The disability charities: LOGAN, the county's community-resources agency

1950–2026 · THE TRIBUNE'S 75TH-ANNIVERSARY ACCOUNT; NOTRE DAME'S RECORD

The disability leg of the county net began with $25 and one family's child. LOGAN Community Resources of South Bend was started in 1950 by Joe and Sophie Newman, whose only child, Rita Jo, had special needs no school would serve — Rita Jo herself was never able to attend school. The first school stood on Logan Street; in 1968 LOGAN built across Angela Boulevard from the University of Notre Dame, and the university tie deepened from there — Father Hesburgh championed the agency, Notre Dame hosted the 1987 International Special Olympics with LOGAN as lead host, and the agency's history, "Voice," was published in 2010 with Hesburgh's foreword. At its 75th anniversary in November 2025 the agency served 1,600 clients with 600 staff, standing in the county's top twenty employers. It is the community-resources agency for this county whole, Olive Township included; no LOGAN site, camp or children's campus stands in the township in the record reached, and the children's-campus line the checklist carries — founding society to present operator — is, for this ground, LOGAN's own line at county strength: parents' society of 1950 to the present agency, one operator throughout. The township's own care institution, Hamilton Grove, is a care facility, not a charity, and stands in the health leg where it belongs.

Sources:

1. South Bend Tribune, "Celebrating 75 years of LOGAN helping the South Bend community" (open house 2 November 2025) — the Newman founding, the $25 treasury, the Logan Street school, 1,600 clients, 600 staff.
2. University of Notre Dame, "Commitment to civil rights extended to those with disabilities" (weareall.nd.edu) — the 1968 Angela Boulevard building, Hesburgh, the 1987 Special Olympics, "Voice" (2010).