Sara Decker Gregerson Discovers Calling at The Covering House

“It’s easy to care, want to make a difference and just help, right?” Gregerson said. “It’s this wonderful community of people who lead the organization. We joke that we’re truly a family. These aren’t just board meetings — getting together and going over policies. We are all connected. We are all working toward a common mission. Every decision we make is for the benefit of the girls. Once I met all the awesome people on the board and on staff, I found my place to be.”

The Covering House — whose mission is to provide safety, dignity and freedom to survivors — is in the midst of a $4.1 million campaign to open a second residential campus. The nonprofit has just five beds at its current site and turns away about 40 children each year. While The Covering House historically has been a safe place for girls, the organization has recently received calls from boys who need assistance. Detectives help provide the nonprofit with leads for in-need kids.

Gregerson, a 4.5-level tennis player who participates in multiple USTA leagues and tournaments, credited the Creve Coeur Racquet Club as being a terrific partner for The Covering House. CCRC has a giving tree each Christmas to provide presents for kids at The Covering House and is a frequent sponsor and donor.

Gregerson and her husband, Will, are members at CCRC. Gregerson began playing tennis at the age of 6. With both her mother and father avid tennis players Gregerson laughed as she said, “I don’t really think I had a choice if I was playing or not.”

A life-threatening staph infection forced Gregerson into ICU her freshman year, causing her to lose all her hair and miss the entire tennis season at Clayton High School. She bounced back incredibly, though, spending the next three years as Clayton’s No. 1 player. Her dad attended and kept score of all his daughter’s matches, a file Gregerson still has in her office.

Gregerson graduated from Webster University before jumping into a 16-year professional career that included stops at PNC Bank and Citigroup. Most recently, she spent four years working at Washington University in St. Louis’s Olin Business School followed by four years at Monsanto. She specifically left Monsanto to stay at home with her son who is now 6, William.

“This is my purpose,” Gregerson said. “My purpose is to raise William and be a part of The Covering House organization. I’m in the right lane. … Kids are perceptive. William sees me on so many Zoom calls. He’s with me in the office. He calls it ‘Mommy’s work.’ He doesn’t know I don’t get paid, but he thinks of it that way. That’s important for him to know I do that. There’s a sense of pride with that.”

Gregerson vowed to be super involved at her son’s school, and she’s followed through with that by chipping in on multiple projects at the Community School in Ladue. On the tennis court, Gregerson took a reprieve from the sport after high school due to getting “completely burnt out.”

At the age of 28, Gregerson found out about a USTA women’s league from a neighbor. She got looped back into the sport and has been hooked ever since. Gregerson plays three to four times per week at multiple facilities. She captains a 40 & Over mixed doubles team during the summer and plays on an 18 & Over mixed doubles squad that has advanced to Sectionals three straight years.

Gregerson recently joined a 9.0 women’s day league that was just formed and said: “It’s been so great. We’ve had the best time together, getting to know each other. I love it.”

Gregerson served as secretary of the St. Louis District Tennis Association from 2008 to 2010. She began helping on the Dwight Davis Tennis Center board in 2014 before spending 2015 through 2018 as the board’s president.

Tennis is a family affair for the Gregersons as Will plays in USTA leagues and tourneys, too. William had a racquet in his hands at the age of 3 1/2 and plays twice a week. Gregerson’s stepson, Schaeffer, participated in high school tennis. And Gregerson’s youngest sister is a 4.5-level player in USTA Heart of America.

“The friendships you develop with folks on these teams translates to more than just tennis,” Gregerson said. “It becomes going-through-life moments with people. Especially trips to Sectionals and really getting to know folks well. If I think about some of my closest friends now, a majority of them have come from tennis.”

As a stay-at-home mother who previously worked key business jobs and now holds a vital pro bono role, Gregerson listed diversity and inclusion as critical entities. She pointed to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as a recent example of women preparing the landscape for future generations of female leaders.

“They can look at someone and say, ‘Oh, I can do that,’” Gregerson said. “I really struggled leaving the workplace to be a quote-unquote stay-at-home mom. I wanted to make sure what I was doing was impactful. I was there for William 150 percent of course. But what I was doing elsewhere was making a difference. Setting that example for others is really important.”