Kansas City heat is no joke. Here’s the plan for keeping people cool
Community partners across Kansas City have developed a new hot weather plan for the summer focused on ensuring the safety of vulnerable people in the community.
The Cool KC Extreme Heat Plan, which runs from June to September, aims to keep people experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable populations safe in the blistering Missouri temperatures. Kansas City was under a heat advisory on Monday, with high temperatures reaching the mid-90s.
The initiative relies on a coordinated donation system to distribute water, sunscreen and bug spray to those at risk from the heat. It also aims to establish public water access across Kansas City. A variety of cooling centers have already opened throughout the city, where people can go to get out of the heat. The plan was coordinated by the city’s Extreme Weather Planning Committee, according to its website.
Those involved with the initiative met Friday at Healing House KC to kick off the plan. Drop-in shelters, housing programs, transitional living shelters, faith organizations and government employees were all represented at the event.
Amber Holmes, an employee at the City’s Office of Unhoused Solutions, applauded the coordination among the different groups.
“This is exactly what every effort needs to look like in our community,” Holmes said. “From here, we just, we learn what this looks like in every initiative going forward.”
Josh Henges, Kansas City’s homeless prevention coordinator, said in a speech at the kickoff event that this is “one of the most coordinated events Kansas City has ever seen.”
While the extreme heat initiative was made with those who are experiencing homelessness in mind, Holmes said this initiative is for everyone in Kansas City.
“This is not just for the unhoused community,” Holmes said. “This is for any vulnerable individual, elderly people, kids, people that are in their cars, people that don’t have AC in their homes.”
Kansas City is projected to have temperatures above average this summer, according to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center. July is typically the hottest month, with an average high of 89 degrees.
“Nobody is exempt from heat,” Holmes said.
How to help
Kansas City residents can help in a variety of ways. Individually, they can contribute money, water, sunscreen or bug spray or volunteer at a cooling site. Donations can be dropped off at the Heartland Center for Behavioral Change, 1730 Prospect Ave., Kansas City; Community Services League, 404 North Noland Road, Independence; and A Turning Point, 1900 NE Englewood Road, Gladstone.
Once an item is donated, outreach teams and agencies will collect it and distribute it to vulnerable individuals.
Monetary donations can be made online and residents can sign up to donate, volunteer or help in other ways through an online form.
Along with these life-saving measures, the initiative will distribute harm reduction supplies and conduct heat illness response education sessions. The purpose of these sessions is to inform people of signs of heat illness so they can help their neighbors.
Businesses and organizations can get involved, too, by signing up to become a cooling center or donation drop off and pick up site.
Holmes said “the options are limitless when it comes to what you can contribute.”
