Steve Lopes was recently assigned the task of coming up with a job description for an interim director of Headquarters Counseling Center, the Lawrence-based crisis hotline. During his presentation to its board of directors, Lopes, a volunteer at Headquarters for the past two years, let it slip that he’d be willing to do it. The board took him up on his offer.

Lopes, who was named interim director Saturday and is operating the center with a team of unpaid volunteers, said he plans to lead Headquarters into the “21st century,” making improvements in the way it does business to keep it an independent entity.

It’s been a roller coaster of a few weeks for Headquarters. First, Marcia Epstein, who had directed the center since 1979, and the board abruptly decided to part ways. Then, the board announced that for the first time in decades the facility would no longer be open from midnight to 8 a.m. (overnight callers are now advised to call a national suicide hotline).

Epstein’s supporters started online petitions demanding that United Way of Douglas County, one of Headquarters’ main funding sources, investigate Epstein’s dismissal, and another asking that board president David Moore and vice president Allison Lopez resign over the split. (Epstein’s supporters have reportedly backed off their protests on the advice of her attorney; neither the board nor Epstein will comment on the specifics of her departure.)

Beyond that, Headquarters, which started in 1969 as a drug crisis center for Lawrence youth, has seen its funding cut in half since 2011 and its volunteer staff decrease by about a third in recent years, at a time when suicides in Kansas are on the rise.

So after praising the job Epstein did, Lopes and the board said they are looking forward. Up first, they say, is getting back to being open 24-7 as soon as possible.

“We have the people, we just don’t have the money,” said Lopes, who spent 30 years as an organizer for the Kansas National Education Association and has been involved in Lawrence neighborhood associations for decades. “That’s why I want to get us on a firm business footing.”

To do that, he plans to look for new revenue streams, like offering Headquarters’ training to other agencies statewide. He wants to better market Headquarters and improve its engagement with the community. He intends to expand the agency’s technological reach, including implementing a system by which clients can chat online or text with counselors.

Headquarters officials acknowledge that their organization isn’t unique. In a down economy, nonprofits, many with increased demand, are competing for a smaller pool of funding. But they want to be able to paint a more complete picture of the good the organization does and who its callers are, then go to current or potential revenue sources with detailed presentations on why they should fund Headquarters.

Headquarters recently received a three-year, renewable federal grant of $480,000 annually to establish the Kansas Youth Suicide Prevention program. However, the program’s coordinators say only a small percentage of the funds can be spent on Headquarters’ day-to-day operations.

Still, Moore, the board president, said that despite the limited ability to tap into that federal grant, it has actually helped keep Headquarters operating as a independent organization, whereas the previous board discussed assimilating with local organizations like Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and Health Care Access.

“Headquarters is going to stay on its own. Headquarters will continue as a separate entity,” Moore said. “This board supports that. We’ve always believed in that.”