Four years later, the McCaughey septuplets' family home is still helping young moms

Francesca Block
Des Moines Register

This November, the McCaugheys, the world's first surviving septuplets, are turning 25 years old. Their history-making birth made quite the impression on the small town of Carlisle, where they grew up, but even today, their family's legacy lives on through their childhood home.

In 2016, parents Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey waved four of the seven septuplets off to college and one to the military. Two years later, the couple looked to downsize from their 5,500-square-foot house the Clark Company gifted them back in 1998.

A spontaneous connection made at church led the couple to Ruth Harbor — a Des Moines nonprofit that provides housing and support to young women experiencing unplanned pregnancies — and they discovered the way their family home could be used to support other families in the future.

“As our kids are leaving the nest, it seems to be the right time to start a new chapter,” Bobbi McCaughey said at the time. “We have been blessed to receive such a wonderful gift, and nothing would please us more than the idea of our home being used as a place of refuge to others in need.”

More:McCaughey septuplets at 25: 'When we are all together, it’s just the best time'

In April of 2018, the Carlisle couple sold their home at 130 Pennsylvania St. to Ruth Harbor for $410,000, according to the Warren County assessor. Since then, Mark McDougal. the organization's executive director, said the home has gone on to help countless young women through their journeys to motherhood.

"The McCaugheys' home was so perfectly matched for what we needed," McDougal said.

With seven bedrooms and five bathrooms, a large kitchen, dining room, two laundry rooms and a finished basement with extra living space, the home served as the perfect place for the organization to expand its early motherhood programs to meet the growing needs of its clientele, McDougal said.

The property now serves as a group home for four to six young mothers, and offers a variety of support for them as they move through their journey of pregnancy to early motherhood. The addition of the McCaughey home has allowed the organization to nearly double the amount of time young women can spend with the organization, from nine months to 18 months, McDougal said.

"To be able to serve those women specifically and having women live in the home," McDougal said, "they learn together, they learn from one another, they support one another. You're walking through this event in life with someone else."

More:What are the McCaughey septuplets doing now? Here's a quick look.

As Ruth Harbor continues to expand its programming, McDougal said the organization owes a debt of gratitude to the McCaughey family, whose generosity has made its work possible. When the organization brought in contractors to make a few minor adjustments to the home, McDougal said he led them upstairs to a small area in the office in between one of the closets and a bathroom. On the wall were markings of each child's height and age over the course of their childhood, a keepsake the McCaugheys thought they would have to part with when leaving their home.

But with the contractors' help, McDougal preserved the section of wall and framed it for the family to display in their new home.

"It's one of the special things that happened between us and them," McDougal said. "We're still letting them know that we're grateful, that things are going well."

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at@francescablock3.