After donating more than 120 coats, 98-year-old volunteer not slowing down

Imagine a Kansas City winter with no coat. Imagine being homeless, walking the streets and wrapped in the only sweater you own, trying to keep warm.

Hundreds of homeless people face this dire situation each year here.

Six months ago, Stella Jobe decided to do something about it. In May, Jobe, a volunteer at a Lee’s Summit’s thrift store, began buying coats from a store. Within four months, she had purchased and refurbished more than 120 coats.

On Oct. 31, Jobe, 98, delivered the coats to Shelter KC, a nonprofit that provides services for homeless men and women in the Lee’s Summit area.

“Stella is generous, thoughtful and sensitive. She has the kind of spirit that reflects the heart of Kansas City,” said Reverend Joe Colaizzi, Shelter KC executive director since 1985.

“Her whole purpose is that she doesn’t like the cold and doesn’t want others to be cold either. She saw a need and decided to do something to solve the problem.

“She made a real impact for a lot of people. More than 120 men and women will be warmer this winter, thanks to Stella Jobe.”

However, without Jobe’s intervention, the coats she purchased and donated to Shelter KC may never have found their way to keeping dozens of people warm this winter.

“When I first started working at the thrift store, I learned all of these coats were intended to be shipped away because the thrift store didn’t have the storage space for so many winter coats. A lot of them were almost new and in all sizes.,” Jobe said.

“It broke my heart to think these coats would be shipped away, when we have so many homeless in Kansas City. I knew they would keep people warm here and they didn’t need to go anywhere.”

Beginning last spring, Jobe made certain the coats stayed in Kansas City.

She purchased a few each week and took them home, where she cleaned them and made necessary repairs, such as sewing torn pockets or replacing buttons.

But in the midst of this coat initiative, Jobe’s own storage challenges arose. As coat numbers increased during through the summer months, coat capacity at her Lake Lotawana home maxed out.

Not to be deterred, she turned to her son, Jerome Alberts, for assistance. Alberts, who owns a business in Overland Park with ample warehouse space, offered to store the coats, and mother and son became coat collection partners. With the storage problem solved, Jobe was free to pursue her vision of keeping fellow Kansas Citians warm this winter.

Though the coat initiative has been her primary focus during the last six months, Jobe has also been busy with other noteworthy pursuits. Her 99th birthday is on the horizon, and she and her family have been preparing for the celebration Nov. 18.

She is also organizing an all-family shindig for her 100th in 2020. This almost-centenarian has three children, 10 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren and she believes it will take the coming year to plan the party’s festivities.

In the new year, Jobe will also continue as a volunteer at the thrift store., just one of many volunteer organizations she has worked with since retiring from a 25-year career as a Safeway meat department manager in 1985. She has also contributed her time and energy to Big Brothers and Sisters, Lee’s Summit Social Services, John Knox Village and more.

“When I retired I knew I couldn’t stay at home,” Jobe said. “I have excellent health and in the spring, I plan to start another round of collecting and sewing coats.

“I know when I go to bed at night, the jackets I have donated are going to keep people warm, and I can still go as long as my health allows me to do it.”

Shelter KC has needs throughout the year, in order to assist the community they serve. Contact www.shelterkc.org/Shelter KC for information about making a financial contribution or other donation.

This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 12:00 AM.