DCSC: Juggernaut of care for homeless & hungry

The Downtown Community Services Center in Downtown Kansas City recently reached milestones with reStart and the Kansas City Community Kitchen at its humble home at 8th & Paseo.

reStart, the DCSC’s first tenant, marks its fourth anniversary of providing shelter and supportive services to homeless men, women, youth and families with the goal of helping them move toward self-sufficiency and ending homelessness in our community. In 2012, reStart provided support to 6,680 adults, 3,370 families, and 1,367 children, and made a bold move by opening the Housing Solutions Center (HSC).

“That placed us at the forefront of a new approach to working with the homeless in our community: helping prevent at-risk families and individuals from becoming homeless in the first place, or helping to rapidly find new housing for them if they do lose their homes,” said Evie Craig, reStart executive director. “The HSC provides focused case management services for our clients to help them reach their goals.

The Kansas City Community Kitchen, operated by Episcopal Community Services, recently marked its second anniversary at the DCSC. Each weekday, hundreds of hungry people in Downtown line up and wait for the clock to strike noon. For the next two hours, the doors will be open and the Community Kitchen will serve about 600 hot meals. Some of these hungry people are homeless—most have jobs, but do not have enough to eat.

“This facility has not only allowed us to serve more people in need, but also to do so in a way that improves health and provides hope for a better future,” said John Hornbeck, of ECS. “All of this would not have been possible without the Downtown business community. And, we need their help now with funding for food to serve at the kitchen.”

In the two years, the Community Kitchen served more than 310,000 hot, nutritious meals – an increase of nearly 53,000 meals or 20.4 percent over the kitchen’s previous location. Hornbeck explained that a fundraising effort is underway to make sure that the Community Kitchen keeps its pantries full of fresh and healthy foods.

You can help today by donating to this noble cause with a modest contribution. The following levels have been established for the Community Kitchen. For more information, visit Donate Now for Hunger Relief.

  • $50 – Good Neighbor – Feed one person for a month
  • $25 – Table Captain – Feed a table of guests for one day
  • $75 – Family Friends – Feed a family for two weeks
  • $100 – Hands Together – Feed a couple for a month
  • $150 – Food to Go – Meals-on-Wheels Food for a Week
  • $200 – Keep it Fresh – one day rescue & delivery of food

The roots of the DCSC began with the Downtown Council’s Human Services Committee nearly a decade ago. The Downtown Council championed the private fundraising of more than $1 million to purchase the building at 8th & Paseo in 2007 and renovate it into a facility to help individuals to become healthy and re-integrated back into society.

“The committee works to ensure that human service needs of Downtown residents are met using best practices and to ensure the quality of care and effectiveness of operation,” said Sean O’Byrne, vice president of the Downtown Council. “An important goal of the committee is to provide a safe, accessible, full service, daytime, multi-use facility to assist the homeless community in the delivery of services Downtown.”

 

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