OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — A Kansas City-area blogger is hoping to give back to those fighting against COVID-19 by raising money to buy food for front line workers.
Overland Park native, Aubrey Schoenekase has almost 79,000 followers on Instagram. She focuses on fitness, health and everything in between.
But this week, she is focusing on front line workers as she hopes to raise money to buy food for those fighting against COVID-19.
It all started when a friend of hers wanted to raise money for her mom, who is an ICU nurse in Texas, and wanted to be able to buy food for her mom's coworkers.
Schoenekase shared her friend's story on her social media and her followers raised $2,000 in an hour.
That sparked an idea to raise money to buy food for front line workers in Kansas City after getting tons of messages from doctors and nurses about how the donations of food have halted.
“They all shared the same message with me, which was last year we were kind of seen as the heroes, and this year, we just aren’t seen in that way anymore. We don’t feel appreciated, the donations have stopped. I just thought, how can we not see what we can do for these people? I know that I am not alone in feeling that these people are keeping our world going right now," Schoenekase said.
She said she felt the need to do something for those who are sacrificing their own health to save others.
“These people are the most selfless people. They are quite literally giving everything they have to people, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. They are there to help you and they are sacrificing their health, their mental health and they’re showing up every single day, no matter what happens," Schoenekase said.
Donations are being made through her Venmo account.
The money raised will be sent to various hospitals in the metro and outside of KC via DoorDash and other food delivery systems.
The fundraiser started on Tuesday, and in the first three hours, her followers raised $10,000. As of Thursday night, $17,000 has been raised, but Schoenekase wants to continue to raise as much as possible so she can give back to several hospitals.
She will take nominations of hospitals on Monday via her Instagram account.
