The season may have ended and most current players may have departed Kansas City, but the mission of the Chiefs organization to contribute in the community has not.
Led by former Chiefs linebackers Anthony Davis and Ken Kremer and with the help of the Chiefs Red Coaters, the Chiefs Community Caring Team visited “Giving the Basics” on Tuesday afternoon to help with the handling of donations.
“We’re really Kansas City’s hygiene hub, where we collect all the items that people would need to get clean, to get a job or for a kid to not be bullied or rejected at school because they smell bad, so we intake a bunch of products,” the “Giving the Basics” executive director, Teresa Hamilton, said. “Everyone donates hygiene items to us. We then sort, count, record and distribute those 256 distribution sites in Kansas City. We have 65 pantries and we’ve got 14 school districts, and we’re in all the nurses’ offices and then we’re in all the pantries.
“And the people will come in and request the items, or a student will be identified as someone who has a need, and then once they’re identified, their sent to the nurse’s office, and she says, ‘Hey, do you need any of these things at home?’ Then the child gets what they need. If the parents don’t have the products, the kids are not going to have the products.”
Currently, the organization has provided more than 79,000 students in the Kansas City metro area with essential items such as deodorant, razors and toilet paper.
“Some children, of course, don’t have the proper hygiene because their parents are willing, but unable to afford the necessary items,” Kremer explained. “We have toothbrushes and toothpaste and necessities that you and I think nothing of. We go to the store when we want it, and these kids can’t afford it. So, we’re trying to get it for them and eliminate that problem for some kids.”
According to its website, the products “Giving the Basics” provides immediately impact low-income families with small children, students, battered women, veterans, seniors, former prisoners and the mentally ill.
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For more information on how to help, click here.
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Author: Pete Sweeney
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