Elizabeth House’s Founder, Debbie Unruh, Honored at Dedication and Retirement Celebration

There is a story that is apparently told often around Elizabeth House—a Pasadena nonprofit for pregnant mothers and their children—about their founder and Executive Director Debbie Unruh, who was honored in a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday. 

When Debbie was at a local hospital deep in labor with one of her sons some three decades ago, she heard nurses talking in the hallway outside. What she learned from the conversation was that the woman in the room next door was homeless and would have nowhere and no one to go to after her child was born. 

Unruh gathered herself up out of bed and went next door to visit and sit with the young woman, this while she was in labor herself. 

It was then she decided to dedicate herself to the creation of a place for just such women. 

After 29 years of service, Unruh was honored by a host of local leaders and board members as well as Mayor Victor Gordo and representatives from the offices of State Senator Anthony Portantino and US Congresswoman Judy Chu.

A new plaque was also unveiled that dedicated the Elizabeth House facility to Unruh. 

“I often talk about Pasadena and what a special place it is,” Mayor Gordo said, “but it’s not the Rose Bowl game and the parade and Caltech and JPL that make Pasadena so special, it’s people like Debbie.”   

Founded in 1994, in a home provided by Pasadena Covenant Church, Elizabeth House works to break the cycles of homelessness, abuse, and suffering. Through shelter and support, the nonprofit empowers pregnant and parenting women in need to reclaim their lives and build successful family legacies. 

Since its founding, Elizabeth House has served 375 women, 602 children/grandchildren, and seen 325 babies born through its program. 

With wrap-around services and a strong alumni program, it is also the only residential program in the entire San Gabriel Valley that embraces both pregnant mothers and their children up to the age of five. 

Unruh recalled, “I remember the first young mother who arrived here. She was nervously walking up the walkway, with just a small suitcase. I just thought, if we give them a pretty place, and a comfortable place,  and then I just thought, ‘What am I doing? I don’t know how to do this.’”

Twenty-nine years have since proven her wrong.

For more about Elizabeth House, click here.