127 / 150
A
dvancing
T
he
K
ingdom
: K
ingdom
H
ouse
124
opportunity for me to tell others what
Kingdom House means to me, and how
important the care I received was in shaping
the direction of my life. If it were not for the
loving care of the people there, I might not
have survived!
I was born in 1938, at the tail end of the
Depression and on-going medical help was
out of reach financially for most people in
our southside neighborhood. I was born
with several medical problems that required
special care, and the doctors at City
Hospital referred me to Kingdom House.
My grandparents, who took care of me,
took me to Kingdom House each week to
see a Dr. Zahorski and were also given free
medication, vitamins and special formula,
without which I could not thrive and grow.
My grandparents were not educated, so
Dr. Zahorski and the others working at the
clinic gave them the advice they needed in
order to care for me.
I was cared for at Kingdom House from
birth through age four and one half and I
have a few really good memories of being
there! One thing that stands out in my mind,
was listening to a piano teacher give lessons
in the room next to the examining room, and
I used to stand in the doorway and watch
everything. I wasn’t able to take
lessons, but later on, I learned to
play piano by ear, and it has always
been fun and a great comfort to me.
I have learned, and grown and
been successful in my life, but I will
never forget Kingdom House, and
will be grateful for the loving care
I received there and for the gift of
my life!
---L. Jane Walker.
27
As the Republicans of
Missouri had turned to Kingdom
House in the 1980s to help
address child abuse and neglect
issues, St. Louis Democrat
Richard Gephardt toured the
agency in the mid-1990s seeking
information on juvenile crime.
Majority House Leader, the Hon.
Richard Gephardt, recently came
to Missouri to investigate first-hand
the different impacts of violent
crime and the ways to punish it and
prevent it. The Congressman included a visit
to Kingdom House to get information on
the Juvenile Court’s Juvenile Community
Restitution Program. Kingdom House is
a site for this program which is intended
to rehabilitate youths under 17 who have
been convicted of crimes, primarily through
community service projects. Our Youth and
Community Coordinator, Pamela Talley,
supervises the youth doing community
service projects at Kingdom House.
Mr. Gephardt spent almost an hour at
Kingdom House touring the facility, meeting
staff and talking with youth involved in the
Restitution Program.
28
Two years later,
Kingdom House has been selected to be a
pilot site for Missouri’s new child abuse and
neglect response approach in accordance
with Senate Bill 595 (SB595) which provides
for nine pilot sites around the state. The
choice is a recognition of the high caliber
work done at Kingdom House in all areas of
family services.
SB595 focuses on a multiple response
approach that will allow for a Family
Intervention Determination rather than an
automatic investigation by the Department
of Family Services.
Governor Carnahan signed SB595 into law
in August of 1994. The pilot program will
be reviewed to see if it should go statewide.
Missouri has seen several of its programs
A
P
hotos
:
A:
Elaine Viets speaking
at the 90th Anniversary
Celebration
B:
Walk-A-Rama fund raiser
for CAPS
B