‘A crisis center in the middle of a crisis’

One year after a tornado tore through North and West St. Louis, Annie Malone Children and Family Services Center is still standing in the gap.

For CEO Keisha Lee, the work of the past year has felt like both a calling and a confirmation.

“I don’t have to do this, I get to do this,” Lee said. “This past year has been a heavy lift.”

She remembers the moment the storm hit on May 16, 2025. It was a Friday afternoon, and she was at Annie Malone’s location in The Ville handling last-minute logistics for the Annual Annie Malone May Day Parade scheduled for May 18.

As the winds intensified, the windows of the 1922 mansion blew out. She and her staff rushed to the basement. In the darkness, they posted a video to social media.

“I knew the building was not sturdy,” Lee said. “I just hoped that somebody would see the video and come get us.”

They emerged uninjured and walked themselves to safety. But the trauma lingered.

Two days later, instead of leading the parade of floats lined up along Market Street, Lee was at the Page Boulevard campus handing out food purchased for the event to neighbors who suddenly had nothing.

“Watching this makes me so emotional,” she said.

The tornado caused $1.6 billion in damage across the region, including to the Annie Malone campus. The historic mansion was already struggling with outdated boilers, old piping, lead, asbestos and strict historic-preservation requirements. Months later, the second floor collapsed onto the first.

“It would take $50 million to bring this building back up to standards, and that was before the tornado came,” board president and 13th Ward Alderwoman Pam Boyd told St. Louis Public Radio.

A $50 million capital campaign is underway. A recent $1 million allocation from the St. Louis Development Corp. is a start, but the need remains enormous.

Still, the mission continues.

“We are a crisis center in the middle of a crisis,” Lee said.

The tornado’s path cut through the stretch of Page Boulevard where Annie Malone, Better Family Life and the Bayer YMCA sit side by side.

“You have three beautiful institutions right next door to each other,” said Better Family Life’s Jihad Khayyam. “It only makes sense.”

Better Family Life set up a command center with the Academy-Sherman Park Neighborhood Association the next day, while Annie Malone and the Bayer YMCA distributed food and supplies originally intended for parade-goers.

Khayyam, who lives in the neighborhood, went home, changed out of his suit, grabbed his electric saw and started clearing debris — house by house.

“It exposed the disinvestment disaster that has been going on for decades,” he said. “One year later, our people are still in turmoil. The money hasn’t flowed to the community.”

Nearly 100 years earlier, when a tornado devastated St. Louis in 1927, Malone — one of the most successful Black businesswomen in the nation — ordered Poro College to open its doors.

“Even though Annie Malone was not even in the city of St. Louis, by telegram she said, ‘Open up the doors of the Poro College and be of assistance to as many people as you can,’” Linda Nance, founding president of Annie Malone Historical Society, told The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

For weeks, the building sheltered, clothed and fed up to 5,000 people.

“I didn’t find out about what she did back then until afterwards,” Lee said. “I still get goosebumps thinking about that. It lets me know that I am on purpose with the work that we are doing.”

Lee had already decided to cancel the parade because of funding shortages. When last-minute donors stepped in, she reversed course — only for the tornado to hit two days before the event.

“I felt like I was letting the city down by not having the parade,” she said. “But with all the people who stepped up and supported us, I learned that I wasn’t alone.”

The parade will not return this year. Instead, Annie Malone will host the Annie Malone May Day Community Festival & Talent Showcase at 1 p.m. on May 17 — the day after the tornado anniversary — on Market Street near Soldiers Memorial Military Museum.

Families impacted by the storm will receive appliances and furniture, including washers, dryers, beds and refrigerators.\n\n“I have to save these babies all year round, and the parade is only one single day,” Lee said.

“We’re able to give away things people still need — appliances, couches, beds,” she said.

Founded in 1888, Annie Malone Children and Family Services Center is one of the oldest Black-led social service agencies in the country.

The organization operates a 24-hour crisis center, provides parenting advocacy and court-ordered classes, and runs programs aimed at stabilizing families facing financial hardship.

For generations, the center has served families navigating trauma, poverty and instability, particularly in The Ville and surrounding neighborhoods.

The past year has brought building collapses, funding cuts, community trauma and Lee’s own exhaustion.

Khayyam sees the connection between Lee and Malone clearly.

“She is standing on Annie Malone’s legacy,” he said. “Real recognizes real.”

“It’s been disheartening to see funding being cut,” Lee said. “People aren’t giving like they used to, and we need their gifts for support. But my heart is in it and my passion is in it.”

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