families who came to MIDTOWN. 89% of the people who came to the agency had incomes under $12,000 per year. Everyone who received help and support had an income below the federal poverty guidelines which currently puts poverty for a family of four at slightly more than $25,000 annually. I do not like to use the words “poor people” to describe our neighbors. Although everyone struggled financially, I would not describe people as “poor” whose culture, tradition, resilience and generosity were expressed daily.
Although I developed MIDTOWN’S program ideas and plans, I certainly did not implement anything without the help of Joyce, staff, volunteers and our neighbors. The words “I,”“we,”“staff” and “MIDTOWN” can almost be interchanged in any description of our work. Input from our neighbors, Joyce’s agreement and staff involvement all came together to create the work. No one was more important than another in making programs work, creating an atmosphere of support or doing their job.
In our neighbor, we should observe only what is good.
St. Jane Frances de Chantal
MIDTOWN
This section describes the efforts we made to build a peaceful community; including, the people we served and the programs we developed. It also explains how relationships formed and grew to create lasting impact in families and neighborhoods.
Take life as you find it,
But don’t leave it that way
Thomas Fuller
In 1982, Catholic Charities of St. Louis began to explore a new way of reaching people in the St. Louis community. By this time, white flight from the city had slowed and those “left behind” tended to be poorer, African American and non-Catholic. The priest who spearheaded this idea had heard from other priests in city neighborhoods. They told him they were overwhelmed by the number of people knocking on their doors for help.
Since many city neighborhoods had been affected by the movement of white, middle class families into the suburbs, the people who remained struggled to keep their church communities together and at the same time help others. Many of the churches did not have groups in place to run food pantries, do home visits, help with bills and provide support. The church members were also not ready to invite their neighbors into their congregations.
OUR STORY
The MIDTOWN story was that it formed because a priest from Catholic Charities knew pastors in three mid-city/south parishes. He assured them if they helped him open an “outreach” center in their parishes, they would have fewer people knocking on their doors, and if they did knock, the pastors would have a place to send them. This was a personal benefit they could not ignore.
MIDTOWN was the first outreach center of Catholic Charities of St. Louis, but two others soon followed, one in south city and one far north. Aptly named, our site was in the middle of the other two. Later two sites were established in rural Missouri. Another site was opened in St. Charles, Missouri, although it had the highest per capita income in the region and few low-income residents. The outreach centers were organized under the name—Catholic Community Services. They were designed to bring Catholic Charities services to non-traditional recipients.
Over time, changes in population left the city of St. Louis with less than 400,000 residents. Of these residents more than 30% were low income. The racial make-up of the city was approximately 43% white and 47% African American. The remainder of the city’s population was a mix of Vietnamese and Central/South American immigrants. MIDTOWN was established to primarily help with emergency assistance for rent and utilities in eight city neighborhoods within the three parish boundaries.
The original “office” was a storefront in the middle of the three parishes’ neighborhoods. From this site people received financial assistance, some food and miscellaneous donations from church members. In the late 1980’s, the office moved into an old Catholic grade school building owned by St. Cronan Church. The building had housed an elementary school for students from Kindergarten through 5thgrade. It closed as a school in the mid-1970’s and had begun to deteriorate due to lack of use.
I learned much later Catholic Charities was preparing to close Midtown at the end of 1989. The two staff were seldom in the office and the answering machine was the only voice people heard. I started at Midtown January 1, 1990. At that time, the office was on the second floor of the school building. The back doors on the first floor were chained and locked, rooms were filled with trash and junk and my overall feeling was frustration. How long could I live with this mess? When people came, they would buzz the front doors on the first floor and I would go down from the second floor to let them in.
Hardly anyone came to the door because the people in the neighborhoods were not aware of what was happening at the site. Two staff members joined me in a month or so—a nurse and an older gentleman. He could not find a job, so he asked his pastor to put in a good word for him at Catholic Charities, and he was assigned to MIDTOWN. Together we began to engage our neighbors by asking what they would like to see happen.
Early on a young person volunteered. He was interested in becoming a missionary, but he was looking for something to do to help others until he decided on his future. He came weekly and helped me clean up and organize the office, answer the phone, do home visits and most importantly, throw out the trash. He and I spent weeks working together and every day he came we threw out a dumpster-load of trash from the second floor. He was the first of many volunteers who would help. He set the bar high because he was willing to help with whatever we needed.
As we were cleaning and throwing things away, I discovered a strange room. A second-floor room was filled with tables full of used clothing. A woman from the community came weekly and sat and waited for people to come and find clothing. No one ever came, but she took home a few items each week. I called the tables of clothing—an archeological dig. A person could go through layers of clothing from 1990 back to the 70’s. All of the clothing had been in the room, nearly untouched, for a long time.
Within two months of my start, I was notified by my boss at Catholic Charities that through the generosity of an anonymous donor, we would receive $125,000 to renovate the old school building. An answer to my prayers! We would have an opportunity to make the building welcoming to the community. The donation had one string attached—we would have to provide programs and services to children.
Another prayer answered! At the time I received the information about the donation, I was asking adults what they wanted us to do in their community. The vast majority answered—provide opportunities for children and teens. What a blessing to receive a donation to do exactly what the community wanted! Joyce was hired in May of 1990 to lead youth and group services, becoming our fourth staff person. In June of 1990 the first Summer Academy Day Camp inaugurated youth programs.
Between March and May, we renovated the old school building. Our office was moved to the first floor, closer to the front door. Air conditioning was added to the building to help facilitate summer youth programs. The back doors were unchained and repaired, windows were replaced, rooms and hallwayswere painted and all the trash was finally gone. The one-time donation provided a new playground which would be used in our youth programs. Other than one at the local public school, this was the only playground in the neighborhood.
Activities for children and adolescents became a successful complement to the family assistance programs already in place. In the early 90’s, by home visiting, staff began to identify health issues affecting children and adults. In response, health programs grew at the rate of one per year addressing asthma, lead poisoning, mental health, diabetes, high blood pressure and addiction. In 1998, we began P.E.O.P.L.E. 1st, a work readiness program, addressing employment preparation
