Mission & Vision

We provide a Christ-centered home and community for mothers experiencing pregnancy or parenting young children.

We are a community where mothers discover a life of acceptance, value, and meaning for themselves and their children.

Values

Home & community where God’s love transforms lives from surviving to thriving.

  • Because honoring persons made in the image of God recognizes their unique story and history.

  • Because following God's leading in the small things enables us to accomplish greater things.

  • Because modeling authenticity and transparency leads to long-term trust in relationships.

  • Because cultivating a family environment invites all to find a place within community.

  • Because serving humbly is the framework for fruitfulness.

  • Because giving generously multiplies God's blessing and abundance.

Statement of Faith

It is important that each board member, staff member, and volunteer understand and affirm that the ministry of Ruth Harbor concentrates on the essentials of the Christian faith below. We are called together in unity focusing on the Word of God alone, not espousing any particular doctrinal stance which would divide us. Read our full Statement of Faith here.

Ruth Harbor Ministries founders:
Carrie Leiran, Jessica Dunker & Becky Zemlicka

Our History

Ruth Harbor was founded in 1996 by three women who believed God was calling them to provide a safe, loving home for women who chose life for their unborn children. In 2001, we opened our doors in Des Moines and welcomed our first maternity residents.

As the years passed, we began to recognize a second gap — young mothers who had chosen to parent but were struggling to provide a stable, nurturing home for their children. In 2016, we launched a Mother-Child Program to meet that need.

In 2018, God opened an unexpected door when Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey — parents of the famous McCaughey Septuplets — invited us to prayerfully consider purchasing their beloved family home in Carlisle, Iowa. After months of prayer, discernment, and community engagement, we signed an agreement to purchase the property. This allowed us to dedicate our Des Moines home entirely to our Maternity Program and our Carlisle home to our Mother-Child Program, giving each the focused environment its residents needed.

In 2021, Ruth Harbor's board initiated an 18-month succession plan, and at the close of 2022, long-time Executive Director Mark McDougal retired after years of faithful leadership. Chris Eller stepped into the role, beginning a season of prayerful evaluation and strategic planning — asking hard questions about how Ruth Harbor could best serve the women God was sending us while staying true to our mission and values.

That discernment bore fruit. In 2023, we launched our Family Care Ministry — an intentional aftercare program designed to stay connected with program graduates through healthy community and ongoing encouragement. Today it serves approximately 30 women and children of varying ages who are continuing their journey toward thriving.

In 2025, Ruth Harbor introduced its redesigned Pathway Program — an evidence-based, biblically-grounded four-phase journey from surviving to thriving. To better align our facilities with the needs of our residents, the board made the strategic decision to sell the Carlisle property and relocate our administrative offices to Hope+Elim Church in Des Moines' Drake Neighborhood. This move freed up space at our home on 42nd and Ingersoll to add on-site transitional housing — keeping all of Ruth Harbor's programs within a connected community with direct access to bus routes, jobs, training, and the services our residents need most.

Our Board of Directors

  • David Dominguez, president

  • Shane Black, vice president

  • Steve Boal, treasurer

  • Beth Eilers, secretary

  • Esther Black, director

  • Denise Bubeck, director

  • Leah Davenport, director