Missouri EnergyCare

Our Mission

EnergyCare promotes healthier, safer home environments and independent living by providing year-round energy-related services in St. Louis communities for low-income households with persons who are elderly, disabled, or chronically ill, and young children.

Our History

EnergyCare was founded by Sister Patricia Ann Kelley, CCVI in 1983 following a deadly heatwave in 1980 and devastating blizzard in 1982 which took the lives of many vulnerable St. Louisans. Sister Pat worked as a teacher, vocational counselor and volunteer probation and parole officer as well as in hospitals and in pastoral service. After 25 years of religious life, she returned from a retreat determined to devote the rest of her life to helping the poor and elderly.

Unfortunately, Sister Pat was taken from us before she could see the real impact of her work. Today her legacy lives on in the volunteers and mission of EnergyCare. Tim O’Dea, the former Executive Director explains “Comfort isn’t the only consideration. It’s about people’s health and safety…Sister Pat’s goal lives on — to prevent vulnerable, elderly people from dying because they couldn’t afford the means to stay safe from the elements.” Over just the last 10 years EnergyCare has served 33,641 people in St. Louis City and County. 

Current Programs:

Winter Program: delivering warmth to those in need in the St. Louis region providing space heaters, smoke detectors, electric and other blankets as needed to keep seniors safely warm in their homes. During fall into the winter we also provide weatherization services for seniors who are both home owners and renters.

Summer Program: we deliver and install energy efficient window AC units for vulnerable seniors in the region. Heat is the leading cause of death for weather related deaths, and in the St. Louis climate with hot, humid summers and our older brick homes can be a serious health risk for the elderly. EnergyCare installed over 200 air conditioners in the region in 2023 to prevent heart attacks and strokes: especially in underserved neighborhoods.

Utility Assistance: EnergyCare receives federal funds to assist clients with energy bills. Our energy assistance is a program designed to help us identify new clients to better serve them with our energy saving services and keep them safe in their homes.

Home Energy Audits for Seniors: This new program is designed to help our clients get on top of high energy bills. In the St. Louis region, high energy burden (the amount of your income dedicated to energy costs) is something many families in living below the poverty line struggle with: most of our clients are living with a small fixed income and are unable to work to fill the gap of rising energy costs and inefficient housing. This program provides free home energy audits to our clients, and we then can help them access the home repair services they need to really get energy bills under control.