Introducing Joni’s House Programs in East St. Louis 

Life always presents obstacles. But with disability in the mix, everyday challenges can become especially complex. Just ask Anthony and Johnetta, a married couple who both live with disabilities. 

Johnetta has cerebral palsy; Anthony has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. But when Joni and Friends staff members visited Anthony and Johnetta in their home, they encountered a physical barrier that the couple deals with every day: the house didn’t have a ramp for Anthony’s wheelchair. 

Working with partners, including a community development organization that works to empower local youth, Joni and Friends helped construct a new ramp for Anthony and Johnetta’s house. Now Anthony can access his house more easily, and every time he and Johnetta look at their ramp, they see a sign of God’s tangible love and faithfulness. 

In addition to the new wheelchair ramp, God provided tangibly for Anthony and Johnetta through our partnership with the St. Louis chapter of the Women Marines Association, who donated a gently used motorized wheelchair for Anthony. Now, between his motorized wheelchair and accessible ramp, Anthony can navigate more easily than ever. 

Joni’s House Programs in East St. Louis 

There is great need for disability services in East St. Louis, where Anthony and Johnetta live. But not all needs are the same. While Anthony and Johnetta needed a ramp to make their home accessible, families living with disability in their community face a host of critical unmet needs. With a median income of $26,000 (only 38% of the national average), residents of East St. Louis report rates of disability two times the national average—but their city offers few disability services.  

Joni and Friends saw the need for disability ministry in East St. Louis and identified respite care as one of the top unmet needs for local families. That’s why Joni and Friends is launching a Joni’s House program in the City of Champions. The Joni’s House programs in East St. Louis will provide respite care through day and afterschool programs for children and adults living with disability. The goal for the first year of programming is to provide respite care for 50 families. 

Joni’s House Programs at Home and Across the Globe 

Across the globe several international Joni’s House programs provide Christ-centered care to families living with disability in low-resource areas. East St. Louis will be home to the first domestic Joni’s House program, where people will receive respite care, encouragement, and the hope of the Gospel. 

You can be part of realizing the Joni and Friends vision—through Joni’s House and all our programs—to create a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ.