Children visit with Santa at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, ca. 1950s.

The Gazebo on the Jesse Lee Campus is ready for the Solstice Chapel, December 21, 2001.

This picture was taken by former Director, Dick Gilbert, "The last big snowfall of 1965 showing what was left after the (Good Friday) quake. The older boys group were living in the far wing of the building. The external walls in that wing were open stud walls with no sheet rock and no insulation. By the time this was taken they had been moved to a vacant house downtown Seward. It had once had been the Nurses Quarters for the Methodist TB hospital in Seward and was still
owned by them."

Students playing hockey as seen through the windows of Gould cottage on the Jesse Lee Campus in Anchorage ca. late 1960s.

Girls baking at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward.

Children play in the snow at the Jeese Lee Home in Seward.

Lucy Rosenberg, an early resident of the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska.

Henry Munson outside the Jesse Lee Home in Seward in 1939.

Alaska Children's Services staff on Halloween, ca. 1980s.

During the 1970's, the units on the Maplewood Campus operated as an emergency shelter for children needing an immediate place to stay.

Students at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward with Chena the pony. Today, some students in AK Child & Family programs still have the opportunity to participate in equine assisted therapy.

This picture was taken shortly after students and staff moved into the new Jesse Lee Home in Anchorage, 1966. (These days we don't let the kids climb that high!)

Boys of the Lutheran Youth Center riding a pony. The center merged with the Jesse Lee Home and Anchorage Children's Christian Home in 1970 to become Alaska Children's Services.

Boys gather turnips at the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska. Second from right is Simeon Oliver, who later toured the country as a concert pianist. Peter Gordon Gould is on the far right. He became the first Alaska Native United Methodist minister and was instrumental in the founding of Alaska Pacific University.

Boys gather on the steps of the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, ca. late 1930's.

Teacher Bobbi Wilson works with a youth at the Jesse Lee Home in Anchorage in 1969.

Gene Lawney surveys the catch at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, 1938.

Students at the Jesse Lee Home in Anchorage worked with staff member Lynn Gaylor from 1969-1973 to carve the totem, Lonesome Louie, which tells the story of a horse that came to visit campus. Lonesome Louie was dedicated in a ceremony led by Gov. William Egan on August 22, 1973.

The girls of the Jesse Lee Home in Seward go beachcombing, August 8, 1954.

Baseball at the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska.

Children at the Jesse Lee Home helped grow food for themselves and others. Seward, ca. late 1930s.

July 23, 1978, John Beard (right), chairman of the building committee and Mrs. America, Cindy Roberts (left), help break ground on the Benson Recreation Center.

In July, 2013, sixty-two teens and their adult chaperones on an American Baptist Home Mission Society Alaska Home Mission Action Team (HMAT) came to AK Child & Family to work on a number of outdoor maintenance projects. During their time with us, they demolished an old playground, rebuilt planters, helped out at Flag Day, chopped wood, and built an outdoor chapel on our Maplewood Campus.

Pictures from our first Alaska Flag Day Celebration, July 9, 1993.

Girl scouts from the B dorm of the Jesse Lee Home in Seward. Taken on July 4, 1954.

Staff and students enjoy a summer picnic at Alaska Children’s Services in Anchorage, ca. 1980s.

Bill Wilson mends a fishing net outside the Jesse Lee Home in Seward in 1938.

The staff of the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, 1939. AK Child & Family would like to thank all the staff, past and present, who have made a difference in a child's life. Thank you!

The Anchorage Children's Christian Home was an American Baptist receiving home in Anchorage that merged with the Jesse Lee Home and Lutheran Youth Center to become Alaska Children's Services in 1970. Today, the buildings pictured are part of AK Child & Family's Maplewood Campus.

Dr. J. Edward Carothers, Chief Executive of United Methodist Church Missions, presides over the ground breaking ceremony for the new Jesse Lee Campus in Anchorage, May 31, 1965.

A gathering on May 24, 1998 to dedicate a historic marker to the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska. Former Jesse Lee Home resident, Annie Hatch is seated in the wheelchair at left.

Nickie Mullen poses with potatoes grown at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward in 1939.

Boys from the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska ca. 1910.

Staff, families, and supporters gather at Alaska Children's Services in 1990 to celebrate the centennial.

This photo taken of Jesse Lee Home girls in front of the barn in Unalaska is featured in Mary Winchell’s book, Home by the Bering Sea. Mary Winchell was a matron at the home until 1923.

This photo was taken at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, sometime in the 1950s.

Friends and supporters of Alaska Children's Services gather at the Jesse Lee campus on July 23, 1978 for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Benson Recreation Center.

This photograph was taken at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward on Easter Sunday, 1938.

Housefather Sam Davidson and Maintenance Engineer Erwin Wheeler survey the damage to the Jesse Lee Home in Seward after the Good Friday Earthquake on March 27, 1964.

Charles Hatten, Jesse Lee Home administrator, drives the older children to high school in Seward ca. 1932.

The boys of the Jesse Lee Home dig for clams in Unalaska.

Staff from D.F.S. North America Ltd, and members of the Anchorage International Air Crossroads Lions Club pose with Alaska Children's Services Boad vice-president, Ron Decker, and his sons. The two organizations worked together to build the pictured playground on the Jesse Lee Campus in Anchorage ca. 1980. The playground was used by thousands of children over the years, until it was replaced in 2013.

The Lutheran Youth Center in Palmer was one of the three agencies that merged to become Alaska Children's Services in 1970.

Boys tending cattle behind the girls' building at the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska. The boy pictured in the center wearing an apron is Chester Newhall, son of Dr. Albert and Agnes Newhall, who ran the home from 1895-1925.

AK Child & Family is always in need of warm winter gear this time of year. If you would like to donate boots, gloves or mittens, or money to purchase these items, donations may be dropped off or mailed to AK Child & Family at 4600 Abbott Road, 99507, between 8:30 and 4:30, Monday through Friday or made online. We are also listed with the Pick.Click.Give. program for those who would like to donate a portion of their dividend.

Board member, Dianne Barske, signs posters at our Centennial Celebration in 1990. Dianne is still an active member of our Board of Directors, and has made another beautiful poster commemorating our quasquicentennial. Thanks for all you do Dianne!

Girls from the C dorms enjoy a day of sledding at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, January, 1955.

"On January 21, 1966, after shipping 38,000 pounds of stuff in large semis, we packed 21 kids, 3 staff, their luggage, and one dog into a 1956 dilapdated school bus named Matilda trailed by three cars, a truck and two vans and made our way to Anchorage. The kids and staff were all seeing the new facility for the very first time." Dick Gilbert, Executive Director 1965-1974

The first Jesse Lee Home residents in Unalaska were girls who were taught sewing, cooking and other domestic skills in addition to their school lessons. This photo is featured in the book, Home by the Bering Sea, by Mary Winchell, a matron at the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska.

This picture of boys taken at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward (ca. late 40's to 1950's) shows the trees that were painted on the buildings during World War II as camouflage. Part of the Jesse Lee Home property was used by Fort Raymond from 1942-1944.

The girls enjoy a Christmas celebration at the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, 1954.