By PATRICK CLOONAN,
Daily News Staff Writer

	Auberle's directors had a lot of good news at their 53rd annual meeting. McKeesport-based Auberle had a $425,000 net surplus in the fiscal year ending June 30, Board Chairman John Stockhausen said Monday. "It's a pretty phenomenal turn-around," Stockhausen said, for an agency that had a $196,000 deficit for the year ending June 30, 2004.
Bishop Donald Wuerl distributes prayer cards to Auberle directors, marking the 100th anniversary of St. Paul Cathedral. (Kathi A. Wilcox)

Stockhausen said $256,000 of the surplus was put toward Auberle's first-ever $1.4 million capital budget.

He said Auberle continued to tighten spending by such means as "weekly monitoring of utilization and billing." Auberle officials also noted revised relations with McKeesport Area School District, an extended program with Pittsburgh Public Schools and resolution of past due billing problems.

Stockhausen said residential programming was redesigned, turning a $600,000 deficit a year ago "to a surplus with improved quality."

Auberle is a self-described faith-based Catholic agency with a mission to heal troubled children and families. Spokesman Glenn Ryerson said it served 1,542 children and 1,282 family members in calendar year 2004.

Its stated vision is "to be the premier agency in Western Pennsylvania, providing 100 percent positive outcomes for troubled children and families by 2011."

Ryerson said in-home efforts to keep families intact was expanded from Westmoreland County into Allegheny County, with up to 150 families involved in a program at former Bishop Boyle High School in Homestead.

Auberle also has foster care programs in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Washington and Butler counties.

During the public portion of the meeting, Stockhausen and Auberle Development Board Chairman Joseph Blattner hailed efforts of Auberle's CEO for the past two years, John Lydon, and "ever-present confidence in and support of Auberle" from Bishop Donald W. Wuerl.

"You call us to serve you by serving one another," Wuerl prayed. "Give us wisdom, give us light, give us always a sense of your caring presence."

Wuerl touts Auberle and other social services in his six-county diocese. Diocesan ties date to the 1948 donation from Pauline Auberle's estate of land and money for the original home along Hartman Street.

Glassport native and Auxiliary Bishop Paul Bradley formerly served on the Pauline Auberle Foundation board, now the Development Board.

Wuerl had a blessed cross to give and a coach's T-shirt for Brandon, 17, an older Auberle resident who helped staffers as a "junior staff/assistant coach/mentoring resident" during a trip to New Hampshire. (Auberle does not provide residents' surnames. Community college student Brandon is in Male Transitional Housing.)

In August, staffers took 10 youngsters, ages 12-14, to Goodwin Community Center in Claremont, N.H., for an all-sports weekend.

Therapeutic Activities Coordinator Ralph Wagley said Brandon's pep talk after they lost a basketball game "put the youngsters back in the right state of mind."

"I had fun on the trip," Brandon said. "It was a huge experience."

Officials also hailed a recent Pittsburgh "Voices Carry" fund-raiser, which attracted an audience of 300 and raised $60,000 for Auberle.

"A lot of this was done with volunteer efforts by the directors who are here today," Stockhausen said.