Children’s Home board hears positive report

Children’s Home board hears positive report

By Brian Koonce
Staff Writer

May 2, 2006

BRIDGETON – The first quarter of 2006 has been a good one for the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH). Their finances are firmly in the black, employee morale is up, and the long-awaited Spiritual Life Center on the MBCH’s main campus is finally nearing completion. The home’s board heard the positive reports at their April 25 quarterly meeting.

The MBCH is an agency of the Missouri Baptist Convention. For 120 years, it has offered services in adoption, foster care, crisis care and pregnancy counseling from a distinctly Christian perspective. In 2005 it served 3,466 clients, investing 93,938 man-hours of service.

Last summer saw the first time in several years the MBCH has had a positive number on their balance sheet, and things are continuing in that direction. This time last year, the MBCH had just over $500,000 left over after expenses, and in 2006 they are ahead of that pace by 24 percent. The largest change in revenue over 2005 was a $176,000 spike in gifts from individuals and businesses.

As part of the MBCH’s internal review, clients as well as employees filled out surveys, the results of which suggest things are going well in other areas than just finances. All of the agency’s employees reported that they believe their services and programs were helpful, up from just 70 percent four years ago.”

“When you see those kind of numbers, things are moving in the right direction,” said Bob Kennison, MBCH president.

The Spiritual Life Center is scheduled to be completed by June. The chapel-like building is designed to “meet the spiritual needs” of the MBCH’s clients. Pledges and gifts are funding the construction, but work will not be over once the building is completed. The Bridgeton campus’ Blake administrative building is in need of the repair to the tune of $1.3 million over the next two years.

The board also approved several recommendations from its committees. They moved to request the Internal Revenue Service to change the designation of the MBCH from that of a Section 509(a)(3) to a Section 509(a)(1) to more accurately define its relationship to its daughter corporations – such as the MBCH Foundation. The board also approved the sale of two small lots that had been gifted to the MBCH and asked that the board support Missouri State Senate Bill 588, a bill that would change the reporting and availability of sex offender information.