Spokane’s Hutton Settlement Children’s Home is holding a centennial celebration this week. The center has raised disadvantaged children for a century.
The Hutton Settlement, situated in the Spokane Valley, has been a home to about 1,500 kids since its doors first opened in 1919.
It was founded by Levi Hutton and his wife, May Arkwright, who made their fortune in the mining industry in North Idaho before moving to Spokane. The children’s home has been able to continue its care for young people since that time through its own real estate investments.
Hutton himself had been an orphan and wanted to create a place that could provide loving care to children in the Spokane area.
Executive Director Chud Wendle explains that, nowadays, the home is not focusing on orphans per se.
“Today the kids are coming more as a social orphan, where they might have an estranged relationship, parents that love them but aren’t able to care for them, incarceration, drug addiction issues, homelessness issues. The way they find us is, some of them, the state is guardian to these kids and they feel they're in need of placement and Hutton is an option. It’s almost like a big foster home,” he said.
The average stay for kids these days is four years, but many have stayed on for longer. They attend school in the West Valley School District, but receive training in other areas through four clubs that include wood shop, outdoor adventure, culinary arts, and sustainable farming, which Wendle says is by far the favorite.
“On this side are fruit trees. We have berries, corn, herbs, and everything in between. What’s amazing about this is these kids come broken to us, and we start working on bringing them back, and the garden is one of the key places that really is so therapeutic in what it means to treat and care for and nurture and harvesting and there is a lot in between,” he said.
On Friday, there will be a dedication of a bronze statue of the founder. On Saturday, there will be a public celebration that will include a reunion of all who have lived at the settlement since its inception. You can find out more online at the Hutton Settlement’s web site.
