Bartle Hall center for homeless community needs volunteers. Here’s how you can help
A temporary shelter in downtown Kansas City is looking for volunteers to help serve Kansas Citians without houses this winter.
The Scott Eicke warming center at Bartle Hall, in one of the large exhibit spaces in the downtown Kansas City Convention Center, opened Friday as a warming shelter for community members through March 31.
The center, named for Scott “Sixx” Eicke, who was found on New Year’s Day after freezing to death following what was believed to be a sweep of his encampment by the city, is currently housing about 150 individuals, said Sheryl Ferguson, a volunteer at the center.
The center is open nightly from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, guests have their temperatures taken and are required to wear masks and wash their hands regularly. Two meals provided by the city are served each day.
“What we’re needing is people that have the heart to want to love their fellow man,” Ferguson said, adding that often members of the community without houses are wrongly dismissed or ignored by society as a whole.
Ferguson, who is also the founder of It’s Time 4 Justice, has met multiple people who lost their jobs in the pandemic at the center, including a man who previously worked at Bartle Hall before moving to another job, where he was laid off last year.
Volunteers are needed to help each evening during intake by taking temperatures, signing people in and helping them find their cots. People are also needed to serve food at breakfast and dinner. Those who want to volunteer on the overnight shift are needed to sit in the hall and check on people’s needs throughout the night.
Many people have spent a significant amount of time outside the center without true rest, Ferguson said. They often have a fear for their well-being and safety.
A safe place to sleep
Another volunteer, Julie Sponagel, 47, of Overland Park, works as a Zoom salesperson and business consultant. But in her free time this year, she began volunteering to help through Wall of Moms Kansas City.
The first time she volunteered for an overnight shift at the Garrison Community Center, a warming center in Columbus Park that Bartle Hall later replaced, Sponagel was immediately struck by the hard gym floor everyone was sleeping on.
Then she noticed the sounds of people snoring, which gave her consolation that people felt safe and comfortable enough there to fall into a deep sleep. But there was also a lot of restlessness as people got up and navigated the dark room for a snack or drink of water.
Now, at Bartle Hall, they have cots.
Several people have night terrors or trouble falling asleep, so Sponagel asks if she can sit with them. She pats them on the shoulder to let them know they’re not alone.
She knows that many people at the center, a group that is overwhelmingly made of individuals who identify as male, and disproportionately made of people of color, carry trauma with them. So she knows it’s important to provide them with a safe space.
Volunteering has brought her hope during a time of political division and global disease, said Sponagel, who sometimes brings her kids, 14 and 18, to volunteer with her.
“You don’t have to have really special skills to do this. You don’t have to have knowledge or a degree,” she said. “You just have to have a heart for people.”
Everyone is a couple paychecks from homelessness, or one crisis away from addiction, she said, emphasizing her hope that a long-standing solution is addressed.
“This is a band aid. This is not a long term solution. And so I implore those at the levels that can make decisions to find a more permanent solution for this,” she said. “I recognize it’s complex, but surely, we are smart enough as people to tackle complex problems.”
How to help
Anyone who wants to volunteer at the center can sign up for a block of time online.
The shelter is also in need of physical donations that can be dropped off any day between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. at the center.
This includes pre-packaged, single serving snacks, such as granola bars, chip bags, bananas, fruit cups and oranges. The center also needs more drinks, such as water bottles, juice pouches and Gatorade bottles.
Gloves, including rubber gloves and winter gloves as well as handwarmers are also helpful.
The center is also in need of hand sanitizer and face masks.
Additional needs can be found on a volunteer Facebook page.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
