This week in Christian history: Saint confirmed as real, anti-prostitution charity founded, Reformation begins

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 25, 2020

Door of Hope founded – Oct. 25, 1890

Devout Christian and wealthy socialite Emma Whittemore (1850-1931), who founded the organization Door of Hope in 1890 to help prostitutes leave the profession. | Screengrab: christianhistoryinstitute.org

This week marks the anniversary of when Emma Whittemore, a wealthy New York City socialite turned Christian social worker, opened the charity Door of Hope to help prostitutes.

Following a born-again religious experience, Whittemore decided to open Door of Hope to help minister to prostitutes in some of the rougher areas of New York.

“It was not easy,” wrote Dan Graves of the Christian History Institute. “She was heckled by the very people she came to help. Again and again she was shocked by new levels of degradation.”

“Whittemore began to see that the girls needed homes to get them away from street life. Here was a better use for her connections and wealth than balls and sparkling dresses.”

The efforts of Whittemore eventually led to Door of Hope opening chapters elsewhere in the United States and abroad with 97 homes created by the year of her death in 1931.