The Salvation Army did not need to look far to find the next person to lead its mission in Jefferson County.
Danette Davidson has been named the new director of the Jefferson County Salvation Army after serving as the assistant director for the last two years and working for the organization for the last four years.
“In this instance, it was a no-brainer,” said Maj. Adam Moore, the Salvation Army’s St. Louis Metro Area commander. “Having worked directly with Danette myself, her judgment, interaction, customer service and living out the mission of the Salvation Army was absolutely evident.”
“Working under Larry and seeing his vision and direction he was taking the Salvation Army, I knew I wanted to be part of seeing that grow and flourish,” said Davidson, 52, of Arnold. “He is a great visionary and leader. Our team works really well together. I knew this is something I could assist in helping move forward in the direction it was already heading and helping it grow.”
Hostetler said Davidson, who was announced as the new director at the end of his retirement party on June 23, is the right choice.
“I have already observed a stronger, more confident and visionary Danette than I expected to see in the first 48 hours,” Hostetler said on June 25. “She is leaning into it in a positive way. I am encouraged and excited about what is going to happen.”
Jerry Geen, chairman of the Jefferson County Salvation Army Board of Directors, said the 13-member board unanimously supported Davidson being named the next director.
“When someone leaves like Larry, who was so instrumental in reinvigorating the Salvation Army in Jefferson County, there was a real possibility that any one of those groups would decide not to participate anymore,” he said. “Danette provides a really good bridge to all of those people.”
Davidson, who will be paid about $26,000 annually as the director, said the Jefferson County Salvation Army will not name a new assistant director. Instead, she said a current case worker will become a lead case worker and the organization will try to hire an additional case worker.
“We want to keep the services for the people as the focus,” she said. “The roles that I had as assistant director, our goal is to create teams from our volunteers to fill those roles. That is to oversee the pantry and the EDS (Emergency Disaster Services) team. We feel we can fill that with the volunteers we have.”
Davidson said she began working part-time as a case worker for the Jefferson County Salvation Army just more than a month before Hostetler became director.
She said she had stopped working as a victim advocate and caseworker for therapeutic foster kids as her children went through school and wanted to re-enter the workforce when they went to college.
Davidson said the timing worked out right for her to start working for the Jefferson County Salvation Army.
“A friend saw an ad in the paper and sent it to me and said, ‘Danette, this will be perfect, it is right up the hill from you,’” she said.
Davidson said she was one of two part-time employees when she started, and the Jefferson County Salvation Army’s only regular program was operating the food pantry on Wednesday mornings. She said everything changed when Hostetler arrived.
“It has exploded,” she said. “There is so much activity.”
Along with operating the food pantry, which distributes food from 9:30-11:30 a.m. every Wednesday, the Jefferson County Salvation Army building, 3740 Telegraph Road, just outside of Arnold city limits is used by the James II Project to serve free meals from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, meetings for Boy Scout troops and the Lions Club, and a church holds services on Sundays.
Hostetler said he couldn’t conceive anyone else taking over the director role and continuing the programs and partnerships that have been established over the last four years.
“The Salvation Army is so unique in the way it does so many things, having someone who has been part of that means she already understands the processes that need to be followed,” he said. “She doesn’t have the same steep learning curve that someone who has not been part of the organization would have. That means continuity will continue more easily. She has observed things where I know she can see ways to improve.”
Davidson said she hopes to increase the number of people served by the food pantry and expand the service extension program that was started under Hostetler.
The food pantry reopened on Nov. 12, 2025, after being closed following a fire on Nov. 20, 2024.
She said the Jefferson County Salvation Army was distributing food to up to 60 clients before the fire, and it currently serves up to 30 clients.
“My vision is for the pantry to get back to what it was before the fire,” she said. “We have been looking for partnerships to receive food or who will sell food at reduced price.”
Davidson said the service extension program transformed how the Salvation Army serves Jefferson County.
“Larry had the idea in order for us to reach the entire county, we needed extensions with a case worker who can receive people, fill out the forms and meet the needs,” she said. “It allows us to use our resources across the county, so people do not have to drive as far as an hour to get to us.”
Davidson said people may be connected to Salvation Army resources through Compass in the Crystal City-Festus area, Chestnut Health in De Soto and the Connect Church in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton. She said she would like to create a service extension in High Ridge.
“I had this vision and idea of how it should be, but it was Danette who implemented the service extensions,” Hostetler said. “She works with the people providing the service. She also envisions how it can continue to grow. It is reassuring to me that she sees value in the vision I had. She also sees beyond what I saw.”
Davidson said the Jefferson County Salvation Army’s EDS team also will grow as well as other programs such as the annual Red Kettle collection and toy distribution during the holiday season as the service extensions grow.
“As we grow the extensions, we could have toy distribution in each region,” she said.
“We could have strong bell ringing teams in each region and a strong EDS team. That is what I would like to see for the service extensions.”