CSL 2022 Legacy Award Recipients
November 4, 2022 | By: CSL Board of Directors
For Doug and Helen Hatridge, supporting CSL has been part of their lives for the last 30 years. Both of the Hatridges are retired educators, and they know, firsthand, the impact poverty has on young people. So, Doug and Helen have worked to help CSL grow its programs and services to help local kids and families.
In the 1990s, Doug served on the Independence Chamber of Commerce Youth LEAD steering committee. He was insistent that students from the five participating area high schools become aware of CSL, its mission in the community and community service. This led to Doug getting involved with the CSL board of directors from 2002-2007 serving as treasurer his last two years. When he had to leave the board due to job obligations, Helen joined the board. Helen was part of a visionary Board of Directors that purchased a warehouse building on Noland Road close to the historic Independence Square in 2008. She helped CSL envision a campus that was more accessible to our neighbors, especially those using public transportation.
During the Great Recession, Doug and Helen gave a pace-setting gift to help inspire others so that CSL could reach its campaign goal of $2.75 million that would complete the renovation and construction of the new Noland Road campus. Helen was board chair when CSL broke ground on this major project in August 2010, and then when the doors opened in March 2011.
In 2010, Helen was a founding member of an ad-hoc committee called A Coalition of Women Helping Children. The group annually raises money to support children’s programming at CSL and has raised more than $300,000 since the inception.
The Hatridges have committed an estate gift to CSL, as part of CSL’s Bess Wallace Truman Legacy Society, and they’ve also been members of CSL’s 1916 Club, which is completed by making a monthly gift to support ongoing needs at CSL.
In 2010, Helen was successful in helping to find CSL a new 39th Street office, after a previous host church closed its doors. She was successful in obtaining CSL one of its bigger locations in the basement of Christ United Methodist Church in Independence, where she and Doug were members at the time, and that helped the operation expand. She also helped recruit Mike and Darla Pummill to serve as volunteer Site Managers for that location, a job they still hold today.
More recently, through Truman Heartland Community Foundation, the Hatridges have made impactful gifts to CSL through the Job Skills for New Careers program that provides training and support dollars for adults seeking an industry-recognized credential for job opportunities.
There are very few things you can point to at CSL and not trace back to some level of influence by Doug and Helen. Together, they’ve helped usher in a new era of opportunity for CSL. In 2022, CSL turned 106 years old, and the legacy of its founders, including Bess Wallace Truman, can still be felt today. In the spirit of the founders, Doug and Helen have carried the torch for decades at CSL. On behalf of CSL’s Board of Directors, we are honored to recognize Doug and Helen Hatridge as the Board’s 2022 CSL Legacy Award recipients.
