Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Morning Star Inc on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 229
Richard Stitt shares his journey from psychiatric patient to co-founder of Morningstar, an organization that has provided invaluable support to individuals with persistent mental illness for 21 years. After finding stability with proper medication and achieving sobriety, Richard transformed his struggles into a mission that has helped countless people find purpose and community.
• Morningstar started 21 years ago after being discharged from Osawatomie Psychiatric Hospital
• Organization grew from 12 to 100 members before COVID; now serves about 60 people
• Everyone working at Morningstar has experienced mental illness, creating authentic understanding
• Services include transportation, social activities, job assistance, and therapeutic groups
• Daily schedule includes pick-up services, socialization time, and various support groups at 2 PM
• Richard hired successor Doncha McDonald after seeing "a spark in her eye."
• Now retiring at age 70 to spend time with his wife and pursue simple pleasures like fishing
• Maintained sobriety from methamphetamines for 22 years
• Proud of creating a safe environment where people can openly discuss mental health challenges
Thank you, Manhattan, for supporting Richard and Morningstar over the years. For more information about Morningstar and their work, visit MorningstarMentalHealth.org.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on NewsRadio KMAN. We are back with the next segment of the GMCF Community Hour. I'm Dave Lewis and our guest in this segment is Richard Stitt, and Richard has we could call you a frequent flyer in here at the show. He has is the co-founder of Morningstar, which helps with a lot of individuals who have had some challenges and get them back on their feet and give them a lot of things to do. And Richard, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2:Well thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1:You know you have such a story with Morningstar and you know I got these little cheat sheets they give me to talk about. You know the aspects of the organization. 21 years ago was when Morningstar began.
Speaker 2:I got out of the hospital Years ago was when Morningstar began. I got out of the hospital Ossawadamie 21 years ago and was superior and persistent mental illness and had nowhere to go and nothing to do but watch TV and found Morningstar and they just started needed an executive director. So I said why not? And I'll try it, and went from there and there you are. Here I am.
Speaker 1:In 21 years. How have you seen the organization change?
Speaker 2:It grew a lot. We went from about 12 people to 100, and then COVID set in and we dropped down to about 60. We had about 60 members now, since we had to move out on the other side of town since we're out, not in the central part of town anymore other side of town, since we're out, not in the central part of town anymore and we have 60 members that we take care of persistent and severe mental illness they all have and so they're hard to take care of.
Speaker 2:And we help them get jobs. We help them just learn to maintain with society and do social activities so they learn to get along with people and things like that.
Speaker 1:And then we have groups to teach them how to act and so on. You have created or co-created, I guess, probably because I know you like to make sure that there's plenty of credit that gets spread around with the people that you've worked with an opportunity for individuals to give them activities, to give them something to do, to help them find new friends and to give them some greater sense of relevance in the community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everybody that works there has a mental illness. Everybody that comes there has a mental illness. So we hire people that have mental illnesses and we give them. I see a spark in them and I give them a chance and they grow and they grow tremendously and some of them are working for Pawnee now. Some of them are working everywhere and you wouldn't even know that you have mental illness anymore.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like you know the efforts that you have put together not only gives them a greater sense of purpose, but also do you feel that you're helping break that stigmatism that kind of comes along with people that have mental illness?
Speaker 2:We hope so. We sure try to.
Speaker 1:You want them to be functional members of the community, and you've done that a number of times.
Speaker 2:Yes, very functional members of the community, and you've done that a number of times. Yes, very functional members of the community. And we have a lot of success.
Speaker 1:So, richard, I open up my cue cards here, and now you tell me you're going to hang it up.
Speaker 2:You're going to retire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what is this all about, huh?
Speaker 2:Well, I turned 70 Thursday, Uh-huh and I'm tired.
Speaker 1:You're tired, you know, and we've known each other for quite a few years now, and you've had some health challenges, but you never have let them get in your way of doing the work you want to do for Morningstar.
Speaker 2:No, it's just time for me to give it up. I want to do some stuff with my wife and travel a little bit and go fishing. I've collected fishing equipment off the internet. I've been planning on going fishing for over a year and haven't got to yet.
Speaker 1:What do you want to go fishing for? I don't know Wherever you can drop a line in the water. You're there.
Speaker 2:Down at the dam just see what I can catch.
Speaker 1:That's about the best thing you could do for your mental health. I think, yeah, get one with nature.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Good for you. Does your wife like to fish?
Speaker 2:She said she's going to try it.
Speaker 1:Okay. I got two fishing poles you got plenty of adventures ahead of you, don't you? Yeah, uh-huh, so you're retiring. You turn 70. This is boy. The month of July has just got all kinds of bright spots for you, with a significant birthday and your retirement, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty happy about it now.
Speaker 1:Let's reflect back on your 21 years of Morningstar. And you know, and so you were, you know you got out of. You said Osawatomie 21 years ago. Yeah, how long were you a patient there?
Speaker 2:Seven months. Okay, I had seven months in there. I tried to hang myself while I was in there. It kept me three months longer, and I was in and out of treatment centers and hospitals six times before that. They just couldn't find the right medication for me, and then some of the medication made me sicker and so.
Speaker 2:I tried to kill myself a bunch of times, and so they finally found the right medication, and I've been on it for 20 years now. So they finally found the right medication and I've been on it for 20 years now and been clean and sober from methamphetamines for 22 years now.
Speaker 1:Good, for you, good for you, and you've helped a lot of people along the way, and that's an outcome of the experiences that you had leading up to your stay there yes. Experiences that you had leading up to your stay there yes. As you look back at the last 21 years of Morningstar, what are some of the things that you're proud of?
Speaker 2:Oh well, all the people that have grown from there. I'm proud of hiring Doncha. She's grown so much that she's taken over the place. Yeah. And I saw a spark in her eye when I hired her and she started writing grants and just blossomed Poof and is going to be the executive director now.
Speaker 1:Okay, I hope that she's excited about the job. I'm sure that she is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Uh-huh yeah that she's excited about the job? I'm sure that she is. Yeah, uh-huh, yeah, she's real excited about it and taking it on with the horns. Mm-hmm and it's going real strong on it. I think she's going to do a real good job.
Speaker 1:What should we know about Donchette McDonald?
Speaker 2:She's got a great education from Stanford, so she's real smart. She's working really hard, really hard right now because there's so much to do and so little time, because she's getting all the information out of me she can in the month I have left.
Speaker 1:Month, you've got two weeks, two weeks.
Speaker 2:Less than two weeks, yeah, and so she's working hard. Well, she's working hard.
Speaker 1:Well, she's definitely been a big addition to the staff there, and I know the two of you have worked hand in hand on so many things created a lot of awareness of not just what mental illness looks like from a patient's perspective, but what mental illness can look like in a community that supports those that need help.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And I think that that visual aspect is something that people certainly appreciate about the work that you and Doncha have been able to witness. Yeah, and I think that that's a great testimony to the organization and its success in continuing to serve those with mental illness.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, we have tried to do our best to prove that we are good people.
Speaker 2:So what does a day at Morning Star look like? Well, we go in and we have vans, we pick people up and people come in on their own too, but we pick people up and drop them off there, we give rides to anybody that calls and we socialize for a while, and at 2 o'clock we always have a group of some kind of DRA, Dual Recovery, Anonymous, anxiety and depression and connections and different groups, pathways to recovery and different groups. Pathways to Recovery, learning groups about life and where you can talk about your problems and do a recovery analysis.
Speaker 2:if you have an addiction and a mental illness, both we talk about your problems with both.
Speaker 1:I would imagine that it's not real easy for people to come in and talk about a lot of these things and share some of those things. No, but do they find a sense of camaraderie in doing so in a safe environment there at Morningstar?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, in a safe environment there at Morningstar. Yes, yes, and especially when somebody like me that's already been there can talk and so they know that somebody that's leading the group, has already got the mental illness and got the addiction problem, can lead the group. They can talk easily.
Speaker 1:I would hope that that makes it, you know, like you know, the word safe place just comes to mind to where people can talk and they can. You know, I would suppose that sometimes you know, if know, if you're talking and people don't have the capacity to listen and empathize and understand some of the things that you're saying, that that can lead to even a greater frustration for individuals that are dealing with mental health challenges.
Speaker 2:So they can have the freedom to get up and leave and go play cards and then we talk then where it's more social, and then they get to talking over cards or games and then they break loose and start talking and then finally they come into our groups and start talking and then finally they come into our groups and start talking. So there's different ways of getting to people.
Speaker 1:Through all the people that you've come to know, that have walked through the doors of Morningstar. You feel like you've got a lot of fishing buddies ready to go with you upon your retirement.
Speaker 2:A couple want to go Uh-huh, but I want to go alone with my wife mostly.
Speaker 1:And what more can you ask for?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, it's great to have that kind of support, and I bet that this has not been an easy road for her, but definitely there's a lot of love there between the two of you, and congratulations on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's got a mental illness too and suffers, and so we know each other very well. Yeah yeah, 14 years of marriage.
Speaker 1:Good for you. Good for you. Well, early happy birthday wishes to you and congratulations on the work that you have accomplished and what you have created in Morningstar. And after 21 years, you're giving up here and letting Dantja come in and let her have her turn at the reins of it.
Speaker 2:Thank you everybody for supporting Morningstar and me all these years. Thank you, everybody for supporting.
Speaker 1:Morningstar and me all these years, Richard Stitt. He's founding leader of Morningstar Incorporated. You'll find them on East Point. What's the best location? Goodwill, Just down the road there from Goodwill or the sidewalk from Goodwill.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:They're on East Point, so, richard, congratulations. Thank you and if you want to find out about Morningstar and some of the work that they do, MorningstarMentalHealthorg is their website. A lot of information you can get there. Taking our final break of the show, and we'll have that Vern Henrichs character come back in and talk about some things that are coming up in the near future and get a preview of next week's show, the GMCF Community Hour. We do it every Monday morning at 10. Brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Area Community Foundation.