Pandemic Relief
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The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc in our city and around the world. As our regional leadership searched for partners to support relief and recovery efforts, the Urban League quickly distinguished itself as the “go-to” organization able to quickly mobilize and deploy vital resources directly into the communities in most need.
The Urban League, through its Division of Public Safety and Community Response, quickly developed a strategy to execute large-scale, drive-through food and PPE distributions in St. Louis City and County. Our Development team, working in partnership with the President’s Office, was able to raise more than $4.5 million in cash and in-kind contributions while assembling more than 100 major corporate donors and over 1,000 volunteers. The relief efforts were boosted with CARES ACT funding from both city and county. Our Public Safety team executed logistics to serve more than 90,000 families over 26 consecutive weeks. |
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The Public Safety Serving Our Streets Initiative and the Federation of Block Unites coordinated delivery to seniors, disabled families and other homebound families who could not participate in the drive-through events. The team also distributed over 10,000 masks in a grassroots street canvas operation that included delivery to barber shots, salons, grocery stores, at bus stops, and even laundry facilities.
The Urban League was also the recipient of 10,000,000 masksin a partnership organized by Fuse Advertising and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. The Urban League has developed a distribution strategy that includes working with the fraternity to distribute masks to select cities.
The true leadership in all of our pandemic relief efforts, from coordinating logistics of food transportation and delivery to leading the pre-event instructions and rallying of volunteers at the food distributions, was the inimitable Roy Gillespie. Roy, a former police officer who spent the latter part of his life working with the Red Cross coordinating disaster relief efforts, passed away suddenly on March 16, 2021, was our guiding light. He was without question, the COO of Relief Operations—wherever we were, it was Roy’s house. Roy’s death leaves a tremendous void at the Urban League, in St. Louis and across the country. We will honor his legacy and strive to live up to his expectations.
The Urban League was also the recipient of 10,000,000 masksin a partnership organized by Fuse Advertising and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. The Urban League has developed a distribution strategy that includes working with the fraternity to distribute masks to select cities.
The true leadership in all of our pandemic relief efforts, from coordinating logistics of food transportation and delivery to leading the pre-event instructions and rallying of volunteers at the food distributions, was the inimitable Roy Gillespie. Roy, a former police officer who spent the latter part of his life working with the Red Cross coordinating disaster relief efforts, passed away suddenly on March 16, 2021, was our guiding light. He was without question, the COO of Relief Operations—wherever we were, it was Roy’s house. Roy’s death leaves a tremendous void at the Urban League, in St. Louis and across the country. We will honor his legacy and strive to live up to his expectations.
