Olathe nonprofit that’s lifeline to hundreds daily forced to move: ‘Everybody needs it’
Joni Moreland has less than 90 days to move her nonprofit for the second time in less than a year.
What started out of Moreland’s garage nearly a decade ago, the Starfish Project has bloomed into an Olathe-based community resource organization providing free clothes, hygiene products, groceries, dog beds and sleeping mats for residents in need of any assistance. They receive food and pantry items from grocery stores, restaurants, distribution centers and warehouses — diverting them from the landfill and giving them to community members.
As part of their services, they also provide free lunch, haircuts, and health and dental screenings the second Saturday of every month.
Over the years, more and more people sought out their services. While Moreland said she’s happy to see 700 to 1,000 people seek their services each day, it’s now part of the reason they have to move.
“Our numbers are continuing to climb, but that’s very disruptive to the neighboring businesses, the parking lot. So we have a large amount of people coming and going all the time, and because we’re so disruptive, they asked if we would relocate,” she said.
Last week, the Starfish Project received a 90-day notice to vacate its space on Santa Fe Street and the Kansas 7 Highway — the second time the nonprofit’s moved to a new location in nine months since its former building was demolished just last week to make way for the massive I-35 and Santa Fe Street reconstruction project.
As one of Johnson County’s few organizations that offers free, daily services, Moreland worries about the impact a permanent closure would have on residents who may be struggling.
While it’ll be tough to move again, Moreland said she sees it as an opportunity to get into a bigger space that can serve more people, hold more volunteers and more donated items.
“(The owner) gave us an opportunity to be here when we needed it (at) the last minute,” she said. “Being asked to leave is just more justification why we need a new location — a bigger location — because there is so much need and there’s a need right here in our own community, versus being kicked out and going someplace else.”
A community need
Jayme Bilyeu came to the Starfish Project for its services. Now, she’s been volunteering several times a week for the last four years.
As a foster parent, Bilyeu said she shopped for clothes and any other items she may have needed to care for her kids. As a volunteer, she continues to bring her foster children with her to give back to the community.
“This is such a good community environment and everybody needs it,” she said.
The Starfish Project’s services have an impact on Olathe residents as an organization that provides free services every day of the week and a resource often sought by residents who are experiencing homelessness, Bilyeu said.
“I mean that’s a huge impact and we need it in Olathe,” she said. “Olathe has no homeless shelter. You know, Lenexa does and all of that. Olathe doesn’t.”
Currently, the Salvation Army in Olathe offers 18 housing units for families experiencing homelessness, but there is no year-round shelter for individuals anywhere in Johnson County.
It’s part of why Moreland wants to stay in Olathe.
“About 90% of our volunteers and also our clients are from this area,” Moreland said. “If we were to move completely out of Olathe, we would go backwards. We would lose a lot of our volunteers. … The people that we’re serving now would have no place to get assistance.”
A day at The Starfish Project
On Thursday morning, dozens of shoppers pour into the Starfish Project and stop at the front door where a volunteer writes down how many people they are shopping for and hands out bags.
Several racks hold clothes for kids and adults. A different aisle has blue coolers on the table that holds sandwich bread and other grocery items. Another section is home to household items and kids toys. Shoppers roam the various aisles, browsing and grabbing what they need.
In the back, piles of black garbage bags filled with donated clothes and other household items sit on industrial racks, waiting to be organized by volunteers.
Every item donated to the Starfish Project gets used. Even plastic bags get woven into sleeping mats for residents who may be sleeping outside or don’t have a bed.
“This is such a great location because we’re in the middle of the need,” Moreland said about their second space in the West Santa Fe Street Shopping Center. “We have the Title I schools that are around us, we’re on a bus route so if people aren’t necessarily over in this area, they can get to us.”
One of the shoppers was Olathe resident Berlinda Floyd, who visits the Starfish Project on a daily basis to pick up bread, meat and other household items for the seven people in her household.
“When they came down here, I followed, but it’d be nice to get some stability,” she said, adding that she’s planning to follow them again when they find a new location.
“Fortunately, I have a car. I will travel, it’s worth it for me … but everybody (doesn’t) have that convenience to be able to go somewhere.”
Searching for a new spot
The Starfish Project landed in the shopping center after their initial building, near Santa Fe and Clairborne, had to close to make way for Olathe’s roadway improvement project on Santa Fe from Ridgeview Road to Mur-Len Road.
“We were down to the wire trying to find a location to go to and somebody gave us a call, tipped us off on this place,” she said. “So we got the key on (a) Wednesday, was out of the old place by Friday, and then it was a holiday weekend so by Tuesday we were open here with food.”
“It was very last minute, and we don’t want to do that (again).”
For their next building, Moreland said she hopes to find a site that has retail space in the front and warehouse and loading dock space in the back.
The retail space is needed to provide the shopping experience for residents coming in during the weeks and the warehouse space is for accepting goods from distribution centers and donations from the community.
According to the Starfish Project’s website, the nonprofit is seeking out donated space or sponsored use, reduced rate or gross lease structure or “creative, mission-aligned arrangements.”
As of Feb. 12, Moreland is still searching for a property. After an interview with The Star, Moreland said she was heading to a meeting with a real estate agent to tour a potential property, but nothing is set in stone for the site.
While another move is daunting, volunteer Liz Brockman said she has no doubt they’ll find a space.
“We have a lot of stuff to move, but I think there’s something better,” Brockman said. “We’re going to find some place that helps us serve the community better … anything we can do to make this place better because the better we have it, the better we can serve the community.”
Visit starfishproject21.org to help the Starfish Project find its new space.
