One Lemons steps down ...and another steps up

Betty Lemons and daughter, Kim Slavings

While the initial impression of Lemons' daughter taking over the managerial role at the mission might raise accusations of nepotism, nothing could be further from the truth.

"I did not want Kim to apply for the job," says the mission's veteran director. "She had a great job with good pay and great benefits and I knew how stressful this job could be, so even though I knew she had an interest in it, I told her 'no,' and that she was not going to apply!"

To say that Kim had an "interest" in the position is an understatement. In reality, she, just like her mother 17 years before her, had a "passion" for what was about to consume her future. And so, while her parents were out of town on a short vacation in October, Kim submitted an application for the director's position to the board's personnel director.

"When I got the call that I was hired, I told the board member, 'Now how am I going to tell my mom?'"

The board member offered to do the telling, but Slavings found an appropriate moment and broke the news herself to a somewhat shocked, but understanding, set of parents.

"It was the decision of the Board of Directors to hire Kim for the job," explains Lemons. "I had nothing to do with it. Of course I am thrilled for her because it's what she's wanted to do for years, but I also know the work that comes with the title and it means a pay cut for Kim and a loss of benefits."

Those things, though, are irrelevant when it comes to fulfilling a dream and no one knows that better than Betty Lemons.

It was 1993 when Lemons took over the operation of the Gospel Mission. The mission had been in existence for less than three years when she arrived and it served just a fraction of the population to which it now caters.

Like her daughter today, Lemons was in a secure position, working in an administrative post with a local church, making what she considered a fair wage with ample benefits.

"I was asked to fill a spot on the mission's board after they had a resignation," she remembers, "and soon after the director resigned and they needed someone to fill her spot."

It didn't take much time for Lemons to decide she wanted to take on the challenge of directing the county's Gospel Mission.

Harold Lemons told his wife that she had "lost her mind," she recalls, "especially after he paid a visit to the mission and saw what would be my office."

Accustomed to working in a neat and orderly, well-appointed office, there was not much room to even "change her mind" in the space that served as an office in the original building leased to house the mission.

"It was a mess," says Lemons, "and I took a $7,000 pay cut when I took the job."

"I just had a will and a vision of what I wanted this to become," she recalls, a little teary at bringing up the memory of 17 years before.

What was a vision then is very much a reality today.

When Lemons came on board, the mission was operating out of a portion of the current building and the board of directors, numbering 15 strong, leased that space. Today, the mission owns not just the original leased portion of the building, but the entire spacious facility, plus another storage facility to its north.

With a little ingenuity and a lot of common sense, Lemons plotted, planned and sometimes begged, and the results have been nothing short of astounding. The mission was in some debt when she came along, having borrowed the money to supply Christmas baskets the year before. The annual project was then completed at a cost of about $8000. Today, that same annual project, which now is a community effort, is a $30,000 endeavor.

Lemons quickly acted on purchasing the building and began an annual campaign to solicit donations for the mission's annual Christmas basket project for needy families in the county.

"I asked the board if I could send letters out to a few people I knew who I thought would help. At first, postage was a concern, but that first year I believe we raised about $8000 and from then on, the postage didn't seem to bother them!"

Eventually, the board agreed to purchase the building, and after doing so, they leased portions of it to local businesses.

"The income from the leases more than covered the mortgage," she explains, "and today we own the original building and the next door building and we owe nothing."

Lemons also put her business skills to use in soliciting help from every agency and business available that served to increase her food pantry. Items to include clothing, furniture, and appliances began to pour into the mission's store which is housed within the building. Profits from the store come full circle, as they are utilized to purchase more items for the food bank to serve qualifying families.

The original staff of four at the Stoddard County Gospel Mission has increased to 14 under Lemons' directorship. Volunteers also add to the list whenever they can, helping to sort through donations and stock shelves. The 300 families being served in 1993 has increased to over 1,200 strong.

Lemons credits not only the board, but a caring community, for the mission's success. "We are so fortunate to live in this giving community. We call upon them every year and each year they respond. We are truly blessed."

Last month a record number of 87 families were newly enlisted into the program, a sign, Lemons attests, to the economic times. It seems, though, that the greater the challenge, the greater the mission for Betty Lemons.

"It has been a joy," she says in earnest. "I didn't come here to make money. It's never been a job to me. It's always been my passion and as difficult as it is to leave it, I know that it's time, but this has been my life and I've loved every minute of it."

Just as it is Lemons' time to leave, so it is her daughter's time to serve. With the same passion and vision that her mother brought to the mission in 1993, Slavings brings in 2009.

Like her mother, she leaves an administrative assistant position with the Stoddard County Health Center where she has been for the past 12 years. And like her mother, she leaves behind better pay and benefits, but also like her mother, all of that doesn't matter when you have a dream.

"I watched my mother work in this ministry for the past 17 years and I want to keep that ministry going," says Slavings. "That's how I look at this position. It is a ministry and it's a passion and one I want to continue."

Betty Lemons will remain on board at the mission to guide her daughter in her new role until the first of the year. While her task there may be ending, her ministry will be continuing. She and her husband, Harold, already have volunteer work lined up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and in other areas of the country where they will put their skills to good use in assisting those in need. That passion, indeed, lives on.