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It was mid-October, and Sammons, a retired Monsanto scientist, was holding a newspaper article in his hands. The gentleman and Sammons had discussed the topic of the article — a 2-year-old picking up his dad’s gun and killing his father — a week or so before.

The discussion centered on race. Sammons is black. His fellow regular at the bar — I spend some time there as well — is white. I glanced over. Sammons was holding one of my columns. The two men discussed it briefly. It was clear the gentleman to my right didn’t want to engage in the conversation. When Sammons sat back down, I introduced myself.

It turns out we have a fair amount in common.

Sammons, an Air Force brat, lived all over the country before he and his wife, Kathy, settled in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. He loves it here. But he sees firsthand the racial divide, and he believes it is exacerbated by the geopolitical boundaries that separate city from county, and suburb from suburb.

“We’ve got to find a way to increase the understanding of social justice issues and close the gap between the city and the county,â€� Sammons says. “This is the history of America. This is not just ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.â€�

But the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ region — Sammons has lived in Ellisville since 1989 — had its own unique brand of division forced into the national consciousness during the Ferguson protests of 2014. It was then that Sammons decided he wanted to do something to help people where he lives understand the challenges of the area’s young black residents. It started with an eight-week class on social justice he took through the . The class was at a Presbyterian church, and Sammons, who is Catholic, noticed there weren’t any members of his faith tradition at the class. So Sammons asked the leadership at his church, St. Clare of Assisi, if the church would host some social justice classes, and he asked Marie Kenyon, director of the of the Archdiocese of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ if the church would be supportive of his efforts.

Sammons and his wife formed a nonprofit — Social Justice 4 All — and started holding educational events in west ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County churches to raise awareness. Their first speaker was Washington University associate professor Jason Purnell, leader of the project that has tracked disparate health outcomes based on ZIP code and race in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

What he learned, he said, is that like his willingness to engage a stranger at the bar in a frank discussion on race, simply exposing people who live where he lives, over time, to issues of poverty and race, raises awareness in a way that can affect the entire region.

His group has a core of nine volunteers now, and they’re trying to leverage their resources and connections to make a difference in the city and the county. At one meeting, his group met some residents of the Chesterfield Mobile Home Park that a developer . They volunteered to help clean up the property of some of the residents and advocated for them to be able to stay in their homes. The park has been given a reprieve.

Members of the group have raised money for the homeless and volunteered as tutors for schools serving mostly African-American populations in the city. They held a forum that tried to help educate West County Catholics on the growing Muslim population in the area.

There has been some pushback — Sammons says — but he and his wife both believe that they are making a difference.

“I’m convinced St. Clare is further along on the social justice scale than it was two years ago,� he says.

Kenyon says that such efforts at the local level are important to both the church and the community.

“They have taken to heart the gospel message that our faith calls us to confront the sin of racism and take action to overcome it at every available opportunity,� she says of the Sammons’ efforts.

One of the projects the couple are most proud of is their current fundraising effort. They are about one-third of the way toward a goal of raising $75,000 to help the Rockwood School District and North Ground Neighborhood Services build for homeless people on property near Sts. Teresa and Bridget Catholic Church in north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

The houses are being designed and built by high school students at Eureka and Rockwood Summit high schools on land donated by the North Grand nonprofit. Assisi House will help identify homeless people to move to the transitional housing once the homes are built.

The project, Sammons says, helps both young people and adults better understand the connection between communities that seem worlds apart at times.

It starts with a conversation. An introduction to an idea. Soon, faith turns to action.

“I want these kids, this project, to get some exposure,� Sammons says. “And the holy spirit will do the rest.�