Advancing the Kingdom

111

hapter

our

‘Y

hall

ave

the

oor

ith

lways

’ (1978 – 2002)

Gene began in August; Lettie was hired

in November.

“I don’t know what I did, I just tried

to survive. We started in 1978. The

programs were in this transition…as the

man who hired me, the president of the

Board at the time said, ‘this came as a

wake up call to us. We’d been going to

the board meetings and the director kind

of did his report and things go on – we

weren’t very involved, as we should

be.’ The funding at the time through

the 1960s and 70s was much less from

the churches – they didn’t raise very

much money from the churches – they

didn’t need to. The feeling

was that the church puts in the

building and a little bit of core

support, the United Way puts in

a pool of money, and they have

government grants and funds…

some commodities programs,

and the childcare programs…”

In essence, everyone believed

someone else was handling the

problem.

By the 1970s, the United

Way in St. Louis had come

a long way from the Central

Council of 1921. In 1975 the

United Fund consolidated

with the Health and Welfare

Council, adding a significant

health and human service

planning function to the

collection and distribution of

charitable donations. In this

way, information, referral services and

programs of the Voluntary Action Center

became direct public services of the new

United Way of Greater St. Louis, Inc.

By the mid-1980s, the United Way

had teamed up with the American Heart

Association and the American Cancer

Society, and by the end of the decade,

the American Lung Association had

come on board. At the beginning of the

21st century, the organization served not

only the city of St. Louis, but also the

fifteen surrounding counties in Missouri

and Illinois through more than 200

health and human service agencies.

As the new executive director, Gene

took the United Way’s directive to

invigorate programs to heart, and the

first year of his tenure was not only

extremely productive, but also laid the

foundation for continued success.

When I arrived we did not have a full

time youth worker on the agency staff.

The youth work was caught the most in

the lame duck period between Mr. Koeppe

and me. Youth work mainly consisted

of opening up the gym and letting large

groups of youth roller skate with very little

supervision. Youth development in the form

of professional counselors , etc. did not

exist. The first person I hired, ca. 1979,

was a full time youth worker. He took us a

lot into employment and after a few years I

made him an employment counselor – the

forerunner of the Employment Coalition.

Program highlights from 1979

showed an expansion of the child-care

center, with enrollment growing from

60 preschool children to 68. The United

Way awarded Kingdom House the

Herriott Award Grant to conduct health-

screening programs for senior citizens,

testing vision, hearing, blood pressure

and for diabetes. The new youth council

organized a talent show, band, drill team

and volleyball classes. The Juvenile

Court continued its relationship to the

agency by referring teens to the youth

counselor at Kingdom House. Many of

these young people were placed in jobs

and training programs. After school

programs, including Gospel choir,

needlework, ceramics and skating,

provided a safe, supervised atmosphere

for some forty students. Kingdom House

also began a new program of crafts and

hoto

Executive Director

Eugene Morse, his wife,

Lettie and their daughter

Lydia

the new

executive

director

, G

ene

took

the

nited

’

directive

invigorate

programs

to heart

and

the

first

year

of his

tenure was

not only

extremely

productive

but

also

laid

the

foundation

for

continued

success