Missouri

100 volunteers at Harvesters’ MLK Day of Service [Video]
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100 volunteers at Harvesters’ MLK Day of Service [Video]

KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY FED. I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE RIGHT NOW ARE STRUGGLING DUE DUE TO THE WEATHER. THERES A LOT OF PLACES 17 YEAR OLD MICHELLE YOUNG COULD BE ON THIS FROZEN HOLIDAY, BUT TODAY SHE WANTED TO BE HERE TO HELP. WERE FILLING POTATOES. MICHELLE AND HER GROUP VOLUNTEERING AT HARVESTERS ON MONDAY AS PART OF THE CHARITYS GIVING DAY, COINCIDING WITH THE HOLIDAY FOR MLK DAY, WE ARE HAVING A SPECIAL DAY OF SERVICE SO FOLKS ARE COMING OUT VOLUNTEERING IN GROUPS, TAKING TWO HOUR SHIFTS AND KIND OF PAYING TRIBUTE TO HIS LEGACY. FOR GROUPS VOLUNTEERING THEIR TIME, ITS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST HELPING THE COMMUNITY. WE WANT TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARE FED, BUT NOT ONLY THAT, THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS THAT WE CAN DO, NOT JUST ON THIS DAY OF SERVICE CELEBRATE MARTIN LUTHER KING, BUT WHAT I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW IS FIND OUT WHAT YOUR CALLING IS, WHAT YOUR PASSION AND HOW YOU CAN SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE. THE GROUP, ONE OF MORE THAN A DOZEN VOLUNTEERING THEIR TIME ON MONDAY. TWO HARVESTERS, MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE IN ALL. THERES ALWAYS GOING TO BE SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO DOESNT HAVE WHAT YOU HAVE. SO ITS IMPORTANT THAT YOU SHOW TO OTHERS THAT ITS OKAY TO GIVE BACK. AND THATS SOMETHING MICHELLE COULDNT AGREE MORE WITH. AS A COMMUNITY, WE ALL MUST LEAN ON ONE ANOTHER TO MAKE IT IN THE WORLD. ITS VERY HARD OUT IN TODAYS SOCIETY AND WITHOUT EACH OTHER, NONE OF US ARE GOING TO MAKE IT IN KANSAS CITY. ALAN SHOPE KMBC NINE NEWS. AND IF YOU WAN

Community donates pop tabs to Ronald McDonald House [Video]
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Community donates pop tabs to Ronald McDonald House [Video]

A Missouri family is expressing their gratitude to the Ronald McDonald House with a unique and heartwarming tradition. The Fox family, along with the town of Union Star, has made it an annual affair to collect and donate pop tabs, turning them into a substantial contribution for the Ronald McDonald House.The Fox family’s most recent donation weighed in at 134 pounds. The pop tabs, collected throughout the year, are recycled, and the proceeds are used to fund the various programs provided by the Ronald McDonald House.”We take those pop tabs, we work with our recycling partner, and turn them into money,” said Tami Greenberg, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities. The funds generated from these efforts directly contribute to the charity’s mission of providing support and accommodation to families with children undergoing medical treatment.The Fox family’s connection to the Ronald McDonald House is deeply personal. Maddi Fox, 8 years old, was diagnosed with leukemia. The family spent numerous nights at the Ronald McDonald House during her four-year battle with the disease. Now cancer-free for two years, Maddi and her family are giving back in a meaningful way.”I don’t know how else to say thank you other than giving back this way,” said Emily Fox, Maddi’s mother. The tradition gained momentum when the Fox family found themselves back at the Ronald McDonald House after the premature birth of their fourth child, Brooks. The community of Union Star has embraced the cause, with the annual collection becoming a town-wide event.Over the past six years, the Union Star community has donated 1,200 pounds of pop tabs.

Christmas store opens for 41st holiday season in Independence [Video]
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Places To Donate

Christmas store opens for 41st holiday season in Independence [Video]

The Community Services League Christmas Store in Independence is entering its fourth decade of helping families provide a happy holiday experience for their kids. It’s the 41st year of the week-long free shopping event for Eastern Jackson County families in need.The event makes sure kids smile a little bit more this holiday season.The store opened in the Independence Square on Monday with more than 300 volunteers and enough toys to fill Santa’s sleigh.”It engages so many people in our community are volunteers the 1500 or so independence families that will get support through this event,” Doug Cowan with the Community Services League told KMBC 9 on Monday.The store says they’re still looking for donations that anyone can bring to downtown Independence.While the program has already signed up its full allotment of families, they say if you need help and you’re still looking for some holiday gifts, there are other options.”We would encourage them to call the United Way 211 helpline,” Cowan said.The community services league still has stores in Blue Springs and Oak Grove that are yet to open.KMBC 9 is also partnering up with Giving The Basics for Soap and Hope for the Holidays. You can learn more about that here.

Notre Dame de Sion students create bilingual book drive [Video]
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Notre Dame de Sion students create bilingual book drive [Video]

There’s a new class project at Notre Dame de Sion High School.Students at the Kansa City, Missouri, school want to help children read, even if they don’t speak English.These high schoolers believe few things can be as crucial for a parent than being able to read a book to their child.”Whenever it comes to English not being your first language, it’s really hard to go home and read a book with your parents,” 17-year-old Isabelle Deconink told KMBC9.That’s why Deconink and her classmates started a bilingual book drive to collect books printed in two languages.”That’s why bilingual books are really important because they have both of the languages on each page,” Deconink said. The idea started with students designing real-world impact projects that would immediately help the Kansas City community.”Maybe let’s say, if they’re an immigrant family, the children are usually more focused on speaking English and really connecting with their school, but then they kind of lose that cultural identity that they have,” 17-year-old Munira Mohamed said. There are 11 students in the class, and three are working specifically on the bilingual book drive.”It’s hard for parents when they don’t understand the language and their kid is learning, and they don’t get a chance to speak that language,” 17-year-old Vikki Muchai said. The student group says it’s the first year of the bilingual book drive project, and they don’t really have a goal for how many books they want to get. They just want to get as many books as they can to the families who need them.”These books are generally easy to find, but there’s not a lot of them in circulation in the Kansas City area right now,” Deconink said. If you want to contribute to the cause, the students have an Amazon wish list set up. You can also donate directly to the project’s Venmo @YOUth-United.

Independence Christmas Store in need of volunteers and donations [Video]
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Places To Donate

Independence Christmas Store in need of volunteers and donations [Video]

The Independence Christmas store is entering its fourth decade of helping families provide a happy holiday experience for their kids.But just like other area charities, theyre in need of some help. It’s the 41st year of the week-long free shopping event for Eastern Jackson County families in need.The event makes sure kids smile a little bit more this holiday season.Things are harder than ever. Times are tough. Folks are going to need a lot of help this season providing Christmas for their families, and we’re here to help,” Community Services League representative Jennifer Hurst said.The Community Services League says it’s the volunteers and donations that make all the tradition work. They’re looking for more of both.The goal of the Christmas store is to help more than 5,000 families in eastern Jackson County have something unwrapped over the holidays.We make it into a really big store shopping experience for our families so they can have the most dignified experience possible,” Hurst said. The store is hoping to get around 300 volunteers. If you’d like to volunteer, donate, or learn more about the Independence Christmas Store, you can visit the CSL’s website.

The Mayor’s Christmas Tree arrives at Crown Center in Kansas City [Video]
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How to Raise Funds for Non-profit

The Mayor’s Christmas Tree arrives at Crown Center in Kansas City [Video]

The Mayor’s Christmas Tree has arrived at Crown Center this morning.It’s a reminder that the holiday season is about to begin but there’s a more profound tradition tied in too.Kansas City has received its yearly gift from Sweet Home, Oregon. Crown Center is the new home for a 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree. The tradition represents many things, including the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Fund.Fortunately, this tradition isnt an expensive one for the city. The previous year’s tree gets carved into thousands of ornaments. The sales of those ornaments make up the bulk of the fundraising for the fund. That money is then donated to give gift cards, Christmas gifts and holiday parties hosted by the KC Parks Department to senior citizens, low-income families, people with disabilities and many others. This year’s ornaments were created by artists at Hallmark. The 2023 design is a salute to the Crown Center shops, which first opened 50 years ago. The massive tree is unloaded piece by piece. The branches make it impossible for the tree to travel in one piece on its long journey from the forests of Oregon.It will be hoisted up tomorrow. By the time it’s all said and done, nearly 12,000 lights and ornaments will adorn the tree. You can find more details regarding the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Fund, here.

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) – Farmer Rancher Grant Writing Workshop [Video]
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Grant Writing for Non-Profits

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) – Farmer Rancher Grant Writing Workshop [Video]

Overview of SARE and grant programs by Miranda Duschack, Small Farm Specialist, Lincoln University of Missouri Cooperative Extension.Demonstration of SARE website and viewing grants. Farmer Presentation by Ryan Tenney Owner and Operator of Sankara Farms in Kansas City, MO, on awarded grants “A Citizen Science Approach to Building Multiple Johnson-Su Bioreactors to Increase Soil Health,Vegetable Nutrient Density and Urban Food Sovereignty” and “BlackEmancipatory Agriculture Asset Map and Returning Generation Black Farmer mentorship program.” #LUMO #CAEHS #LUCE

Starlight Theater launches financial campaign to add covered seating [Video]
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Fundraising for Non-profits

Starlight Theater launches financial campaign to add covered seating [Video]

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Kansas Citys Starlight Theater is embarking on a new capital improvement campaign.Dubbed Uniquely KC, the goal is to raise $40 million.Plans include physical improvements to the venue.A giant canopy is expected to provide better lighting for more daytime shows the theater is planning.The canopy will also provide some weather protection to 3200 of the 8000 seats. This is a step in the right direction and a little bit of a value add that yes, we will have a little bit of weather protection from the canopy as well, said Lindsey Rood-Clifford, Starlight President & CEO.But she says the greater impact from additional funding will be for more programming.So, its not only expanding performance programming as we know it now for the summer programming that most people are familiar with, but also arts, education and access programming that happens both backstage here at Starlight, but also out in the community, Rood-Clifford said.State Senator Barbara Anne Washington said it was a pretty easy sell with colleagues to convince them to sign off on $2 million in Missouri funding due to state tax revenue numbers showing how the theater is paying off.And once we were able to do that, then we were able to convince our people including a thank you to Governor Parson for signing off on it. We have this gem right here in the middle of the urban core that everyone around here, including our city, should be able to take advantage of, she said.Lauren Howard sang at a performance announcing Uniquely KC Monday morning.Hopefully, I have an influence on people wanting to bring more money into Starlight. I think its important to give people opportunities that might not have them as much, she said.Fundraising leaders say ultimately, upgrading Starlight for the future is about making memories.Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw recalled when her dad brought her to Starlight to see Cab Calloway.She even offered her own Calloway imitation.Hi dee hi dee hi dee ho, Ryana Parks-Shaw sang and then chuckled.Rood-Clifford said the foundation for Uniquely KC was raised before the pandemic started.As a result, the campaign is already more than halfway towards its goal.By Monday morning $21,618,000 had been raised.The goal is to have the canopy in place by the summer of 2026, in time for the World Cup in Kansas City and Starlight Theaters 75th birthday.