Man in wheelchair waits all night in winter storm for Kansas City shelter to open
As temperatures plummeted Wednesday night, Matt Speck set out in his wheelchair to the closest shelter in Kansas City.
He had no idea a snow storm was coming.
His body, weakened from multiple sclerosis, rattled in the wind as the winter weather intensified.
With a red tarp spread across his lap for warmth, he finally arrived at Hope Faith and parked his wheelchair, waiting for the day shelter at 705 Virginia Avenue to open at 7 a.m.
After about seven inches of snow blanketed the metro early Thursday, Hope Faith operated a warming bus into the evening. The bus picked up people like Speck who needed help getting to an overnight shelter.
“There’s more of a need this year and as temperatures drop into the night, we’re going to see people with frostbite, people who are sick, people who are hurt,” said Kathy Elmore, a manager at Hope Faith.
“Having the bus go as late as 8 p.m. is going to be a game changer.”
But the shelter’s resources are stretched thin, said Doug Langner, Hope Faith’s executive director.
With a staff of 12, the shelter cared for more than 160 people Thursday. Because of limited funding and the inclement weather, just two cooks served about 500 meals.
About a half hour before the day shelter closed at 2 p.m., Langner took on a bus shift, driving people from Hope Faith to an overnight shelter.
“We were asked to provide the bus and we have made it work,” Langner said.
‘Someone’s got to be there for him’
Speck grew up in Boise, Idaho, and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2011.
He moved in with his parents who had relocated to Kansas City in 2018 after divorcing from his wife of three years.
But when the relationship with his parents deteriorated in 2020, Speck found his own apartment in Independence.
Speck had relied on his parents for income since his disability made it difficult for him to work. He would like to repair guitars and other instruments at a music shop, but does not know if that’s possible because of his disease. After a few months of living on his own, he could no longer keep up with rent. By the end of 2020, he had been evicted.
“I was on a cot living in front of Hope Faith for awhile,” he said.
The shelter helped him find a nursing home, but Speck could not continue to pay the facility. He found himself sleeping in front of Hope Faith and other shelters around the area.
At one of the shelters, Speck met Jacob, 25, who promised to look out for him.
“There were a lot of guys who’d mess with him,” Jacob said. “They’ve stolen a lot from him. They took his blankets and his cigarettes and would try and beat him up.”
Jacob would often push Speck around in his wheelchair, helping him get around the city, but the pair lost touch during the fall.
On Thursday, they reconnected at Hope Faith where Jacob was getting a hot meal. Langner had found Speck outside covered in snow, at first glance mistaking him for a pile of trash. He helped Speck inside where he could warm up.
When the shelter closed at 2 p.m., Jacob decided he’d go with Speck to a community center for the night.
The two boarded Hope Faith’s bus which typically operates from shelter to shelter, stopping for people in between who might need a place to get warm.
But while en route, they were informed there had been a mix up with the time the overnight shelter was operating and it wasn’t open yet.
“We’ve already been waiting awhile to find a place to take us,” Jacob said. “No one’s really looking out for us, but someone’s got to be there for (Speck).”
Finding a place to stay
As they sat on the warming bus, Elmore, the manager with Hope Faith, said they had been thrown a curveball when they found out the overnight shelter’s hours had changed. Under the city’s extreme weather plan, she thought it was supposed to be open. Elmore announced to Speck, Jacob and several others that they were pivoting.
A cacophony of questions arose as they wondered where they’d be able to keep warm Thursday night.
As the bus rolled through the snow covered streets near the Rivermarket, Speck grew increasingly worried, his knitted Hogwarts hat pressed against the bus window.
Elmore tried to reassure him they would find a solution.
She has spent 22 years working with individuals who are homeless or disabled individuals in Kansas City. For over a year, she’s been riding alongside Hope Faith’s warming bus and helping at the day shelter. And since January, she has seen more people who are medically vulnerable or use wheelchairs, and more women and children on the street than previous years.
Most of the passengers on the bus Thursday were women.
Eventually the bus made its way to Klice Community Center, which had been turned into a warming center during the latest winter storm.
As the bus pulled in, Speck looked relieved. Elmore and the bus driver, Greg Conley, pulled his wheelchair out and helped him down the bus steps. Jacob appeared from behind the bus with a pile of blankets Speck had picked up from Hope Faith.
He plopped them on Speck’s lap and rolled him into the shelter after thanking Elmore and Conley for their help. They would return later to transfer people to the overnight shelter once it opened.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be back,” said Elmore. “It’s the job.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
