Editor's note: This story was originally published in the Belleville News-Democrat.
Maya Sansard was shocked to hear the “bad news” from her counselor at Call for Help Inc. that the East St. Louis nonprofit known for assisting people in need since the 1970s was shutting down.
The group has “worked tirelessly to ease the burdens of people with mental illness, homeless individuals, people suffering abuse, people with major unmet immediate needs, people in despair, and families at risk,” according to a statement from Call for Help.
Call for Help’s transitional living center was designed to help homeless women who are 18 and older and with or without children for up to two years.
“It’s just terrible,” said Sansard, who has received counseling services from Call for Help since 2019. “I don’t know whose fault it is but to just rip these services from people just so abruptly … It’s sad.”
Call for Help posted a statement on its website that all services would stop on or about Sept. 30 and that the board of directors “decided to dissolve the agency following the resolution of outstanding legal and financial obligations.”
The board did not release those details.
IRS records show the group had operating deficits totaling about $800,000 from 2017 to 2019 and a federal judge sentenced a former Call for Help employee to 45 months in prison for stealing nearly $200,000 from the charity.
The Sept. 1 Call for Help statement was signed by Michael Colligan, the acting interim executive director.
Colligan briefly met with Belleville News-Democrat at Call for Help’s office at 9400 Lebanon Road and said he would give the board president, Teresa Pedigo, a message to contact the BND. Pedigo had not contacted the BND as of Friday.
“Our impending closure is the result of numerous issues not within our control,” the Call for Help statement said. “In changing times, funds have been harder to locate and the cost of providing professional services has risen dramatically. These changes impact small organizations disproportionately.”
Call for Help's financial records
The majority of the funding to support Call for Help came from government grants. The group had a deficit in operational spending in each year of the group’s three most recent annual IRS reports.
Nonprofit groups such as Call for Help file financial statements with the IRS known as Form 990, which are available for public review.
IRS records for Call for Help for 2017, 2018 and 2019 are available but more recent records could not be obtained by the BND.
The 2017 IRS records, which could include the calendar year or the fiscal year from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018, showed Call for Help had $2.96 million in total revenue and total expenses of $3.23 million — a deficit of about $268,000. There were 84 employees and the then-executive director, James Kellerman, received $60,100 in compensation.
It received $1.9 million in government grants in this time period.
In 2018, Call for Help had $3.17 million in total revenues and total expenses of $3.5 million for a deficit of about $324,000, the report showed. There were 96 employees and Kellerman received $73,643 in compensation.
It received $2 million in government grants.
In 2019, Call for Help had $3.81 million in total revenues and total expenses of $4 million for a deficit of about $208,000. There were 86 employees and Kellerman received $113,121 in compensation.
It received $1.73 million in government grants.
Records with the Illinois Secretary of State show that Call for Help was incorporated on Jan. 27, 1977.
Clients told about the closure
Sansard, 30, said she met with her counselor on Aug. 31 and he told her that Call for Help was closing and that he was losing his job.
It would be their final meeting.
“I was shocked,” said Sansard, who recently landed a new job in which she helps people with disabilities learn how to do their jobs after they have been hired.
“He’s helped me so much,” Sansard said of her counselor.
She has had three different jobs and moved to Chicago and back to Belleville during the four years he has assisted her. In their last meeting she wanted to share her “good news” of her latest job but the counselor said he had the share the “bad news” of the impending closure of Call for Help.
“He’s helped me every step of the way,” she said. “I just hate that it had to get cut off so abruptly ... we hadn’t reached our goals.”
Sansard said her healthcare insurance usually covered her costs and when that wasn’t available, there was a sliding scale. Now she’s going to begin a search for a new counselor.
“I already know it’s going to be a hassle but I’ll figure it out,” she said.
Sansard, 30, said she met with her counselor on Aug. 31 and he told her that Call for Help was closing and that he was losing his job.
It would be their final meeting.
“I was shocked,” said Sansard, who recently landed a new job in which she helps people with disabilities learn how to do their jobs after they have been hired.
“He’s helped me so much,” Sansard said of her counselor.
She has had three different jobs and moved to Chicago and back to Belleville during the four years he has assisted her. In their last meeting she wanted to share her “good news” of her latest job but the counselor said he had the share the “bad news” of the impending closure of Call for Help.
“He’s helped me every step of the way,” she said. “I just hate that it had to get cut off so abruptly ... we hadn’t reached our goals.”
Sansard said her healthcare insurance usually covered her costs and when that wasn’t available, there was a sliding scale. Now she’s going to begin a search for a new counselor.
“I already know it’s going to be a hassle but I’ll figure it out,” she said.
Community assistance
In an effort to help people in need, the St. Vincent de Paul Belleville Council has an outreach center at 3716 State St. in East St. Louis. Joe Hubbard, the council’s vice president, said his group has been inundated with people who need help this summer.
Hubbard said he has been receiving about 75 calls a day for assistance.
“People are devastated already with no place to go for help and they’re all coming to our place,” Hubbard said.
“The load has been unbelievable, unbelievable. We’ve been devastated all summer.”
The outreach center offers meals, showers, bus passes, assistance with utility bills and clothing for people interviewing for a job. It also has an overnight drop-in center where people can spend the night beginning Sept. 15.
Hubbard said the closure of Call for Help “is going to be a real crisis because the funds out here are so limited.”
“It’s going to be a big gap,” he said. “But we’ll make it, one day at a time.”
For more information about the St. Vincent de Paul outreach and overnight drop-in center, call 618-394-0126.
Larita Rice-Barnes, executive director and founder of the Metro East Organizing Coalition, knows firsthand about the work done by Call for Help.
Rice-Barnes was an employee with Call for Help in the late 1990s when she worked with at-risk youths ages 12 to 17. This youth program was previously phased out, she said.
She was “shocked” to hear the announcement to close Call for Help.
“They have provided to families and at-risk individuals throughout the metro-east area over the years,” she said. And she noted the group “has played a critical part in working to establish or promote stability for families.”
She added that it can be difficult at times to get funding for groups such as Call for Help.
The Metro East Organizing Coalition seeks to assist victims of violence, particularly gun violence, and works to provide other services to families.
Rice-Barnes said residents can get more information about her group at www.meoc618.org to see if it is within the group’s reach to help them.
It can be “very devastating” for persons who lose services, she said, and “costly for them both mentally and emotionally in terms of trying to continue forward with developing stability for themselves.”
Mike Koziatek is a reporter with the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
