The Pittsburgh area has a lot to be proud of and some of it is more than its residents know. So who knows Pressley Ridge? It is doubtless familiar to many, yet not exactly a household name despite being a friend and helper to thousands of homes and families for a very long time -- 175 years this year, a fitting occasion to celebrate.

Pressley Ridge traces it origins to two of Pittsburgh's oldest child-care institutions, the Protestant Orphan Asylum (founded in 1832) and the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Home for the Friendless (1861). Completely merged in 1969, Pressley Ridge in its modern role has a mission of improving the lives of troubled children and youth and, by extension, their families. It emphasizes the need to teach young people self-control and aims to enhance their physical and mental abilities and build strong ties with their communities.

Although Pressley Ridge has its administrative offices in an impressive campus on Marshall Avenue on the North Side, its programs are diverse and its reach extensive. In Western Pennsylvania, it offers foster care as well as community-based, residential and educational services to hundreds of children in Allegheny, Beaver, Fayette, Washington and Greene counties every day.

Pressley Ridge has also exported its methods and expertise, as the best of Pittsburgh institutions often do. It has a presence in eight states (Texas is the most recent addition), plus Washington, D.C., as well as Hungary and Portugal.

Pressley Ridge will celebrate its 175th anniversary at its various facilities on April 17 with a gala event planned in November. In the midst of considering a long-term capital campaign, it received last month an early birthday present from the Fisher family of Pittsburgh in memory of the late Benjamin R. Fisher Jr., a board member for more than 20 years.

Here is an organization that has had its light hidden under a bushel to some extent, but this year 175 candles may help illuminate its honored place in the community.