Julie McCaw, Executive Director, Redemptorist Social Services Center
In 1888, the Redemptorist priests, having settled a mission between Westport and Kansas City 10 years earlier, established a new parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. And while the current gothic iconic church still stands, people in the region still refer to it as Redemptorist. From the beginning, though, one thing has remained constant, and that is the desire of the parish to serve the people of the area.
Toward that end, in 1986, a separate non-profit organization was formed, Redemptorist Social Services Center. Its mission is simple: “Preventing a temporary crisis from becoming a permanent tragedy.” The mission is accomplished by providing help to low-income populations; helping prevent people from becoming or staying homeless; ministering to the physical, social and economic needs of the elderly; and seeking long-range solutions to the problems of hunger and poverty.
When Julie McCaw became the executive director in 2018, she had no idea of the challenges that awaited her. COVID-19 struck, and it created a problem that needed an immediate solution – how to help people without spreading disease. Julie and her small staff of eight at the time, dove in and created a system whereby the doors stayed open. Originally providing assistance to two or three counties, they expanded their outreach to the entire metro area, and established logistics that would challenge any large corporation. They arranged for food, hygiene items, and needed goods to come in, they unloaded trucks, they organized supplies, and they stayed open nearly around the clock so that safe transfers of necessities could be made to people who needed them most. (Being in an enviable position, they happened to have a truckload of toilet paper at a time when it was a real commodity!) They went from helping around 200 families a week to helping nearly 1,800 families per week.
Julie’s corporate sales background had not completely shifted – she was still doing sales – just raising money for a non-profit. Her family, along with families of other staff members, pitched in and a new business model was actually created. Redemptorist continues to serve the entire metro plus small towns nearby.
The mission is even more critical now, with budget cuts to assistance programs. Housed in the former convent, they are eagerly anticipating a renovation of the building to provide for a senior center and a physical location for the homeless. Julie said of the mission, “We make sure everyone remembers their dignity and who they are. We are not just an agency, we are helping to keep a fragile system of combating poverty in place.”
Featured in the March 21, 2026 issue of The Independent
By: Anne Potter Russ
