KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas Citians know to call 911 in an emergency or 988 for mental health help, but there's another three digit number residents in the metro may not know about, 211.
United Way of Greater Kansas City operates the 24/7, live call center to connect residents with information and local resources such as where to find warming shelters, how to get utility assistance and what to do when major disasters or storms happen.
Local call operators saw a major rise in calls this past week with the winter storm that moved through the Kansas City area.
Almost half of the calls from Sunday to Tuesday asked for help related to the storm and there's been a 43% increase in the overall number of calls since 2023.
"During the storm we saw a significant spike in calls to the 211 center," 211 said Todd Jordan, executive director of 211. "We have over 1,100 calls over the weekend which is way above our normal average."
Jordan explained the majority of calls sought help finding shelter, a task that wasn't easy given the rough weather conditions.
"There was a lot of demand on our social service agencies and they, at the same time, are trying to keep their facilities running and their staff safe," Jordan said. "The availability of resources, whether or not the were able to even be open especially on Monday when we had near white out conditions, it was incredibly difficult to operate."
Though the worst of the storm has passed, United Way of Greater Kansas City is getting ready for an even greater need.
"A lot of people had stress and strain on their HVAC systems, they had to run the heat a lot, and we know that in just a few weeks we're going to be seeing spikes in utility bills," Jordan said. "A lot of our households that are out there are going to struggle to pay maybe a gas bill or an electric bill and we've got to do what we can as an organization and as a community to make sure we have resources available to people."
Calling 211 is free, confidential and available 24/7.
"We know that while the storm might be ending right now, our work is really just beginning," Jordan said.
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