Kansas City church seeks volunteers as doors open to homeless community members
A Kansas City church is looking for volunteers to help with an emergency shelter established by the congregation for those experiencing houselessness this winter.
Unity Southeast in Kansas City, located at 3421 East Meyer Boulevard, transformed part of their church into a warming center beginning Sunday night.
Rev. Randy Fikki hopped on Facebook Live earlier this week to ask for volunteers to help at the church’s makeshift warming center.
He encouraged those “sitting in your warm home, and eating a warm meal, and you want to ensure a warm space for others,” to reach out to him.
The church is looking for volunteers to help out at the shelter through at least Friday. Volunteer slots are broken into multiple shifts overnight from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.
“At 6 o’clock, people will be getting turned away from other shelters in town that are filling up, and if we are not full, we will take them,” he said on Facebook.
Fikki said they are also looking for people to donate food, snacks, paper goods, blankets, shoes, pillows, coats, undergarments, water and cleaning supplies.
As part of its Extreme Weather Plan, the city also opened three daytime warning centers and launched an online database that tracks open beds at seven shelters across the metro.
If shelters are full, the city has said they will temporarily open one or two overflow locations as needed.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 7:10 AM.
