News

At a recent West County Chamber of Commerce meeting, members packed tool kits with items donated by Thrivent Financial Advisor and Chamber member Doug Vernon. The kits will be used when volunteers of the nonprofit Assistance League of St. Louis (ALSTL) assist individuals and families recovering from a crisis as they move into new living space.

 Diana Huey, 2023-24 ALSTL Outreach program co-chair explained, “Sometimes families have lost everything in a fire or flood, while other individuals are homeless or in transitional housing because of another crisis.  When they are able to move into a space of their own, they need even the most basic items.   That’s why, in addition to providing larger items like beds and bedding, we also provide cleaning supplies, paper products and simple tools routinely found in most households, so that families are equipped to assemble, repair or maintain items in their homes.”

After the packing session, 96 tool kits containing a pack of four screwdrivers, a tape measure, a roll of duct tape and a message of encouragement were delivered to the Assistance League office in Ellisville.

Assistance League of St. Louis president Sandy Thal added, “We are grateful to Thrivent and West County Chamber members for their generous gifts of tools and time to support our efforts to positively impact the lives of children and adults in the St. Louis Community.”

Assistance League of St. Louis (ALSTL) has elected Sandy Thal as its president for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Thal, a Town and Country resident and a native of St. Louis, earned a Master’s Degree from Maryville University in 2014 and has served on the ALSTL board of directors and in other leadership roles since 2017.

Thal said, “I am honored to serve this 500-strong, all-volunteer nonprofit organization that has transformed the lives of children and adults in the St. Louis Region since 1987! In the months ahead, we’re looking forward to strengthening our community partnerships, finalizing and implementing a new five-year strategic plan, and expanding our volunteer membership base. Assistance League of St. Louis is going to have another busy year!”

 
Pictured left to right - Mindy Hellmich, ALSTL Vice President Membership; Jane Marschner, ALSTL Vice President Education ; and Beth Smith, store manager of Barnes and Noble West County

ALSTL recently honored Beth Smith, store manager of Barnes and Noble West County, with the chapter's St Louis Business Award. Beth has gone above and beyond her duties as store manager when it comes to Assistance League. She is always there for us. She has chosen ALSTL as the non-profit for the store's annual Book Fair. Beth makes sure all employees help us out that day and even opens the store an hour early for our members only.

We are also the chosen non-profit for the store's Book Drive. In the past three years Barnes and Noble West County has collected around 3,000 books for us...not just any books...but the ones we use with our Book Festivals. We give her a list! We can always count on Beth to get our books to us quickly and to provide specialized guidance to curate book lists for our Book Festivals, Urban League's Back-to-School EXPO, Grief Support, and our partner agencies (like Nurses for Newborns).

At any given time, she could be working with 10 or more of us in the Books From Friends program. There's so much more but...Beth is ALL IN WITH ASSISTANCE LEAGUE. She once said "Assistance League--you are my heros; not just Books From Friends but everything you do for our St. Louis community." ALSTL feels that she is our hero.

Beth is a South East Missouri State graduate in history. She has a 16 year old daughter, named Cora and loves to cross stitch and crochet. She has worked for B &N for 30 years, and enjoys reading history and Science Fiction Fantasty books!

At its May 15 U Are Special event, the School District of University City recognized Assistance League of St. Louis (ALSTL) as a district PACEsetter. This recognition spotlights volunteers who are Positively Affecting Community Education. ALSTL Public Relations Chair Jayne Foley and Outreach Co-chair Diana Huey, who work closely with the district, were recognized at the celebration.

Pictured left to right: Jayne Foley, ALSTL public relations chair; Diana Huey, ALSTL Outreach co-chair; Denise McKibben, President of ALSTL; Sandy Thal, Vice President of ALSTL; and Gary Spiller, Executive Director of Student Services and Innovation for the University City School District.

ALSTL has partnered with U City Schools since 2017, impacting students and families in so many ways. In a recent letter, Gary Spiller, U City Schools Director of Student Services, enumerated some of these contributions, especially noting new clothing and shoes shared with the U City boutique, where some of the most vulnerable students have the opportunity to select their own brand new, much-needed items. He summed up the impact this way: “Because of you, our students feel a greater sense of confidence and have proven to be more productive when they have access to new clothing. Simply put, when you look good, you feel good, and in general, you do good.”

ALSTL’s gifts of Zenimals are especially appreciated by Well-being Specialists and school social workers These guided meditation devices, tailored for specific age groups, are designed to reduce anxiety and calm students, from the very youngest through the teenage years. Gary Spiller explained, “The guided meditation support has aided our children in reducing anxiety, increasing mindfulness, and developing new coping strategies. These practices and social emotional skill sets are necessary to develop for life. Thank you for adding another wellness tool to our…toolkit!”

ALSTL President Denise McKibben said, “Our partnership with the University City Schools has grown over the past seven years and is an example of how ALSTL is focusing a variety of services in one community to deepen our impact. We look forward to continuing our collaboration to positively affect students and families in this community.”

On Saturday, May 18, in a unique collaboration designed to foster creativity and learning, Assistance League of St. Louis, along with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater St. Louis and the Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club, presented the Book Bash.

Welcoming 50 club members and their parents to the Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club, the Book Bash featured a pair of celebrated local authors: Micheal Anderson (pictured at left), creator of the award-winning Zoey Landon STEM series, and Thomas E. Dear, III (pictured at right), children’s author and founder of Dream Big Publishing.

Event highlights included:

• An author panel that delved into the authors’ motivations and journeys to success
• A hands-on experience to spark interest in science, technology, engineering and math
• Book signings that provided opportunities for young readers to interact with the authors and receive personal autographs.
• A nutritious lunch provided by EY (Ernst & Young) paired with educational talks

Each child left with a Bag of New Books and an Author Starter Kit, encouraging their ongoing exploration in literature and science.

Denise McKibben, President of Assistance League of St Louis, said, “This Book Bash was designed not only to entertain, but to educate. Through our collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis and the support from EY, we are helping to light up the imaginations of tomorrow’s innovators and leaders. Together, we are building a community that values learning and creativity.”

A generous donation of Vans shoes and clothing to Assistance League of St. Louis will benefit students in the University City School District and in the Ferguson-Florissant School District Students in Transition program.

Assistance League of St. Louis president Denise McKibben said, “Our volunteers work with these two school districts to provide school uniforms, shoes, coats and hygiene products to students through Operation School Bell and STEPS to Success. Counselors and social workers in these districts also identify families in crisis whose immediate needs can be met through our Outreach program. We are grateful to Vans for this donation, valued at more than $39,000, which enabled us to provide an extra measure of support to these school district partners.”

In a recent letter, Gary Spiller, Executive Director of Student Services and Innovation for the University City School District, described the impact Assistance League programs have: “Our students and families in need gain much joy and well-being by being able to select brand new clothing items. Because of you, our students feel a greater sense of confidence and have proven to be more productive when they have access to new clothing. Simply put, when you look good, you feel good, and in general, you do good! The Vans clothing donations are a big hit…. Thank you AL and Vans!”

This year, with the encouragement of the Executive Director of the Dana Brown Charitable Trust, Assistance League of St. Louis (ALSTL) and the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) submitted a collaborative grant request to the foundation. The grant was approved, and each agency received $20,000 to stock closets in the St. Louis Public Schools.

Since 2018 the two organizations have partnered to provide children year-round access to much-needed school clothing, shoes, coats and hygiene products. These items are available in closets in 28 schools in the district, 12 of which the two organizations share.

Pictured left to right: Kellie Vaca, Shaw VPA Elementary School SLPS; Karen Silverman, NCJWSTL; Denise McKibben, ALSTL; and Renee Sigel-Hearst, NCJWSTL

The closets are an integral part of ALSTL’s Operation School Bell program, which last year helped ensure student success across five area school districts by distributing items in 44 schools and supporting 36 AL’s closets.

Assistance League president Denise McKibben said, “We are very grateful for this generous support from the Dana Brown Charitable Trust to fund our collaboration. By working with NCJW, we avoid duplicating efforts and help ensure we reach as many children as possible. Assistance League of St. Louis continuously seeks ways to partner with other community organizations to increase our impact.”

Assistance League of St. Louis (ALSTL) was honored by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri with its prestigious Gold Trefoil Award. This award is reserved for an organization (or individual) outside the Girl Scouts that has made a superior contribution to the Girl Scouts and has had a council-wide impact.

Pictured left to right are Dr Natissia Small, Chief Executive Officer, Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri; Sue Dugan, ALSTL Outreach Chair; Denise McKibben, President, ALSTL; Dawn Kotva, Chair, Board of Directors, Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri.

ALSTL has supported a girl scout in earning her Gold Award and has made space available at its headquarters for their neighborhood leaders’ council to meet monthly. Through an ongoing partnership, ALSTL has also supported the April Showers Collection of hygiene and cleaning products and has been the recipient of items that the Girl Scouts collect each year.

ALSTL Outreach Program co-chair Susan Dugan said, “Because of the generous contributions from community members to the April Showers program, the Girl Scouts’ annual gift has provided significant support for individuals and families in crisis, who are served by our Outreach program. The personal hygiene items are also a valuable part of the first night kits provided to victims of domestic violence by Assistance League’s Project ROSE.”

This year’s April Showers Collection is scheduled for April 13. ALSTL volunteers will once again assist at the distribution point. Items collected will benefit ALSTL community programs and the important work of other community organizations.

Students at the Bermuda Early Childhood Center were immersed in the delights of the Books From Friends book festival this month. Bermuda Early Childhood Center, where the first Books From Friends book festival debuted, gives students age pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade a head start to academic success through its innovative programs.

A parade of Books From Friends book characters, with headliners Pete the Cat and Clifford the Big Red Dog, sparked the imagination of the students and brought the stories to life. Pre-K and kindergartners also enjoyed puppet shows and story book reading. Where else can a child have a person dressed as a pizza read them a book? At the end of the festivities, each child received two books and a book bag. In total 506 books were distributed to 253 children.

Congratulations to Assistance League of St. Louis Books From Friends volunteers and thank you to all the staff at Bermuda Early Childhood who contributed their time and talents.

Books From Friends is one of five community programs provided by Assistance League of St. Louis.

The Assistance League of St. Louis is excited to announce that Megan Gallagher has been appointed to the nonprofit’s Advisory Council.

Megan Gallagher, Vice President, Digital Communications, Reinsurance Group of America, has more than 20 years’ experience in corporate communications. She has worked for RGA since July 2014, overseeing digital content, website development and social media. Most recently Meg spearheaded a complete website redesign.

Prior to joining RGA, she spent seven years as Director of Communications at Peabody Energy, where she was responsible for media relations, a range of corporate publications, website redesign, speechwriting, and video and presentation development. Her experience also includes writing the official history and managing internal communications at A.G. Edwards and five years at Smurfit Stone as manager of Corporate Communications.

A resident of Creve Coeur, Meg is a graduate of the University of Virginia and active in the Hunger Ministry at the Church of St. Michael & St. George in Clayton.