First group of KC COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund grant recipients includes some Wyandotte County organizations

Several Wyandotte County organizations are on the list of grant recipients that will receive aid from the Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund.

The fund is distributing more than $2.6 million in aid to 56 area nonprofits for housing support, food assistance, access to health care and other critical human services, according to an announcement.

“At a time when our region is facing an unprecedented demand on human services, I’m proud this partnership has seen everyone in the community coming together to take action and make a real difference,” said United Way of Greater Kansas City president and CEO Brent Stewart. “The programs and organizations benefitting from this first round of grants are those on the front lines of providing the most urgent of basic needs. They are invaluable, and we thank them for their efforts. And, we thank each and every individual and organization whose contributions made this possible.”

“Thanks to our community’s generosity, the fund was able to quickly collect and deploy resources to address critical needs in vulnerable populations,” said Debbie Wilkerson, President and CEO, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. “But this is only the beginning. There are more rounds of grants to come.”

Additional grants will be released on a rolling basis as fundraising continues and needs are identified throughout all phases of the crisis.

Initial grant recipients:

  • Avenue of Life
  • Bishop Sullivan Center
  • Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph
  • Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas
  • Center of Grace
  • City Union Mission
  • Community Action Agency of Greater Kansas City
  • Community LINC
  • Community Services League
  • Connecting For Good
  • Cross-Lines Community Outreach
  • Della Lamb Community Services
  • Don Bosco Centers
  • East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corp.
  • El Centro
  • Fairmount Community Center
  • Feed Northland Kids
  • Food Equality Initiative
  • Friends of Yates
  • Giving the Basics
  • Grandview Assistance Program
  • Guadalupe Centers
  • Harvesters
  • Health Partnership Clinic, Inc.
  • Heart of America Indian Center
  • Heart to Heart International
  • Hillcrest Ministries of MidAmerica, Inc.
  • Hope Faith
  • Johnson County Mental Health Center
  • Kansas City’s Medicine Cabinet
  • KC CARE Health Center
  • Kearney Enrichment Council
  • Kim Wilson Housing
  • Leavenworth Interfaith Community of Hope
  • Lee’s Summit Social Services
  • Love INC of Clay County
  • Metro Lutheran Ministry
  • Newhouse
  • Northland Shepherd’s Center
  • PACES, Inc.
  • Platte Senior Services, Inc.
  • reStart, Inc.
  • Rose Brooks Center
  • Safehome
  • Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center
  • SAVE, Inc.
  • Sharon Lee Family Health Care
  • Shepherd’s Center KC Central
  • Shepherd’s Center of Raytown
  • Swope Health Services
  • Synergy Services, Inc.
  • United Inner City Services
  • Veterans Community Project
  • Vibrant Health
  • Working Families’ Friend
  • Wyandot Center

The Advisory Board of the Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund

The 20-member Advisory Board is made up of foundation, civic and community representatives who oversee the Fund. These individuals have both an understanding of the community’s needs and the charitable organizations that work to serve those needs, and they work together to assess potential grant recipients. The members of the board include:

• Mayra Aguirre, Hall Family Foundation
• Julie Brewer, United Community Services of Johnson County
• Rita Cortes, Menorah Heritage Foundation
• Micah Rose Emerson, Community Representative
• Carla Gibson, REACH Healthcare Foundation
• Geoff Jolley, LISC Greater Kansas City
• Jan Kauk, North Kansas City School Board of Education
• Randy Lopez, Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools Board Member
• Jim MacDonald, United Way of Greater Kansas City
• McClain Bryant Macklin, Civic Council of Greater Kansas City
• Maureen Mahoney, Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas
• Denise St. Omer, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
• Rachel Russell, Community Representative
• Debbie Sosland-Edelman, The Sosland Foundation
• Carrie Stewart, William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank Trustee
• Qiana Thomason, Health Forward Foundation
• Randy Vance, Sunderland Foundation
• David Warm, moderator, Mid-America Regional Council
• Michele Watley, Shirley’s Kitchen Cabinet
• Carey Wilkerson, The H & R Block Foundation and the Marion and Henry Bloch Charitable Foundation

Donor update
Since the launch of the Fund in March, dozens of new organizations have made significant donations to the fund.

These funders include:

 Academy Bank
 Ann and Gary Dickinson Family Charitable Foundation
 Bank of America
 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
 Burns & McDonnell Foundation
 Cerner Foundation, First Hand
 Cloud L. Cray Foundation
 CommunityAmerica Foundation
 Compass Minerals
 Coventry Family Foundation
 Dave and Dee Dillon Charitable Fund
 Deloitte
 Delta Dental of Missouri
 Evergy
 Francis Family Foundation
 Gautreaux Family Fund
 GEHA
 General Motors
 Gray Family Foundation
 Hulston Family Foundation
 Humana
 JDC Family Foundation
 Jedel Family Foundation
 JMW & Associates, LLC
 John W. & Effie E. Speas Memorial Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee
 Kansas Gas Service, a Division of ONE Gas
 Kao Family Foundation
 Kiewit
 Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Wachstein & their son Julius & Thau Family Trust Fund
 Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation
 Parris Communications
 PNC Foundation
 Price Brothers Charitable Foundation
 PWC Charitable Foundation
 Steve and Carole Price Charitable Foundation
 Stuart A. Schlemmer Charitable Fund
 Tension Envelope Corporation
 The Abe & Anna Bograd Memorial Trust
 The DeBruce Foundation and Paul and Linda DeBruce
 The Granary Fund in memory of Pat and Cliff Jones
 The Ronald D. Deffenbaugh Foundation
 Tim and Elin Murphy Family Foundation
 TruckMovers
 U.S. Bank
 VanTrust Real Estate
 William G. McGowan Charitable Fund