Covenant House supporters Wednesday took turns Wednesday praising co-executive directors Barbara Ferraro and Pat Hussey and puzzling over how to replace them.

Ferraro and Hussey have given notice that they are leaving at the end of this year to return to New England and be closer to aging parents and family. The women, one approaching 60, the other past 60, were nuns when they took the job in 1981, but left their religious order rather than recant their support for a dialogue on reproductive rights.

Ferraro and Hussey created a drop-in center where visitors were welcomed and listened to and their needs met, said Scarlett Kellerman, until recently a board member and now working with her husband to create a similar nonprofit in Greenbrier County.

Ferraro and Hussey found unmet needs and began programs to meet them, Newton Thomas said.

They provided housing for people with AIDS when it was considered unacceptable to do so, Helen Thalheimer said.

Ferraro and Hussey created a broad and eclectic base of support, in part by killing the poison of self-interest, Terrence Barron said. They embraced controversy without suffering a damaging blowup. They dealt skillfully with the media.

Over the last five years, Ferraro and Hussey have hired a full-time administrative assistant, and trained a staff person to write grants. Before they leave, they have promised to hire someone to manage the financial books.

The next executive director should have passion and energy, said several of the roughly 30 people who attended.

The next executive director should be totally nonjudgmental, Fred Kellerman said. “That’s important here at Covenant House.”

The next executive director should be a social activist who at some point has worked for free, Scarlett Kellerman said.

The successful candidate has to find satisfaction in work that others might shy away from, Elizabeth Hoster, the associate rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church. “Where does the community’s need meet that person’s deepest joy?” she said.

The search committee is going to first look within West Virginia, said staff member Linda Martin, who ran the meeting. So much of what Covenant House does and how it does it ties in with the local culture, she said.

A successful candidate should respect all faith traditions, Hussey said. “You were hired despite the fact you’re nuns,” former board member Helaine Rotgin, who is Jewish, once told them. - advertisement -

The best candidate will be happy in his or her present job, Thomas said. That person can only be found through referrals and networking. “They’re not going to come to you.”