Hosanna Industries Remains Dedicated to Helping the Poor

When parishioners at First Presbyterian Church of Bakerstown proclaim "Hosanna in the highest!" on Palm Sunday, it will have a special meaning for them.

On the Sunday before Easter 21 years ago, Hosanna Industries was born in the Richland church.

The Rev. Donn Ed, who was the associate pastor at the time, created the faith-based nonprofit organization to assist and improve the lives of the poor.  Hosanna builds new homes or refurbishes existing ones for poor people who can't afford to do so themselves.

After visiting a local family with one parent on Christmas Eve in 1987, Ed said he was haunted by the family's great need for assistance.

"... Ed ultimately opened the Hebrew lexicon and learned that in Jesus’ day, the word 'Hosanna' meant 'Rescue me now, Lord please!' In that moment of understanding, Ed’s theological world shook to the foundation," according to Hosanna Industries' website.

It took a few years, but Ed formally started Hosanna Industries on Palm Sunday 1990 with the help of a few lawyers and business leaders, many of whom were congregation members.

At that Palm Sunday service, Hosanna Industries commissioned its first three mission workers, and the work has never stopped.

“Little did I know that we would still be doing our work today. If anything, the need and numbers of the poor has only grown,” said Ed, who as executive director and founder still leads Hosanna's staff, volunteers and missionaries.

Ed, who lives with his wife, Amy, in Richland, frowns at the formal titles bestowed on him.

“I think that I am really known as the old man around here,” he said, laughing.

In the beginning, Hosanna was housed in a small building behind the First Presbyterian Church, but the organization's needs far surpassed the space available. It relocated in 1998 to the Rochester area in Beaver County.

Hosanna Industries' 8-acre campus includes staff housing, dormitories for those who come in to help with construction mission projects around the Greater Pittsburgh area, a community center, administration offices and a garage.

It also is home to the Morledge Chapel, named after the Rev. Richard Morledge, longtime pastor and now pastor emeritus of First Presbyterian Church.

More than 136,000 people from more than 35 states have served with the organization as volunteers, according to Julie Wettach, financial steward at Hosanna.

“We have built over 2,400 homes, the majority of those in Western Pennsylvania,” she said.

Most of the clients hear about Hosanna through word-of-mouth.

“Some are also referred through social service organizations or their churches,” said Wettach.

While the anniversary will be celebrated at First Presbyterian Church, most of those now involved with Hosanna will be in Arkansas, continuing their work. Wettach, who also is an elder and deacon at the church, said they will be repairing a church they rebuilt there in the late 1990s.

“It was when several churches of black congregations were burned down in racial hate acts, and this was a poor, elderly congregation who just didn’t have the means to rebuild. We built the church, and now we are going down to made repairs and updates,” she said.

In addition to his work with Hosanna, Ed is the pastor of the First Congregation Church of Etna. He will head to Arkansas after his sermon on Palm Sunday.

As for the future of Hosanna, Ed knows its has many more people to serve.

“We just take one job at a time, but the demand keeps growing,” he said. “I just ask that people remember that there is a lot of work to do and we must help those who are less fortunate than us.”

He hesitated and then continued, “We are just so grateful for all the support from so many people over the years, grateful beyond words, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”

For more information about Hosanna Industries, including volunteer opportunities or to make donations, contact 724-770-0262 or visit www.hosannaindustries.org.