| The History of Hope In The Streets |
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Our story is one of faith and family. On a Sunday morning, in the fall of 2004,
while praying before the start of mass that day, a thought came into my head
as strong and as loud as you can imagine. It became clearer and stronger all
throughout that day's services. The thought was simple and compelling ...
Help the Homeless. It seemed as though God was talking to me, and he
was ready to send our family in a new direction.
That day after church we talked it over as a family and decided to put together "Winter Warmth Kits" for the homeless people in Kansas City. We didn't know exactly what we should provide, and we really didn't know how to get the kits to the homeless. After discussing what should go in the kits, we went shopping and put together 8 kits that each included:
The local Salvation Army helped us get the kits to those who really needed them, and they know where the truly homeless are in town. After riding along with the Salvation Army for more than a year now, we are much more familiar with the conditions and locations of Kansas City's homeless. We have met and talked directly with hundreds of people who, for one reason or another, are literally living on the streets. In the fall of 2005, we started up our Winter Warmth Kit campaign again, but this time decided to reach out to our local community and our friends and family to see if anybody else wanted to contribute to the effort. The response was excellent, and because of the very generous donations we received, we were able to assemble 50 kits ... more than we imagined possible. It felt like we "touched a nerve" in the community and we found that people really wanted to help the homeless population in Kansas City. We decided to take the next step and incorporate as a Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Charitable Foundation. This allows us to accept donations and write tax deductible receipts, and also let's us buy items for our charity tax exempt. In essence, it was a necessary step to establish credibility for our charitable efforts. We are up and running now and have defined several additional programs, in addition to the Winter Warmth Kit campaign, to address the homeless situation in Kansas City. We hope to take the homeless off the streets for good, even if it's just one person at a time. We have high hopes of making a difference in the lives of our homeless brothers and sisters. If you believe in what we are doing, please help us spread the word.
Sincerly, |