Threshold Fall/Winter 2008

In Her Own Words
by Barbara Ann Mayer, OSB

Message sent 4:44 a.m.: “I am in an awful situation. My husband of almost 30 years just left. We are in so much debt, and he says he is coming back tomorrow with his friends to get what is his. He left tonight with some of his stuff but we are 2 months behind on our mortgage and most of our other bills are late. I don’t work. One of my daughters gets SRS and the other has a job making $7 an hour. I don’t know what I will do. Can you help me?” It was signed “Carla” but did not indicate where she lived . . .|

When our community chose as one of its long-term goals “ministry to women, especially in Atchison and Kansas City,” we had no clear idea what that would encompass. But in 2003, Sister Carol Ann Petersen began Keeler Women’s Center in Kansas City, Kan., and the ministry took flesh. Since then, hundreds of women have come, as St. Benedict instructs,”to be received as Christ.”

For many like Carla, it has been a life-changing experience. When her husband left her after 30 years, she was devastated. She had low self-esteem, no job skills, and no friends. Without much hope, she typed “Help for women in Kansas City” on the Internet and “Keeler Women’s Center” was the only thing that popped up. That was three years ago. Since then, she has taken the “Reconstructing the Self” class and the series on job skills, and benefitted from counseling. Her first needs were as basic as an eye exam, haircut and a shopping trip to a thrift store:
My life has gotten a whole lot better. First of all, Sister Carol Ann helped me get glasses so I could see better. Now I have a job working with mentally challenged people and feel safe. My former husband had kept me secluded and now I am free to have friends. My children had a lot of problems and they are doing better too.

Sister Carol Ann reports, “To see Carla today is to see someone whose life is much fuller than she would ever have thought possible. She recently brought her daughter to the Center and is talking about voluteering.

Carmelita is another woman who has turned her life around since coming to Keeler. A former drug addict, she has been coming to weekly counseling sessions since February. She heard about Keeler from Sister Barbara McCracken when she was incarcerated at the county jail:
Before I came to Keeler, my life was unstable and unmanageable. The counseling has helped me develop some coping skills, handle my problems better, and I’ve been clean for 11 months. Sister Carol Ann assisted me with attorney fees and the staff helped me write a resume and find a job. In October I got back my 11-month-old daughter.

Dorothy McKelvey heard about Keeler through a flyer in the mail. She said she has participated in programs on Financial Literacy and nutrition and spiritual direction:
Keeler is a unique place. It provides free programs to give women the help they need and always makes them feel welcome. The Financial Literacy class helped me when I was buying a house and the nutrition class taught me more healthy eating habits. And in spiritual direction I learned to see how God is working in my life and how to apply the Bible to my situation today.

“It is rewarding to see women turn their lives around, dealing with difficult issues and making significant changes,” said Sister Carol Ann. “This is especially evident in women who come for multiple programs.”

Volunteers benefit from coming to Keeler Women’s Center too. Mary Ann Estaban, who is on disability, answers the phone and sets up for programs. She was looking for something to make her feel like she was contributing:
I love the contact with other women and the positive, tranquil atmosphere.

Shirley Chenoweth, who conducts the “Dress for Success” and “Afternoon at the Spa,” got acquainted with Keeler through the “Holy Women” series, a group of presentations on saintly figures of the past and present. Chenoweth, a former teacher, also serves on the board at Benedictine College:
I received a scholarship to attend the Mount, and volunteering here is a way for me to give back for the opportunity I had to find myself. I want to teach women to care for themselves and to learn how to build an inexpensive core wardrobe.

Mary Kay Elias, a retired teacher, is participating in the Adult Literacy program which started this year. She tutors a high school graduate who is on a first grade reading level and also helps a Donnelly student with math.
I love to teach and help those who have trouble learning. I like the challenge of finding how they learn.

Kao Chang, a Donnelly student, comes to Keeler to acquire volunteer hours for her scholarship. Her service includes greeting people, answering the phone, helping with child care and maintaining the Keeler bulletin board at Donnelly:
I only have to give ten hours but I do more because I like to help people.

The expanded space at Catholic Charities has allowed Keeler to offer more services, including a monthly nutrition series, free pregnancy tests through the Wyandotte Pregnancy Clinic, counseling in Spanish as well as English, tutoring and basic literacy. The center hosts programs by K-State Extension, Workforce Development, Literacy KC and the Alliance on Aging.

In addition to the three sisters on the staff, Sisters Carol Ann, Barbara McCracken, and Jeannine Neavitt, about sixty other volunteers help at Keeler each month. A KU intern comes two days a week to assist with programs, child care and case management and to learn about other organizations in the community. Since September, Sister Margaret Del Debbio has been volunteering three mornings a week, helping with hospitality, finding resources, and setting up a speakers’ series on women’s issues for area churches, women’s groups and Catholic high schools. The programs will highlight issues such as poverty, domestic violence, and human trafficking, which affect women who come to the center, placing the issues in the context of Catholic social teaching. They will be held wherever groups request them and will be offered free of charge.

Delfina Segura has her ha nds full as a Keeler volunteer.
She offers help to others in gratitude for the assistance that
the workshops there have given her.

God's Surprises

Sometimes it’s hard to find someone to talk to about our relationship with God and personal problems. The spiritual directors who volunteer at Keeler Women’s Center help people see how God is working in their lives.

Millie and Belinda are two women who attend the adult day service called “Precious Memories” in Kansas City, Kansas. It is a private agency managed by Rev. James Brown and his wife, Delores, that serves about fourteen physically and developmentally disabled adults. The two women look forward to meeting with their spiritual directors each month. Both women have a mild level of developmental disabilities.

“I can talk about things that I can’t share with anyone else and she (Sister Karen Guth, SCL) listens to me,” Millie said. “I can tell her all my problems. When I tell her I’m depressed, she says we need to pray about that. We pray together and sing and have fun.”

Millie has been meeting with her spiritual director since July. Millie, a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, said that her mother always took her to church and they both sang in the choir. She lost her mother when she was 11 and never knew her father. “Sister Karen helps me feel more like me, Millie, and make more room for God in my heart. She says we have to watch for God because he surprises us.”
Sister Karen feels privileged to accompany Millie. “She’s an inspiration to me and keeps me real,” she said. “I just hope I can find the words she needs to hear.”
Belinda, who is confined to a wheelchair, loves to draw. “It helps me relax.” Her director, Marge Krivjansky, has given her a scrapbook in which to put her drawings. She also called Belinda when she was at a meeting in Nevada because she missed seeing her. “It is very rewarding for me to see how God is working in Belinda’s life through her art,” Marge said. “We sing old church songs together and share favorite scripture passages."

Belinda likes talking to Marge. “It keeps me from being sad. Here I can talk instead of crying. I also talk to my pastor when I’m sad.”

Belinda and Millie are good friends and enjoy doing things together. “Belinda and Millie get a lot out of coming to Keeler,” says Melinda Hartel, one of the activity coordinators at Precious Memories. “Having a spiritual director, for them, I think, is kind of like having a personal trainer. It validates the fact that their thoughts and feelings about God are important.”

Melinda Hartel brings Millie to Keeler.


Belinda and her spiritual director, Marge Krivjansky.