Advancing the Kingdom

108 / 150

are mathematical and part of the ‘Teach
Parents to Teach Math’ program.
Kingdom House community center
provides the learning facilities and the
instructors, who are recruited by Malcolm
Bliss Mental Health Center in St. Louis.
Ralston Purina Company and Stephens
College Alumnae provide operating funds.
The math program is the offspring
of an initial 1971 ‘Teach Parents to Teach
Reading’ program also sponsored by
the Company. Dan Faherty, Director of
Children’s Education, Malcolm Bliss Mental
Health Center, had the idea for the program
in the South St. Louis community. With the
help of eight other Bliss employees and the
cooperation of Kingdom House, Dan’s idea
became a reality.
The project is a 16-week program which
enables parents to teach their elementary
age children basic addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division tables. The
sessions meet for one hour twice a week.
‘The object is not to replace the role of
the school but to enhance it,’ says Chad
Graham, retired Senior Volunteers Program
Director. The program coincides with the
school year which adds dimension to the
learning process.
‘Kingdom House – a brief history’
Kingdom House was founded in South St.
Louis in 1902 by concerned Methodist lay
persons. Present Executive Director Ralph
Koeppe explains that Kingdom House was
founded on the idea of applied sociology and
a man helping his fellow man.
Over the years, the community settlement
house has relocated a dozen times, but
always within a half mile radius in South St.
Louis. In 1969, Kingdom House moved to
E D
F
105
Chapter Three: ‘Suffer the Children…’ (1956 – 1977)
Photos:
D: Help with forms
E: Community Leaders
F: Working with seniors
“In keeping with
the social welfare
tradition, Kingdom
House provides many
services to the poor
inner-city communities
that surround it...”