Young Republicans, Democrats put aside politics, team up for Kansas Citians in need
Young Republicans and Democrats here may just help clean up the nation’s dirty politics a little — while helping those in need freshen up themselves.
I’ll explain directly. But I have to say, few such modest acts have ever deserved more attention, admiration or emulation. If only it would shame our national leaders into behaving more like adults.
So here’s the deal: The Young Republicans and Young Democrats organizations of Wyandotte County are setting their politics aside this month and teaming up for a “Dignity Drive” to stockpile donated hygiene and cleaning products for those in need.
Can you imagine, say, congressional combatants House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doing that? What kind of crisp, civil tone might that set for the country?
The reason these young local partisans are doing so is twofold.
First of all, it’s the human need in their midst.
There are some 21,000 recipients of government assistance in Wyandotte County alone. But unbelievably, SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — what we used to call food stamps — doesn’t allow recipients to buy basic hygiene or cleaning items, such as toothpaste, deodorant or shampoo. How moronic is that? And how are disadvantaged folks supposed to clean themselves up for work or school? How would you?
WyCo Young Republicans chairman Val Lobatos reached across the political chasm to his Young Democrats counterpart, John Pauldine, and now they’re holding the Dignity Drive to benefit Kansas City, Kansas-based “Giving the Basics.” Conveniently enough, the 10-year-old nonprofit, which serves the entire metropolitan area on both sides of the state line, exists expressly to funnel those health and hygiene essentials to those who need them. Some 250,000 each month, in fact, with the help of schools, pantries and shelters, police departments and organizations for the aging.
Personal hygiene products are no small thing, no luxury, as you well know. You’re not leaving the house without having used them.
Thus, think about the trauma for a child hygienically unprepared for school. Think of the cruelty that surely awaits them. Think of the pain and guilt of the parents. Maybe you knew a kid in class who was picked on because he or she might not have been well-groomed? Maybe you did the picking on. Maybe you were that kid. All because of a simple lack of hygiene products. Certainly not the kids’ fault.
“Socializing was impossible for them,” Giving the Basics CEO and founder Teresa Hamilton says. “They start believing lies about themselves. One of the kids said, ‘I just felt like I was junk.’” It’s a societal trap, she notes: “This is America’s dirty little secret. Nobody knows that people are trapped like this. These products literally set them free.”
Hamilton learned of the desperate need when a friend fell on hard times and leaned on her for such basics even while receiving government assistance. “She told me that she had gone to the grocery store and they took everything out of her cart that would help her get her kids clean and herself clean and her clothes clean,” Hamilton says.
So Hamilton started Giving the Basics in 2011. What a fortunate outgrowth of her friend’s misfortune.
And what a worthy cause for Republicans and Democrats to unite on. Bipartisanship isn’t dead after all. That’s the second great reason for the Dignity Drive — 6:30 to 8 p.m. April 27 at Moose Lodge No. 1999, 6621 Turner Drive, Kansas City, Kansas (or you can arrange for early pickup by emailing wcyoungrep@gmail.com).
‘We have a lot more in common than we realize’
Asked what she thinks of today’s nasty national politics, Hamilton says she tries not to think of them at all. So she’s thrilled to see bipartisanship break out here.
“I think it would be amazing to have (older) Republicans and Democrats unite together in this,” she says.
“I think it’s a great thing to do, to build friendships with them, and really show the community that it’s time to put people over politics,” adds Lobatos, who met with Pauldine for coffee and ended up chatting with him over two hours.
“I definitely give him all the credit for it. It was a good idea on his part, and I’m glad he reached out,” Pauldine says.
Admittedly, the Dignity Drive idea was catnip for Pauldine, since he actually works with SNAP recipients in his job at Harvesters regional food bank. Regardless, it’s great to see this kind of camaraderie. Pauldine is already good-naturedly prodding his social media followers to out-raise the other side so he can needle his new Republican friend about it.
In truth, toothpaste knows no party. Or deodorant, or laundry detergent, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothbrushes, feminine hygiene products or other supplies the drive is seeking.
“We have a lot more in common than we realize,” says Pauldine. “I don’t think you realize that until you sit down with someone from the opposite party like Valentin and I did. We might disagree on politics, but we definitely agree that our community, especially KCK, has a lot of needs in a lot of different areas.”
Dignity is about the last thing you’d associate with politics anymore. But young Democrats and Republicans in Kansas City aim to bring some back.
If only we could stockpile that for Washington, D.C.
