"Charitable Enterprise" Idea - What Do You Guys Think?

 I was sympathetically reading the thread recently on the topic of wives leaving or booting out husbands, and I suddenly had a flashback to a charitable idea I had back when I was in college in the '80s  ..  I have not really thought of the notion again, until now, and wonder what you guys think ..      What got me to thinking about this topic was something that happened while I was in college back in Missouri (I was an evening adult student, btw) ..   During the days, I worked full time at a full-service Mexican restaurant.  One of our assistant managers was named Larry.  Larry was a DDiv., a Southern Baptist preacher who had pastored several churches all over the Missouri "bootheel" area in his earlier days ...  Larry had been married for a few years at the time and he and his wife had 3 young kids together.      I had wondered how strong Larry and his wife's marriage really was, as there seemed to be some indication of "problems" that would crop up from time to time, based on his conversations with us at work.  However, I don't think any of us was quite prepared for what his wife pulled on him out of the blue.   One night I heard a frantic knock on the door of my mobile home and opened it to find Larry standing there, kinda quiet, shaking, and white as a sheet.   I asked him WTF happened.  He said he came home from the restaurant earlier that night, found their house was cleaned out (all furniture gone), along with his wife and kids.   < CLUNK >  ..   The only thing she left was a barstool with a knife on it and a "fairwell" note (I guess the knife was to cut his own throat with?) ...   &:-/)   Turns out that Larry's wife had planned her "escape" in advance, told the kids what she was going to do "(;"don't tell daddy")" and hired a moving company to come over and pick stuff up while she knew her hubby was dutifully at work!  GRRRRRR    I really saw this "event" debastate Larry, and I was so afraid he would commit suicide over it., but he hung tough.   Ironically, that same week, the mobile home dealer I had bought my mobile home from had his wife (an air-head bleach blonde) of many years abandon him, leaving the young kids behind with him.  Also, the man who set up my mobile home had his wife abandon him, too, with kids (must have been something in the local water supply that week!)  Neither hapless soul had any idea what to do in their situation ..    This whole scenario greatly affected me, esp. the situation with the mobile home dealer and the installer, who now had to try to take care of their kids alone.  Fortunately, the dealer was in a financial postiion to be able to swing things, owning his own business that he didn't have to be at all the time ..   This got me to wondering, though, about the other now-single dads w. kids on their hands that aren't so financially well-set, such as the installer.     As a result of all this, I really saw a need for a place that abandoned fathers could take their children with them to, to give them time to regroup in life and give assistance along the way of same.   After all, women have "shelters" they can go to w. their kids when they want to "escape" from abusive or neglectful husbands, but what about us guys?   Many of them have little of the direct hands-on of child rearing or domestic stuff and, if they don't have grandparents or such family members they can let take over those duties for their kids, they are really in a pickle.    I envisioned a kind of group home where guys could temporarily stay at, along with their kids, with the dads sharing in caring for each others kids ..  (or even a full-time domestic aid) ..  The usual rules (no drinking, no drugs, bakcground checks) would prevail at the facility for all guests, and the dads could pay what they could afford toward living costs there, maybe on a "sliding-scale" basis.  The organization would also qualify for tax exempt status and accept donations from the general public, as well as volunteer workers.  Ideally, there would eventually be at least one of these homes in every major U.S. city, kinda like the Ronald McDonald Houses are now and those ones for famly members of injured military personnel in the U.S. in the hosptial (can't remember what those houses are called) ..   There are also simliar facilities for family members of cancer victims who are going through treatment at a nearby hospital or medical facility ..      The name that sprung to my mind for the facility when I was dreaming up this concept was Brokken House, after the appropo lyrics of an old, rockin' lament sung by the group The Guess Who came to mind (Broken)     Yes, I've been broke in two,     Just like you ...    I found out last week that my firm and I are parting ways this week after 15 years with them ..  I already have plans to start my own firm, officing with a law bud of mine in our 'burb ..   Sometime I would like to really get serious about starting up Brokken House as a side-endeavor, if it is worth all the hard work  ..    What do you guys think ..  good idea as a solution for a problem that is our there, or dumb idea?       

Not sure it qualifies as either a good or dumb idea.  Sounds like a complex and expensive idea.  After all, you would need to attract some serious money to get just one of these things going, let alone a bunch of them.  You'd get a lot of kudos from me however if you could pull it off.  I fear that your new law practice would suffer from the lack of billable hours. I'll give you credit for thinking big, however.

Good point(s), Mike ..   As to the houses, I was hoping (maybe hopelessly?) that I could find people willing to "donate" an old house they own in order to get the charitable deduction .   maybe get suppliers like Home Depot or Lowe's to donate materials to fix it up, if needed ..  with the use of volunteers, could then whip things into shape ..   You're right there, though . .  a LOT of work ..    < phew! >    A simpler way to start possibly would be for someone (e.g. a single guy) to open up their own home to 2 or 3 such guys, probably w/o kids though to make it more "manageable" ..  (I had thought back during the events I discussed how neat it would be if  2 of the 3 guys could have moved in with the 3rd one at the time, to help each other through their ordeal)   Too bad I got only this one-bedroom, 600 sq. ft. condo!

 Well geez guys ..  I spend all this time typing out a life-long dream .. and get only ONE response (thanks, Mike, btw)???   Sounds like we need to get back to talking about belching and farting and bashing women ..  &:-/)