In 1982, during a trip to El Salvador amid civil war, Bob McDonell witnessed children sleeping on the streets, begging not for food but for newspapers to cover themselves. In that moment, he felt a divine calling to dedicate his life to caring for orphaned and abandoned children. Seven years later, in 1989, he founded The House of Life, which has since grown into three homes: one for boys, one for girls, and one for pregnant teenage girls rescued from abuse and trafficking.