Tracy Call, the founder, driving force and for the past seven years the face of Humanity House in Iola, has retired.
Yes, really.
Call’s retirement as the organization’s executive director became official Wednesday.
Her replacement has not yet been determined. The organization is awaiting word on grant funding to pay the director’s salary before a new one can be hired.
Nevertheless, Humanity House will undoubtedly feel the impact of Call’s departure, largely because of her heavy — and constant — involvement and vision in shaping the organization’s history.
Call spoke about her decision to retire, estimating she’d worked between 90 and 100 hours a week on Humanity House projects through her tenure as executive director.
“That takes a toll on the family, ya know?” she said.
The genesis for her decision stemmed from an idle basketball game with her young grandson last December.
“We were playing, and he goes, ‘Can we go to your house?’” Call said. “I said, ‘Sure.’”
His response, however, stopped Call in her tracks:
“Where do you live?”
He’d never been to her home.
“I thought, ‘Oh, man, this is not right,’” she recalled. ‘I had to change up some things.”
Call, 64, reached out to the Social Security Administration to determine how much she’d receive in benefits if she retired early.
“They told me, and I thought, ‘I can make that work,’” she said.
AT ITS core, Humanity House’s mission as a charitable organization is simple, yet daunting: Bridging the disconnect in the community through acts of kindness.
Call and Humanity House cofounder Georgia Masterson spearheaded a plethora of charitable projects, from the community pantry and regular “Grandma’s Kitchen” meals, as well as the Humanity House Community Garden, which produces hundreds of pounds of produce that is then given away each year.
More recently the organization has taken on utility assistance, although that endeavor has largely depleted Humanity House’s savings.
Past efforts included opening Santa’s Toy Shop each Christmas in which youngsters received one free gift for the holidays, and providing duffel bags for kids going into foster care. Dozens of kids received bikes donated by Humanity House. Call also built and installed the “Blessing Boxes” and little lending library stands across the county, and began a coin collection drive to help foot the bill if a client needed to take clothes to a coin-fed laundromat.
