DAYTON — Robert Walker’s passion for self-growth through spirituality and individuality will last beyond his retirement today from a 38-year career as director of Wesley Community Center, Inc.
“It was a drive to ... help persons acknowledge their assets or their gifts,” that motivated Walker to pursue a career of helping others, he said.
Wesley Community Center Inc. is a nonprofit organization working with local service groups as a “faith-based organization that responds to families and individuals experiencing personal crisis,” according to its website.
He said he believes in a “faith-based, community-based,” way of helping people, especially the marginalized, use their own strengths to be “a contributing entity in our society.”
The Wesley Center has prevailed in times of economic hardship when non-profits are fiscally strapped because of Walker’s “razor-sharp focus,” which has guided the center through weeks when employees sacrificed paychecks to keep serving the community, said Wayne McLean of the Wesley Center’s board of trustees.
Walker increased the center’s $150,000 budget to nearly $1 million by splitting from the Methodist Mission Society in 2003 so it could function as a nonprofit organization and get most of its funds from government agencies, said Don Hayashi, director of development in finance for the Wesley Center. Church donations are the center’s second greatest source of income, followed by individual donations and the center’s annual October benefit concert, which generated approximately $13,000 last year, he said.
Walker boosted the center’s staff from three to 30 since he started as director in 1973. The organization attracts at least 100 volunteers monthly, and most of the people it serves hear about it by “word of mouth,” Hayashi said.
Walker’s emphasis on using Dayton area resources has been a staple of the center’s operation.
The Rev. Sherry Gale of the Grace United Methodist Church, a member of the board of trustees, worked with Walker as an urban ministry intern at the Wesley Center while studying at the United Theological Seminary. Walker taught Gale that community service groups need to use what they already have to advocate for the marginalized and the voiceless, she said. The center serves about 9,000 families annually through its own services and collaboration with local organizations such as the Dixon Community Wellness And Worship Center for its childrens’ summer day camp, Hayashi said.
Walker convinced the United Methodist Mission Society, owner of the center until 2003, to purchase a vacant rubber company warehouse on Delphos Avenue for the center in 1976. Iams Premium Pet Food donated land for Wesley Park when it vacated its Delphos Avenue location, providing area children a place to play and the center a gathering space, Hayashi said.
Walker said he plans to take three months of “discernment” to decide how to best, “re-engage to continue to find meaning in the sharing of (his) gifts,” in retirement, but he definitely will pursue his love of coaching little league baseball.
Gale said Walker’s work has given the center a strong base to move forward with its new executive director, Harris Tay, who started work June 13 to train with Walker before taking over.
About the Author