St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County welcomes Bethany Cartledge as new executive director

Bethany Cartledge is no stranger to making herself of service to the Lane County community.

Her work with St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) began in her childhood when her father was the assistant director for the 1st Place Family Center and her mother was the night shelter coordinator. She’d often tag along with her parents and help out with tasks where she could. At 16, she got her first job at 1st Place Family Center assisting with childcare. She transitioned to a full-time position in the SVdP book department — “And the rest is history,” Cartledge said.

For the third time in nearly four decades, St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County saw a transition in power on Dec. 1 as Cartledge assumed the role of Executive Director and Terry McDonald, who held the position for 39 years, moved into an emeritus director position at the agency.

SVdP of Lane County is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support resources such as emergency services like warming centers, shelter assistance for those experiencing homelessness, both supportive and affordable housing, retail opportunities that provide local jobs, and youth and family services.

Director duties

Emeritus Director Terry McDonald said the role of executive director has changed substantially since he took the helm from his father, H.C. “Mac” McDonald, in the spring of 1984.

For starters, McDonald’s payroll then consisted of 27 individuals and he hand-signed everyone’s checks. The only service the agency provided at the time was the home visitors program and McDonald said much of the job at the time was to accept donations, place them out for sale and ensure there was a surplus of items that volunteers could hand out to those in need.

Now, with hundreds of employees and expanded services, the executive director's role at SVdP is crucial for the organization's sustainability. McDonald said that since he first took charge, SVdP has transformed from a single-purpose organization to a valuable community asset, especially after the challenges of the 1980s recession.

“Of course, today’s world is very different and in many ways," McDonald said. "Bethany epitomizes that change that has come back over the years and that is that we now live very much in a digital world. We very much have a dependency upon the tools that we have that are electronic tools and that has really changed the role of executive director as well as the breadth and depth of the programs."

“It’s appropriate that at this point, there’s a soft hand-off so that we can go ahead and have her take on the lead with those new ideas and fresh enthusiasm instead of me running along until I am doddering and drooling.”

As for what Cartledge is overseeing now, she said the variety and nimbleness of the agency have allowed her to see a bit of everything that’s in the works while support from dedicated staff members lets her dive deeply into assessing SVdP’s services and addressing service gaps and emerging community needs.

”There’s no day the same at St. Vincent de Paul and that’s been true for as long as I’ve been here ….. my focuses have been on enhancing our services at our shelter sites,” Cartledge said.

“The emerging needs we see now is a medically fragile population, an elderly population and an increasing need for childcare, so we’re looking at how we can expand into serving folks who are very young and serving folks who are very old.”

A smooth transition

While Cartledge’s title as Executive Director is relatively new to her, the transition of power at SVdP has been underway for nearly four years. For the past two years, Cartledge has been working alongside McDonald as a Deputy Director to learn the lay of the land before being handed the reins of the organization.

Before Cartledge assumed the deputy position, SVdP’s Board of Directors was leading the charge to find a qualified candidate to fill the executive position by reaching out to and hosting interviews for candidates.

“This process has really helped set me and the organization up for success and it’s like we’re not even missing a beat from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 so I’m really grateful for the process,” Cartledge said about the transition of power as it was led by the Board of Directors.

“I’m really excited to be in the position that I’m in and I intend to do this for the rest of my life.”

McDonald still works three days each week so Cartledge can rely on the support and feedback of the emeritus director when necessary. Despite support being readily available, Cartledge has dove head-first into her new role.

“She’s internalized the culture of the organization and who we are so it is not unusual to see Bethany pitch in at whatever level inside the organization is needed, whether that’s working at the Egan warming centers or it’s cleaning out a truck or doing whatever is necessary to do something to get by. She’s a great believer in the culture of the organization,” McDonald said.

“The other part is that she has succeeded at every task as she has gone through moving up from a very simple job to a far more complex job and in doing so, she’s demonstrated the skills necessary to not only manage the programs and the organization but to help create the new vision for those years going ahead.”

McDonald said if Cartledge holds the executive director position until she is his age now, the organization would have a hundred-year period where only three people worked as the director.

“In most corporations and most companies, the roots of the organization may somewhat be close but they actually tend to drift over time. This organization has managed to be very much a creature of this community and this region. Our headquarters are here, our heart is here, our commitment is to our community,” McDonald said.

“We need our community in order to be successful and that we plan on seeing that vision going forward, that our commitment is to help make this a sustainable, resilient, socially just and very inclusive community and I believe that that’s Bethany’s message ... That kind of continuity is not just about people but it’s really about mission and place.”

What’s next at SVdP?

Cartledge’s official move into the director role allowed her just over 40 days of business as usual until an ice storm hit Lane County, bringing inches of ice and freezing rain, causing thousands to lose power and eliciting a state of emergency declaration at both the county and state levels.

Even though her home’s power was out for 11 days during the worst of the storm and its aftermath, Cartledge stayed near SVdP’s Chad Drive offices the entire stint in order to be available during the disaster for quick responses. Following the storm, she will have a power generator brought to the offices so that when the space loses power during inclement weather, backup energy will be available to utilize for necessary communications.

While Cartledge ensured the safety of staff during the state of emergency, dedicated volunteers staffed Egan Warming Centers that provided space for folks to escape the frigid elements.

“We had people who were working Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday — through the worst of the ice storm. So St. Vincent de Paul set up four emergency shelters through Egan and when the temperatures rose to where it would not qualify for an Egan activation, St. Vincent de Paul staff continued the shelter at Wheeler Pavillion to make sure that people were not released into the cold, the ice and the rain,” Cartledge said of SVdP’s storm response.

“I’m incredibly proud of our staff of volunteers. I’m thankful for the community partners that we have who assisted us as we made calls for blankets and other materials. Disaster is something that we’re definitely familiar with.”

Going forward, Cartledge aims to continue identifying shortcomings and needed resources for disaster responses while streamlining internal communications and amplifying the work that the organization does. She said “we really are a community-driven organization,” and that every type of community support they receive, such as in-kind donations and time volunteered, makes a difference in the work the agency can accomplish.

“You have to find a way to respond to emergencies one emergency at a time and I think that’s one of the things Bethany brings that’s really important to understand,” McDonald said.

“She’s not looking at yesterday’s emergency as a predictor of tomorrow; she’s always looking ahead, from what I can see, as to say, ‘alright, that was the emergency last time but what’s the next one going to look like?’ And it isn’t necessarily going to look like yesterday’s.”

Cartledge said the clouds she sees on the horizon indicate the need for SVdP to focus on precariously housed individuals as well as unhoused ones — those who lose income while incurring additional costs associated with living. This concern is one SVdP addresses on an ongoing basis as developers and managers of affordable housing units.

With more free time in his schedule, McDonald is continuing SVdP’s vision by helping get HOPE Community Corporation off the ground. HOPE is a separate non-profit that has been stewarded by SVdP as a facilitator for the construction of manufactured homes and hopes to put out its first product in Feb. or March.

“For me, it gives me an opportunity to do other things, new things, and to allow myself the time and freedom to take on projects that Bethany would not be able to do because she’s buried, as I was for so many years, in the minutiae of running an agency and fielding the everyday issues,” McDonald said.

The work at SVdP is never over and as Cartledge and McDonald continue to find ways to fund, develop and get people into homes they can afford, they’ll be looking ahead to anticipate community needs and fulfill them where possible.

McDonald’s mantra, “Do good, avoid evil and leave the world a better place,” is one indicative of SVdP’s mission and goals within the communities it serves. If all goes according to plan, Cartledge will continue a long legacy of community service and support.

Hannarose McGuinness is The Register-Guard’s growth and development reporter. Contact her at 541-844-9859 or hmcguinness@registerguard.com

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Bethany Cartledge takes reins of St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County