Police, partners deliver food to those who can't get to distribution sites
Publish Date 04/16/2020
KCPD social service workers have joined with community partners to ensure families and individuals get the food they need during the stay-home order to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The project started April 13. Since that time, the partners have distributed more than 300 individual meals, and 50 family meals a day. The family meals feed at least four people. Therefore, about 500 people a day have been getting fed from this project. Starting April 16, distribution is changing to increase the capacity to 536 people a day.
The meals are provided through a partnership with Veterans Community Project, Cerner, and Sysco. The meals are dropped off at Central Patrol Division. Social service workers and community interaction officers then separate them according to where they are going to be distributed. Volunteers from Vive Culture Church and Lifechurch.tv pack the meals into their cars and take them to various locations across the city. These locations were selected by KCPD social service workers and include senior living apartments, public housing, domestic violence shelters, children’s shelters, and more. The location managers distribute the food to residents. The goal of this food distribution endeavor is to get food to those who need it, but are struggling to get to distribution sites across the metro area.
“We have so many people and organizations contributing,” Central Patrol Social Worker Tori Cawman said. “It’s pretty humbling.”
As the distribution effort has continued, the partners started to run out of boxes to pack the food. Fortunately, Home Depot donated 200 boxes for shipping the food. This will keep the food distribution going for at least a month. KCPD and its partners aim to keep up the food deliveries until the stay home order ends. Kansas City, Mo., has extended the order until May 15. In the first seven days of operation, the partnership has provided enough food to feed more than 3,000 people.