Her service work instills hope, dignity
If “faith without works is dead,” then Lesslie Keller’s faith is very much alive and thriving. The CEO of Episcopal Community Services has spent nearly 14 years helping to oversee the nonprofit and its programs that provide support and social services, and foster hope and dignity to those in need. Before that, she worked as the director of finance and administration for the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago for 14 years.
“I am very proud to belong to a faith tradition that places a high value on social justice. The Episcopal Baptismal Covenant, which is frequently repeated in our services, includes the pledge to ‘strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being,’ ” she says. “I am so fortunate to be able to see that work happen at ECS.”
Keller, who is retiring from her position at the helm of ECS this year, lives in Talmadge and has two children and two grandchildren. She took some time to talk about the work ECS has been doing to meet the needs of its clients during the pandemic, why this work has been so important to her and what she’s looking forward to in retirement.
Q: Tell us about Episcopal Community Services. A: ECS was founded in 1927 to help those who might otherwise be forgotten. That mission has continued to the present day. We currently operate five programs, focusing on three primary populations: early childhood education and behavioral health for low income pre-school-aged children; adults and transition-aged youth with substance use disorders and DUIs; and chronically homeless adults who have been diagnosed with serious mental illness. We have approximately 460 employees operating from over 20 locations.
Q: Can you talk a bit about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected your organization’s work and the ways in which ECS has adjusted?
A: The pandemic has impacted our agency dramatically, causing us to revise our service delivery and adjust to meet the increased needs of our clients. In early March, we began to see the writing on the wall and started developing contingency plans to continue our essential services in a pandemic. The shutdown happened a little faster than we expected, but we already had the wheels in motion. We immediately switched to remote work for our administrative functions and telehealth for our therapeutic services. We instituted a safety protocol at our transitional housing program and closed the campus. Our Head Start centers were also closed, but we stayed in touch with the families. Over the next weeks, we began purchasing what eventually numbered to about 1,200 devices for our staff to continue both therapeutic services and administrative work, and for our Head Start children to access distance learning. We also helped clients who had no ability to access services remotely. I am pleased that we were able to adjust work styles and provide equipment to enable all of our services to continue. In fact, we added services over the summer when we received a grant from the San Diego Foundation to provide meals to our food insecure Head Start families. Over the summer, we served over 60,000 meals.
Q: What have been some of the most pressing needs you’ve seen come up during the pandemic for the people ECS serves? And how has ECS responded to those needs?
A: The pandemic has created greater needs for the populations we serve. For example, our Head Start children were receiving healthy meals and snacks every day while school was on site; but when families had to provide the extra meals, it exacerbated their food insecurity. Our nutrition services program prepared meals for the families all summer, and now that school has reconvened remotely, we are preparing takeout meals for parents to pick up each week.
In our drug and alcohol counseling programs, we know that the pandemic has had a devastating impact. Overdoses have tripled in our community and in-person meetings like AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), which are vital for people combating substance use disorder, had to be discontinued. We are providing counseling, education and groups via telehealth, which has sometimes required helping clients get access to a device. For clients who are really struggling with remote services, we are conducting some limited in-person services.
To help the children in our behavioral health program for ages 6 and under, we delivered therapy kits with items that could be used in their telehealth sessions and now are having some sessions in outdoor spaces. And for the adults in our transitional housing,
we developed very strict health and safety protocols, including closing the campus to visitors. This created the need for more activities for residents, and many community volunteers have been supplying the program with games, crafts, movies and treats, which have helped keep spirits up and boredom down.
Q: I’ve heard that you’re retiring from your position this year. First, congratulations. And second, why did you decide to retire this year?
A: The decision to retire has been a very difficult one, since working at ECS has been the highlight of my career and a wonderful experience. I wanted to make sure my retirement coincided with the agency being in a strong position to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that this complex world presents to organizations like ours. Over the past year, we have engaged in a strategic planning process, which has resulted in a very good assessment of where the agency is and how to leverage those advantages in the future. We have excellent talent, good resources and strong programs and services, and I believe that ECS is well positioned for the next chapter of its history.
Q: What are some of the first things you’re most looking forward to doing in your retirement?
A: I’ll start by turning off the alarm clock! But seriously, I love to travel and hope to be able to do more of that, plus get involved in community activities that I haven’t had time for in the past. I have my eye on a class or two to sign up for but haven’t made any definite plans yet.
Q: And, a little more long-term, do you have any plans for this next chapter of your life?
A: Not really. I’ve been told by wise friends to take it slowly and see what happens. I’m excited to see what unfolds.
Q: What are you most proud of from your 13 years at ECS?
A: I believe I am leaving the agency in a strong position. As I mentioned earlier, we have very talented professionals running our programs and departments, our infrastructure is good, and we have a strong balance sheet, but mostly I am proud of the excellent services we are providing, which are changing lives for thousands of people in our community. Our trauma-informed, holistic approach is exemplary. We have a saying at ECS that we don’t want to run any programs that we wouldn’t feel good about sending our own family members to, and I believe that is true.
Q: What has this work taught you about yourself ?
A: It has taught me that I have a lot to learn from people who live in very different circumstances than I. Walking in someone else’s shoes is an important part of building a community that is supportive of everyone. As much as we value our independence and like to think we are in control of our own lives, we cannot live up to our ideals outside of a supportive and caring community.
Q:
What is the best advice you’ve ever received? A:
I have been fortunate to have had many good teachers, and it would be impossible to rate one piece of advice over all others. However, a wise mentor once told me to run toward a problem rather than away from it, and I have found that advice to be sometimes hard to follow, but almost always the right thing to do.
Q:
What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?
A:
Maybe that I am an introvert. I definitely have an extrovert’s job and I enjoy the public parts of it very much, but like all introverts, I find I occasionally need to go find a quiet place to recharge.
Q:
Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.
A:
It would include taking a long walk in one of the many beautiful spaces around San Diego, followed by relaxing in my garden with a good book. Later, I would have dinner with friends and go to the theater. I’d also want to include a Zoom (online video session) with out-of-state friends and board games with my grandchildren.