KANSAS CITY, MO — Evergy says it’s working hard to spread good energy.
“With the pandemic, so many places shut down, and when someone is not working, they are concerned about maybe feeding their family rather than giving money to nonprofits,” Cynthia McCarvel, community relations manager for Energy, said.
Evergy says this one-time project will help nonprofits not only with funding but also with supplying workers to help with the project.
“Not only will these nonprofits get $10,000, they will get a team of Evergy employees to help with their project,” McCarvel said.
After receiving 200 applications from nonprofits across their service area and narrowing that list down to 10 finalists, Evergy needs help selecting the three winners.
Evergy is asking people to head to theirFacebook page and click on the Spread Good Energy Post,to choose from the 10 finalists. Of that list, four are here in Kansas City.
The first nonprofit is The Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri, who are working to help girls develop outdoor skills at Camp Tongawood in Tonganoxie, Kansas.
“Camp Tongawood is a wonderful, wonderful campground where girls experience opportunities, skills, development, courage and confidence building in the great outdoors, while also doing environmental stewardship,” CEO Joy Wheeler said.
Wheeler added that this money would go toward a climbing wall, which is truly an investment in the girls.
“The climbing wall is a really critical element on camp and the reverse wall gives girls the first experience of climbing, and they can go to higher adventure activities as they gain more confidence,” Wheeler said, “Building courage, confidence and character is the platform for our girl leadership development program, we do that even in the outdoors.”
The second nonprofit finalist here in Kansas City is Safehome, a shelter for women and children escaping domestic violence, who are in need of basic necessities for their clients. Heidi Wooten, president of Safehome, said domestic violence in Johnson County is increased from 2020 to 2021.
“In 2020 in the state of Kansas, there was one domestic violence incident reported every 23 minutes, one domestic violence murder reported every 10 days and 1 rape reported in our service area, of Johnson and Miami County Kansas,” Wooten said.
Wooten told KSHB 41 News that if they were to receive the $10,000, it would go toward replenishing their storage room filled with necessary supplies, such as toiletries, for the victims who come to their shelters.
“We don’t want there to be that shame, we don’t want there to be that feeling that I am living in a shelter. So, that is why the storage room is so important because it’s the little things that can really brighten somebody’s day when they are dealing with such a major issue,” Wooten said. ”Books and videos and all of those things that you would normally have at home that you would need in a shelter that you weren’t able to bring with you.”
Operation Wildlife in Lawerence, Kansas, is also in the running. Operation Wildlife Director Diane Johnson said that, if they were to win the funds from Evergy, it would help with repairs across the facility that were brought on by natural disasters.
“The $10K is going towards on our wooded educational area to repair perimeter fencing from the trees that were damaged during the the 2019 Linwood tornado,” Johnson said.
Johnson also added that she wishes all of the nominees could receive the funding and said that finances for any nonprofit can be hard to come by.
“We don’t get alternate sources of funding, we’re not supported by any city, state or federal government," Johnson said. "No sales tax, all we get is money from people who bring animals to us. We don’t charge any fees for taking care of these animals, so we are not generating income to do extras like this."
The last and final nonprofit in the running is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, who is working to restore history at Monarch Plaza.
“People who visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum want to know where the Kansas City monarchs played, and they want to come up to this plaza, and they still do, but this want this plaza to be representable to what the Monarchs represented,” Bob Kendrick, president of the museum, said.
Kendrick adds that this year is historic for the history of the Negro leagues.
“We are celebrating two key anniversary dates, the first being of Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier, and when the Monarchs won their last World Series Championship right here in Munincipal Stadium in 1942," Kendrick said.
Kendrick told KSHB 41 News it’s imperative to repair signage and greenery in order to make this place a true tourist attraction for all to enjoy.
“The timeline history of this stadium is just in complete disrepair, so this is going to be completely restored,” Kendrick said. "And over time, its just faded and again there is some symbolism there we don’t want the history of the Negro Leagues to fade."
Voting ends March 25, and the winners will be announced early the following week.
