Whereas, in 1839, Saint Jeanne Jugan brought a blind, paralyzed woman in from the cold and placed the woman in Saint Jeanne Jugan's own bed; Whereas, in 1841, the family of Saint Jeanne Jugan and other women who helped care for the growing number of individuals in need that arrived at the doorstep of Saint Jeanne Jugan relocated to a larger home in order to house more individuals in need; Whereas Saint Jeanne Jugan and the other caregivers took the form of a religious community, first calling themselves the Servants of the Poor and later the Little Sisters of the Poor; Whereas Saint Jeanne Jugan was elected Mother Superior of the Little Sisters of the Poor; Whereas the Little Sisters of the Poor received diocesan approval on May 29, 1852; Whereas Pope Pius XI recognized the Little Sisters of the Poor as a Pontifical Institute on July 9, 1854; Whereas Pope Leo XIII approved of the Constitutions of the Little Sisters of the Poor on March 1, 1879, when there were 2,400 Little Sisters of the Poor in 9 countries; Whereas the congregation spread across Europe and North Africa before coming to the United States; Whereas, in February of 1873, the Little Sisters of the Poor came to Indianapolis, Indiana, and opened a small home on Kentucky Avenue; Whereas, in the spring of 1878, the Little Sisters of the Poor received a permit to construct a new building to support the large demand for their assistance; Whereas the cornerstone for the new home of the Little Sisters of the Poor was completed in 1878, and Bishop Silas Francis Marean Chatard dedicated the building in 1879; and Whereas the Little Sisters of the Poor have provided food, shelter, and medical care to the Indianapolis, Indiana, community since 1873: Now, therefore, be it