What if The Church…blessed Kansas City?
In May, about 20 metro churches associated with What If The Church? participated in two city-wide food and resource drives benefitting local non-profits working to reach those most impacted by the pandemic crisis. We are getting ready to do it again on Saturday, June 27 from 9-12 at multiple sites around the city. (Click here for more information about drop off locations and benefitting community partners.)
Perhaps you feel like life is starting to look a little more “normal.” Maybe you have returned to the office, resumed eating out and other summer activities. For many others in our city, life continues to be disrupted in extraordinary ways. For them, community partners and food pantries continue to be a major lifeline. This week we wanted to share what this collective partnership means to those benefitting, in their own words.
Participating in this week’s conversation:
Desiree Monize, Avenue of Life
Bruce McGregor, Freedom Fire
Craig Howard, Mission Southside
Brian Hughes, Kansas City Dream Center
How have the "What if the Church?" resource drives impacted your organization and community?
DESIREE: Over the last three months we have delivered over 50,000 meals to the doors of families in need. The families we serve are struggling financially, with many having lost employment due to Covid-19. Without the extraordinary work and generosity provided by the “What if the Church?” resource drives, there would have been no options for these families to have received food and hygiene supplies.
A specific example of the result of your generosity can be found in the life of a student who just graduated from F. L. Schlagle High School. Were we not able to provide her with the food made available by What if the Church, this young woman would not have had what she needed to focus on school and graduating this year.
Laura Mersman, our Impact KCK Youth Specialist, shares more stories of success:
We were able to assist a young mom and her one-year-old son to have all the essential items they were needing to be comfortable and have less stress as she works with an Avenue of Life partner, Alliance Workforce, to find new employment since COVID-19.
A mom who is caring for her own daughter as well as another student in our community texted how much it meant to have food and hygiene supplies during this challenging time that she has been unable to work, and she had been really worried about how she was going to make it.
We have assisted several families with essential supplies (food, hygiene items, diapers, cleaning supplies) who are taking care of unaccompanied youth, to be sure that they are able to keep their own families fed in addition to the youth that they have taken in.
For teens/young adults taking care of themselves, this resource has been invaluable to help reduce the anxieties and fears that come with not being sure where their next meal is coming from.
BRUCE: While distributing food that was delivered by “What if the Church,” we witnessed many people in tears because of the dire need for this type of assistance. We also had several African-American moms from the community comment on how nice it was to have a Multi-racial group doing something positive in the neighborhood. This was on the heals of all civil unrest.
CRAIG: During Covid-19, we have been serving 3,400 meals every week – the first food drive brought us 50,000 meals! Over 200,000 food items! That’s at least a $50,000 value! Our mission focused on the food insecurities from our people losing their jobs and needing to make their money (what little they had) stretch as far as possible.
BRIAN: [The food we received] was a blessing to our food pantry that we just started. A young lady contacted us for food — her husband had been out of work and her daughter just got out of the hospital. When we put the food in her car she had a big smile on her face and you could see that she really appreciated it.
While distributing food that was delivered by “What if the Church,” we witnessed many people in tears because of the dire need for this type of assistance.
For some, life is beginning to return to a sense of “normalcy” again, but that’s not the case for all. What is the current climate of need in the KC metro? What need(s) do you see as you look to the future?
DESIREE: As a direct result of lifting the rent and utility moratoriums, hundreds of families (representing thousands of children) are facing disconnect and eviction notices. Many of our families are also behind on car payments and other debt, while some find medical concerns as their largest worry as loved ones recover from the virus. Because of the uncertainty, there is a great fear for future physical and financial health in the families we serve. The needs we see as we look into the future include ongoing emergency financial relief care, partnered with employment services, to allow families to catch up on their debts and stabilize as quickly as possible. Furthermore, there is a growing need for trauma-care for individuals, children, youth, and parents as they as navigate entering into homelessness for the first time.
BRUCE: Although some feel like things are starting to return to normal, this is not the case in the heart of federal housing. We still have families who are in dire need of food. Someone who did have jobs still have not been able to return to work yet.
CRAIG: Rent and utilities are still an issue for many families, even those who are back to work. Losing 8-12 weeks of income is beyond devastating for our families to recover from. At least having the food available for them was a huge blessing.
BRIAN: We are primarily focusing our efforts in Kansas City, Kansas, [where there is] still a big need... We have been giving anyone in need free fruit and vegetables for the last four weeks. On Wednesdays, we serve about 250 families, and on Saturdays we serve about 450 families. There is so much need that we give everything away… [M]any days there are still some that do not get anything because we run out.
As you serve as a resource to help meet the physical needs of your community, how are you also working to help transform this community spiritually?
DESIREE: We hear from our staff every day that the mission field is ripe for harvest; They are praying for families, sharing the gospel, and meeting basic needs by being the hands and feet of Christ. By living out servant evangelism that is rooted in “Love one another as I have loved you...(John 15:12)” we pray to see our community truly transformed by the love of Christ. It is our heart and passion that each family that comes through our doors experiences the love of Christ.
BRUCE: Freedom Fire’s chief aim has always been to proclaim and demonstrate the Gospel. During this unusual season that our country has found itself in, we have been able to demonstrate the Gospel in ways that we would’ve never imagined before. With strict quarantine protocols being loosened, we are able to start up some of our community outreach in which the gospel of Jesus Christ is boldly proclaimed.
CRAIG: Mission Southside puts God’s love into action as we extend help through hope. Yes the physical needs are real (help) and it is an honor to meet the physical needs through the food drives, but hope is the ultimate answer for someone’s life.
BRIAN: [In addition to inviting people to church] we have a separate prayer tent set up to pray for [them]. The prayer has been great. In addition to asking for prayer for their health and jobs, we have also had people receive Christ in their heart, ask for prayer for their alcoholism, and ask how they can serve as well.
We hear from our staff every day that the mission field is ripe for harvest; They are praying for families, sharing the gospel, and meeting basic needs by being the hands and feet of Christ.
How would you like to see church partnerships evolve to provide greater or more meaningful support in the future?
DESIREE: Urban ministry is a mission field full of opportunity… When it comes to the spiritual health of an urban community, neither the suburban church or the urban parachurch ministry can hold a candle to the power and influence of the local urban church. There are powerful, indigenous leaders of local churches who know how to meet the spiritual needs of their congregants and community members better than anyone else. Unfortunately, we may lose many of them due to the lack of tithes coming in during this challenging time. The suburban church cannot forget the role of the local urban church pastor, when planning for the spiritual health of an urban community. To create lasting change in our communities, we need to find ways to coordinate partnerships that bring together and utilize the gifts and assets present in suburban churches, urban parachurch ministries, and urban local churches.
BRUCE: Our relationships in the community have expanded, and we anticipate our outreach in discipleship programs will expand as well as the pandemic subsides. Consequently, we will need more volunteers to come and help. We believe this will be good not only for our families in the neighborhood, but it will also bring meaningful relationships for those from suburbia. We have found over the last two decades that this has helped bring real mult-racial friendships and reconciliation.
CRAIG: Mission Southside could not exist without the local church. Last year we had over 15,000 volunteers help make mission southside possible. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and value from all of the in-kind gifts that are donated.
Thank you!
Thank you for your faithful support of Food and Resource Drive initiative over the past two months. It is both humbling and alarming to consider how many needs would have gone unmet if What if the Church had not stepped up in a powerful way. You are making a difference!
