06/27/2026
Tender Hearts Ministries opens York County maternity home to help moms in crisis find stability
YORK COUNTY, S.C. (WBTV) - A York County community is celebrating the opening of a new maternity home that will offer stability and independence to moms in crisis.
In 2025, women made up the majority of all homelessness service calls in South Carolina, many of them had children.
Tender Hearts Ministries cut the ribbon on a new maternity home on Tuesday, June 16 in York County. The opening is personal for Keyona Howard a mother of three. She began a three-year program — starting while she was pregnant with her third child, facing homelessness.
“We were homeless in January. So, I was about 30 something weeks, in my third trimester, homeless — sleeping in my van, hotel hopping, and we had stayed with a family relative, but it just wasn’t healthy," Howard said.
Howard applied to stay with Tender Hearts and said she found more than a place for her and her kids to lay their heads.
“Sometimes we can take you know women in and you’re slapping a band-aid on it and you’re holding them just for that short time but to give them almost three years they will get every tool they need to succeed,” said Tender Hearts Ministries Founder and President Ainslee Moss.
The new home is one of the only programs of its kind in the area. Leaders said the closest maternity home is in Columbia. Unlike many shelters moms can stay with their children. They spend nine months learning finances and getting spiritual guidance before moving into transitional housing for two years.
“The stability that comes with a secure housing, with Tinder hearts their housing. It’s just not housing; you get housing along with a community — which being a single mom is needed," Howard said
Howard said one of her biggest lessons was learning to accept help. She hopes her story challenges misconceptions about homelessness.
“I had a husband, we had a home, you know we had stability and one day it was just gone. So, the stigma that it’s something that you asked for, your poor decisions got you there, you never know. One wrong turn, and you could end up in this type of situation,” says Howard.
Now, Howard wants to go back and finish her degree. Her biggest priority is making sure her kids have the stability she one feared they would lose.
https://www.wbtv.com/2026/06/16/tender-hearts-opens-york-county-maternity-home-help-moms-crisis-find-stability/?fbclid=Iwb21leASot-RjbGNrBKi3g2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHgI690WcGd-OQK8i6SOyTTtUAbghXX9hYic3ARiKq6Fgug8ixY8RpHaw7_D7_aem_784DNwkC3MeKrGq60qoOlQ
