People You Should Know – Loes Hedge

This is the first in a series of posts that will appear under the title “People You Should Know.” The series will highlight community leaders who demonstrate values of community and collaboration.  Our questions are marked with an abbreviation for All Voices (AV) and answers with the name of our featured community leader.  So please meet Loes Hedge!

AV:  Loes, tell us long have you been in St. Joseph and what your current roles are in the community.

Loes:  I came to St. Joseph 51 years ago to teach in the school district. My involvement in the community has always been important to me.  I am involved in my church, St. Francis Baptist Temple,  as a Sunday School teacher and Mission leader and as the pastor’s wife, and I have been in many other roles. 

Presently I am NAACP secretary, member of the Black Archives Museum Committee, Juneteenth Committee, and the Buchanan County Women’s Democratic Club.  Recently I co-chaired the Coalition for the Lloyd Warner Community Remembrance Project where we unveiled a memorial marker.

AV: Let’s focus on your involvement with the NAACP.  Can you tell us more about how you got involved, your current role, and how you see the NAACP’s role in the community?

Loes:  I have been a member of the NAACP for 35 years.  When the memberships waned in the mid-80’s, a group of us reorganized and got it up and running again.  At that time I served as its president. 

About 10 years ago the same was happening, this time a group met at the Bartlett Center to decide how to move forward. At that meeting I became the secretary and have remained until the present.

The NAACP’s mission still is to ensure political, educational, social and economic equity of all citizens and to eliminate race-based discrimination.  A lot of what we do here in St. Joseph is to educate/inform its members and community of current matters that have an impact on their lives. 

AV:  What projects or issues is the NAACP currently working on?

Loes:  A key focus right now is registering voters and making sure they know where to vote. We also watch what is going on at City Council meetings and respond to issues as they arise, and we keep abreast of St. Joseph School District matters as well. In addition, we connect with a number of neighborhood and community efforts.

AV: When and where does the NAACP meet?

Loes: The St. Joseph Branch NAACP Unit 4085 meets the 4th Thursday of the month, 6:30 pm at the Brookdale East Apartments Community Room, 3414 Messanie.

AV: What can one expect if visiting a meeting?

 Loes:  When one comes to an NAACP meeting, they will find a cross section of organizations, agencies, and city departments exchanging information and ideas.  These entities are on the agenda each month.  They have an opportunity to solicit support for their organization or make announcements about upcoming events. Often they leave flyers that attendees are asked to share with their organization.  Our program for the meeting is often a speaker from one of the groups on the agenda.  We call these groups our “Partners.” The Partners include representatives from the following:

• Black Archives Museum Committee 
• St. Joseph Museum
• St. Joseph Police Department, usually the chief
• YWCA
• MO Highway Patrol, Recruiter   
• Bartlett Center
• Juneteenth Committee
• Persisterhood                                                             –
• Missouri Western State University/DEI
• City Manager 
• EMPAC – A Political Action Committee                          
• Various Individuals

AV:   How does one become a member of the NAACP?

Loes: To become a member of the NAACP one completes a simple application with name, address, email, and phone number.  Identify type of membership. Yearly dues are $30 for adults – ages 17 and up; youth ages 17 and below pay $10 per year. Mail check or money order to: St. Joseph NAACP, P.O. Box 8561,  St. Joseph, MO 64508.

Note that you do not need to be a member to attend a meeting. All those interested in supporting our work are welcome to attend.

AV: The NAACP was very involved in the Community Remembrance Project and the placement of a marker memorializing the lynching of Lloyd Warner at the St. Joseph Museums. Can you tell us more about that? 

Loes:  Because I was the co-liaison for the Coalition and the NAACP secretary, the two positions worked as one.  The Coalition worked on this project for more than two years. We started with a goal to educate and increase awareness, foster candid discussion, accurately reflect on, and document the history of racial injustice and terror in St. Joseph and Buchanan County. 

We worked with the Equal Justice initiative which works to document incidents of racial violence and commemorate their victims. There were several steps in the process and we had to check every box to bring the project to the culminating step – the unveiling of the Lloyd Warner marker.  Finding a place for the marker took much of the time. Once the Museum Board consented to have the marker placed on their grounds, the process sped up. 

EJI was good to work with and we learned many things about working with a national organization. One of the steps included inviting high school students in Buchanan County to write a racial justice essay. Our students earned $6,000 in scholarships for writing essays, and joined with their parents at the Awards Ceremony.

AV:  The Imagine St.Joseph  2040 Plan talks about building a future in St. Joseph where “everyone belongs, and everyone makes a difference.” It also emphasizes the need for “new and unconventional partnerships” and prioritizing the “best interests of community over any individual or entity’s interests. ”  What ideas do you have for creating those partnerships and keeping that focus?

Loes:   It takes long-term involvement and ongoing engagement in order to create effective partnerships. Meetings must be consistent.  Each organization must see that others have an interest  in what they are doing and that it matters. Partners must know what their goals are and seek resources that will be most helpful.