JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. — Nonprofits across the Kansas City area want you to take advantage of Amazon Prime Day by giving back to their mission.
CASA Johnson & Wyandotte Counties
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Johnson & Wyandotte Counties is an organization that works with children who have been removed from their homes and experienced abuse or neglect. The children they serve will be heading back to school over the next coming weeks and CASA wants to ensure the children they serve have basic necessities.
"We used to do a back to school drive and we found that there were so many other great organizations in the community that are doing that kind of service, so we want to do something different, something that our kids are having a harder time accessing," said Natalie Julien with CASA of Johnson & Wyandotte Counties.
CASA says its Amazon Wish List helps meet that need. The list is filled with undergarments, toiletries and hair accessories, which are some of the most in-demand items. People are encouraged to purchase these items, which can also be bought at any retail store and dropped of at CASA's new Johnson County location at 6400 Glenwood St., Suite 100 in Building 4 of the Cloverleaf Office Park in Overland Park, Kansas 66202.
Items donated will be given to children during the month of August. The goal is to collect all items on the wish list and have at least 10 of each.
"I am aware of a child, an elementary school aged child that came into care wearing toddler-sized underwear and that's not uncommon," said Denise Gaddy, CASA advocate, "these kids get moved often and a lot of times their belongings don't make it with them, especially things like hygiene products, undergarments, hair care products, those sorts of things."
Operation Breakthrough
Your donation dollar could stretch further with Prime deals or you could send your savings on to local charities. You might find some prime deals on the Amazon Wish List for Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City, an organization working to help children in poverty excel in school and provide them with a "stable home environment."
The organization's wish list items include clothing, toiletries, school supplies and more.
Happy Bottoms
Happy Bottoms, which helps Kansas City-area families who need diapers, has a constantly running Amazon Wish List. The organization has seen a 37% increase in need over 2022. National Diaper Bank Network, of which Happy Bottoms is a part, released research last month that shows what they called a sharp increase that 47% of families reported diaper need.
“This past month, in June we distributed more than 271,000 diapers, which is just unprecedented,” said Ashely Allison with Happy Bottoms. “I don't know if it's continued inflation or more people just finding out that our services available, but families just need the help. Any way that community can help is welcome."
Happy Bottoms accepts all diapers and pull ups (though preferably not overnights) but especially needs sizes four, five and six. Amazon isn’t the only way to help. If you find a deal somewhere else or ever have individual diapers to donate, you can always donate diapers to their Kansas City location in the Waldo neighborhood. They accept monetary donations as well.
