Flash floods collapse wall at KCK nonprofit, which seeks donations to fund repairs
A Kansas City, Kansas, nonprofit community center suffered heavy damages from a mudslide after the metro’s recent substantial rainfall and flash floods.
McNewton’s Community Outreach Center had a wall collapse within their event space, located at 2100 N 13 St., due to the mudslide.
McNewton’s Outreach, which has operated for about 3 years, hosts a variety of programs to help members of the community. But with only three walls left standing, executive director Carl Newton is turning to the community for their assistance in bringing his faith-based nonprofit back on its feet.
“We had a once in a generation downpour and the water gathered and pushed in our foundational wall,” said Newton. “We had a complete mudslide and everything came in and crashed in on us. There’s been a large displacement of a lot of our programs and our community partners.”
On July 17, Newton launched a GoFundMe fundraiser for his event center in hopes of shedding light on the devastation caused by the severe weather, and to get donations to help repair damages.
But so far, donations have only trickled in.
“The GoFundMe, we thought we would get a lot more donations but it’s been very slow. I get a lot of questions about the insurance, but insurance is not coming through for us at this point in time. We’re not having the type of donations or the type of involvement we were hoping to have. We have people to clean but the money is what is going to help replace the wall.”
Their mission
McNewton’s offers transitional living quarters to help people who were recently incarcerated reintegrate back into society. The community event space also offers job readiness opportunities for these individuals to increase their odds of finding a job and turning it into a successful career.
Those in the community looking for extra food and water can also head to the nonprofit for hot meals and monthly giveaways of various food items from Harvesters.
Also provided for community members are shower and bath spaces, laundromats, a nonprofit cheerleading squad, at-risk youth classes, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and counseling.
“There’s a lot of services that we do out of the center, including Toys for Tots, hosting Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter and other holidays for both the church and the community,” Newton told The Star.
How to help
On Saturday, the event space had volunteers in the community come out to help clean the fallen infrastructure.
For several hours, helpers provided an additional set of hands to clean the front area of McNewton’s Community Outreach Center.
“It (the mudslide) has displaced our devotionals and our repasts,” Newton shared with The Star, referencing the prayer sessions and post-funeral gatherings they typically host.
“We had a couple of people that were scheduled to do a repast out of the back room for their loved ones. They couldn’t afford to do it anywhere else, to go have a word of prayer and have a meal together as a repast. We haven’t been able to do that for them. We’re also not able to do showers, let people wash clothes, iron, or do any of those things.”
Despite that, Newton shared how his faith and devotion has helped him hold his head high through it all.
“We walk by faith and not by sight. We have trust and faith in the Lord. He’s going to get us through this.”
To donate to Carl Newton’s fundraiser for flood damages at McNewton’s Outreach Community Center, visit www.gofundme.com.
