseph’s House as one of her biggest inspirations to eventually work at the National Down Syndrome Society. Another has pursued work as a speech pathologist among children with developmental disabilities, and she says that the time she spent volunteering at St. Joseph’s House in high school and working there during summers in college were a large part of what led her to this career path. Most of all, we count ourselves so blessed to be trusted to share in the beautiful gift of the children’s lives in our temporary care. One current St. Joseph’s House mom told us that her eleven-year-old nonverbal daughter had never been to a camp outside of school and that they struggled to find care for her anywhere outside of their home. But, on the drive to St. Joseph’s House for her second day of camp, her daughter was smiling and singing, and her mom knew she already felt loved. That’s what we hope every family and child feels when they come to St. Joseph’s House.
Joe: Yes, and we have one St. Joseph’s House dad from the ’90s, whose son was really like a brother to me, who calls our annual fundraiser picnic his “favorite family reunion.” Our sincere hope is that we do become an extra layer of support that feels familial, as we have seen families often carry heavy and isolating burdens.
Natalie: It’s been very special to see our own kids participate in all the activities and call the SJH kids their friends. Especially as they get older and begin to ask questions, it is a gift to see their own developing senses of the beauty of diversity and the fact that we have a God-given need for each other—that we were not created to be autonomous and self-sufficient.
What would be your advice to someone who might be inspired by the founding of St. Joseph’s House?
Joe: I would say don’t be afraid that you have to check all the boxes. The work of running a new enterprise, whether nonprofit or for-profit, is a lot. You don’t need to have a perfect game plan or all the skills.
Natalie: Agreed. One of my mantras is that God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called. If it’s his plan, and you discern that in your heart, he will make a way if you’re willing to make a trustful leap. Surround yourself with the people who have the skills and know-how that you may lack. And just take that first step. It’s incredible to see all that he can do with the little loaves and fish we have to offer.
