KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, including neighborhoods in the southern parts of the city. Have a story idea to share with Megan? Send her a tip.
—
Aug. 10 is a date that Morning Star Baptist Church and Local Investment Commission (LINC) in Kansas City, Missouri, wants families to know about.
The church and group hope they can create change for thousands of families through school supplies and other forms of unrestricted support.
The annual event is dubbed Caring Communities Day.
"One thing I can say from my personal experience as a parent is that LINC really cares about the parents; they really do," said Tierra Story, a mother whose children participate in the LINC program.
Story says it’s been a decade of feeling the support.
"Oh, they care about me. They not just people looking from the outside; they care about me," she said. "I got nothing but love ever since my kids have been in LINC."
Story wants other parents to feel it too.
"What I can say as one of the families affected by gun violence, especially with a young child, it hurts; it really hurts. We gotta love on each other, and that’s what we are missing," she said.
She says care looks like getting help at 2024 Caring Communities Day on Aug. 10 in east Kansas City.
"We want the community to understand there is help," said Pastor John Modest Miles, with Morning Star Baptist Church.
Miles talked about the impact the event and other resources hope to have on families.
"It causes people to direct their minds in another direction other than that of violence," Miles said. “We want to make sure we can be some a source of help to them.”
Miles says what pulls families apart is the "don’t haves."
"We want to make sure they go back to school comfortable," he said.
So they’ll supply them with all school supplies.
"Folders, journals, calculations, little booklets," said Drake Bushnell, with LINC.
Also available are chargers, produce, A1C diabetic health tests, rental help, and a long list of other resources here.
Organizers say they are claiming space at east 27th Street and Prospect Avenue to show support in a big way.
"That they can go home being stronger as a family and stronger with each other," Miles said.
The event runs on from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10.
—