Roadblocks pop up in organization’s effort to feed the hungry

Cones had been set up along Parallel Parkway, in this file photo from August, to direct traffic near a mobile food pantry site on Saturdays on Parallel Parkway. (File photo)
Cones had been set up along Parallel Parkway, in this file photo from August, to direct traffic near a mobile food pantry site on Saturdays on Parallel Parkway. (File photo)

A Civitan Club program to feed the hungry at CrossRoads Family Church, 8822 Parallel Parkway, is in jeopardy as it has been told it needs to work with the Unified Government to handle the traffic there.

Janice Witt, the Civitan Club president who is working with this mobile food truck program, said her program had done everything that the local government officers had requested of it, including purchasing cones to funnel traffic, but recently, it was told it could not receive more food deliveries. She said the club sponsoring the pantry had worked with authorities and had placed traffic cones where officers told them to place them.

She said she has every intention of holding the mobile food truck distribution this Saturday at the church, and the volunteers will be there, but that the Unified Government has been talking to Harvesters and asking them not to send the food truck there.

Witt said traffic was not very heavy on Saturdays on Parallel Parkway, and that the cones they were directed to place on Parallel did not have that much effect on traffic.

Witt said there has been an officer present and volunteers to direct traffic on a side street located near the church, where cars are parking while they wait for the food distribution. She said there have been no incidents, no tickets and no altercations there. She has previously been working with the sheriff on this project, and there also have been police officers present.

“The problem is we are not the face of hunger in this town, and Wyandotte County wants to keep it that way,” Witt said.

There are some persons who do not want people to think there could be people who are hungry west of I-635, but there are needy people here, she said.

About 20 persons who live close to the church in surrounding neighborhoods are among the people who go to the mobile food pantry to receive food, and of the rest of the people, the majority of them are in the western Kansas City, Kan., or the western Wyandotte County area, she said.

Witt said that the mobile food program at the church has a contract with Harvesters that requires them to bring the mobile food truck there. She said the volunteers will be there Saturday and they expected the food truck to arrive, but they really do not know whether it will be there. They have no way of feeding 1,000 people, though, without the food truck, she said.

She added that since receiving the letter, she had tried to contact the UG about working with them on this, but had not been able to reach anyone.

Witt said about 2,100 people a month are being served by the mobile food pantry at the church site, on the second and third Saturdays, and between 400 to 500 people are served at the food pantry inside the church building, which has scheduled days, Monday and Wednesday, that it is open by appointment. There is also clothing assistance at the church.

The church mobile site now is supplying 20 percent of Harvesters’ food that is designated for Wyandotte County. Three in 10 children in Wyandotte County are considered “food insecure,” meaning they don’t know whether they will have enough to eat today.

Kristen Golden is a resident of the nearby Indian Woods subdivision where the cars are parked along the street. She also is a volunteer with the mobile food pantry at the church.

She said only two or three of the neighbors are against cars parking on the street, while the general feeling in the neighborhood is positive.

She said once the cars are parked on the street, there is no movement, no one getting out of the cars and no loud music. She said it does not block traffic or the intersection. There are volunteer parking attendants.

Golden noted the neighbors who are complaining don’t have any problems with cars coming into the neighborhood and parking on the streets to go to garage sales.

She said that the people coming to receive free food are from that neighborhood as well as from western Kansas City, Kan., Piper, Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. A few neighbors seem to want to kick their neighbors out of the neighborhood, she said.

“The whole thing is just sad,” she said.

Golden said she started attending the CrossRoads church, the former Immanuel Baptist Church, because she saw the signs and cars for this project, and decided she wanted to help volunteer to feed the community. That was the reason she joined the church, she said.

“The church was all about feeding the community, and this was where I want to serve,” she said.

About 90 percent of the congregation is involved in this outreach mobile food pantry project as volunteers, she added.

Witt is asking people to contact the mayor’s office or their commissioner’s office, and Harvesters, to ask that this food distribution be allowed to continue at the church. She has set up a website at this web address.

There has been no response yet to requests made to two persons for a comment.

Cars were parked along one side of the street in this Indian Woods subdivision near a church that is holding a mobile food pantry on Saturdays, in this file photo from August. There were persons assigned to direct traffic. (File photo)
Cars were parked along one side of the street in this Indian Woods subdivision near a church that is holding a mobile food pantry on Saturdays, in this file photo from August. There were persons assigned to direct traffic. (File photo)

An excerpt from a letter Janice Witt received about the mobile food pantry program Civitan Club sponsors at the CrossRoads church.
An excerpt from a letter Janice Witt received about the mobile food pantry program Civitan Club sponsors at the CrossRoads church.

Shaw to be inducted into KCKCC Athletic Hall of Fame

The newest inductee into the KCKCC Athletic Hall of Fame, Duane Shaw, is also a world class competitor in Senior Olympic Games, winning 565 gold medals and 352 silver in 15 years of competition in nine different events. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)
The newest inductee into the KCKCC Athletic Hall of Fame, Duane Shaw, is also a world class competitor in Senior Olympic Games, winning 565 gold medals and 352 silver in 15 years of competition in nine different events. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)

by Alan Hoskins

For 42 years, the name of Duane Shaw has been synonymous not only with Kansas City Kansas Community College but athletics in and around the state of Kansas.

The director of athletics for 12 years and a high school and amateur sports official for more than 40 years, Shaw is the newest inductee into the KCKCC Athletic Hall of Fame and will be inducted along with the late Keith Lindsey prior to the final game of the 2014 Keith Lindsey Basketball Classic Saturday, Nov. 15, at about 6 p.m.

A 1956 graduate of Pomona Rural High School where he starred in basketball, football and baseball, Shaw was a member of Kansas State’s nationally ranked basketball squad as a freshman on his way to earning both BS and Masters degrees. He began his career in education at Central Junior High School where from 1961-72, he taught health, physical education and driver’s education. In 1969, the received the Jaycees’ Outstanding Young Educator Award.

Shaw joined KCKCC as Director of Student Activities in 1972 when the college moved from downtown KCK to its present location. During 15 years in the position, he started the college’s first Academic Challenge team and Teacher-Staff Appreciation Day; initiated KCKCC’s outstanding program of trips to foreign countries; and conducted countless new student orientation programs, blood drives, student activities workshops and political forums. The sponsor for Student Senate and Phi Theta Kappa, he twice received the KCKCC Outstanding Staff Service Award along with a Career Education Award in 1978 and the Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Service Award in 1988.

But it was in athletics that Shaw was best known. The Director of Athletics from 1987-1999, he took KCKCC athletic programs to new levels by increasing the number of coaches, athletes and scholarships; improving physical facilities; developing a training room; and increasing the budget resulting in a marked increase in grade point averages and graduate rates of the athletes. Shaw was also heavily involved with the Jayhawk Athletic Conference where he served on countless conference and Region VI committees. In 1991, he was selected to “Who’s Who in American Education.”

At the same time, Shaw was widely recognized throughout the Midwest as one of the premier basketball officials and baseball and softball umpires. During a 30-year career, Shaw worked more than 1,100 high school and college basketball games including eight state championship games. An officer in the Northeast Kansas Officials Association and the Kansas College Officials Association, he also conducted numerous officiating clinics.

For 40 years, he umpired baseball at every possible level, from Pee Wee and Little League all the way through Ban Johnson and the college level including one stint in the major leagues during the strike season. A photo of Shaw calling a strike on Royals’ Hall of Famer George Brett still looms large in the Shaw household.

He umpired 22 state high school champions and numerous Big Eight, NCAA Regionals and NAIA Nationals and was one of three umpires selected for the filming of “Baseball Rules Update” which was used nationally by umpires associations. Three times, in 1992, 1993 and 1995, he was chosen National Federation Umpire of the Year for Kansas.

His career as a softball umpire lasted even longer, 41 years, and included hundreds of local, state and regional tournament and five Amateur Softball Association national tournaments. Often honored, he received the KC Umpires Assn. Distinguished Award in 1969 and was named Kansas City’s ASA Umpire of the Year in 1970 and Kansas’ Outstanding Softball Umpire in 1986.

While he officially retired from KCKCC July 1, 1999, Shaw has never been one to sit around and rest on his laurels. He still works mornings at the College making deliveries throughout the campus – when he’s not competing in his current passion, the Senior Olympic Games where he’s enjoying an All World career.

You may have to read this twice to get the full effect but – in 15 years (2000-2014) Shaw has competed in 155 Senior Games at 30 different locations in 12 states in bowling, track, table tennis, shuffleboard, electronic darts and sports skills in soccer, football, softball and basketball, a total of 1,333 events. Of those events, he has won a staggering 565 gold medals, 352 silvers and 200 bronze.

His greatest success has come in basketball where he’s won six gold medals at the World Games in St. George, Utah. He’s also won two third place trophies at the International Shootout and at the age of 76, is currently ranked 10th in the nation for shooters 50 and over by the National Basketball Shooters Association.

This year alone, he’s won state championships in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Nevada and Missouri and senior tournaments in St. Louis, Perryville and Springfield, Mo., and Salina, Kan. His score in winning the Gold in Hot Shot Shooting at the World Games was the second highest of 95 shooters.

His success, however, does not just happen. In 2014, Shaw made 97 percent of more than 55,000 free throws in practice and 96 percent in competition. He also shot 76 percent in three-point shooting where he’s won six gold medals and a silver.

For many years, Shaw’s wife, Ola, also competed and was a frequent winner in the Senior Games, particularly in bowling and basketball. Married 51 years, they have two sons, Howard and Danny. A nationally known physician, Howard was inducted into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame in 2013.

Alan Hoskins is the sports information director for KCKCC.

Silver Harvest Banquet to be held Nov. 15

The Silver Harvest Banquet will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Upper Jewell Building at Kansas City Kansas Community College, 7250 State Ave.

The event, sponsored by The African American Student Union, will include a dinner and recognition of individuals who demonstrate a commitment to young people.

The theme of the event is “Honoring Our Stars: The Sky is the Limit.”

Tickets are still available for the Silver Harvest Banquet. Tickets are $20 or $10 with a current KCKCC student ID and are on sale through Nov. 12.

After the dinner portion of the event, individuals will be recognized with the Richard T. Lee Award as well as the Rising Star Award, which is given to a KCKCC faculty or staff member. The Richard T. Lee award is named after former Dean of Student Services Richard Lee. He was also a former TAASU advisor who demonstrated a commitment to young people.

Last year’s honorees included Rosette Scover, owner of Rosie’s Dance Academy in Kansas City, Kan.; Commissioner Tarence Maddox, Unified Government commissioner and founder of the Books Not Bars Mentor Program; Rev. Walza Starr II, pastor of Faith City Christian Church, one of the fastest growing churches in Wyandotte County; the Rev. Jarvis Collier, pastor of Pleasant Green Baptist Church, author and community developer; and Rashanda Rhodes, college and career coordinator at Schlagle High School.

The theme of this year’s banquet is “Honoring Our Stars: The Sky is the Limit” and the featured speaker will be Judge Tim Dupree, a former student at KCKCC.

For more information on the Silver Harvest Banquet or to purchase tickets, contact Jeremiah McCluney at jmccluney@kckcc.edu or call 913-288-7602.
– Story from Kelly Rogge, KCKCC