10 ways to give back around KC this holiday season: food, toys, warm clothes & more
With inflation hitting everyone’s wallets this year harder than in the past and the cost of basics like utilities and rent on the rise, families across Kansas City are having a harder time making ends meet.
Those expenses can feel even more strained during the holidays, when families want to provide special meals for loved ones and make sure there are gifts under the tree.
The holidays are also a time when we’re reminded of how much we appreciate our community, a time when many feel compelled to show extra support to neighbors or to make an effort to make our city a better place.
If you’re in a position to give back this year, or if you’re in a tough spot and could use a hand, here are efforts happening across the metro to make sure Santa can get to ever kid in the metro, that every table has enough food on it and more to spread the holiday spirit around KC.
Toy and gift drives
Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City
Operation Breakthrough is accepting toys for its annual holiday toy drive. Year-round, Operation Breakthrough serves more than 700 youth in Kansas City, with education programming, health care and emergency services, and during the holidays, it serves more than 4,200 children through the toy drive.
Each year the center collects brand new toys that will eventually stock a pop-up shop for families to get presents for their children before Christmas. Acceptable gifts include baby dolls, books, board games, art supplies and more. Gift cards to stores like Walmart, Target and Footlocker are also acceptable. All toy donations are due by December 15.
There are a number of ways to donate to Operation Breakthrough’s toy drive. If you want to donate directly to the center you can email holiday@operationbreakthrough.org or drop the toys off directly at 1229 E 63rd Street. Drop-off donations will be accepted from Dec. 12 to Dec. 15 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Aside from presents, the center also helps to fill any food and hygiene gaps in the community. During the holiday season, many schools and agencies might not be offering services, so Operation Breakthrough will also accept non-perishable food donations and hygiene items to help families make ends meet during the winter break. You can drop these items off at Operation Breakthrough’s center at 3039 Troost Ave. or purchase items from the center’s Amazon wishlist.
“I think that these initiatives are really important because with increasing costs, and challenges families are facing…it can often be difficult for families to stretch their dollars,” Operation Breakthrough CEO Mary Esselman said. “So when everybody in the community comes together to kind of wrap themselves around [those in need] that means all children and families benefit. And they benefit through making sure that everyone has that opportunity to celebrate the holiday.”
People who wish to visit the toy shop to get gifts for their children can contact Operation Breakthrough at 816-756-3511 or contact another community service provider. The registration for Operation Breakthrough’s toy shop is nearly full, but providers can work with families to connect them to other organizations hosting similar opportunities.
Johnson County Christmas Bureau
The Johnson County Christmas Bureau’s Holiday Shop will also be accepting donations for its holiday shop that serves Johnson County residents who are at or below 150% of the poverty level.
The holiday shop — open from Dec. 2 to 10 — will serve around 12,000 residents and takes nearly 400 volunteers per day in order to pull off. This year’s holiday shop will be held at the old Stein Mart at Oak Park Mall at 9656 Quivira Road in Overland Park. The building was donated to the Christmas Bureau for the month of December by Kansas City’s Block & Co Inc. Realtors.
If you are interested in volunteering, you can sign up by visiting jccb.org.
JCCB Executive Director Nina Kimbrough said that the organization could still use a few hundred volunteers in order to set up and manage the holiday shop next weekend. Each four hour shift typically calls for 95 volunteers, according to Kimbrough. Volunteers can help set up, work as shopping escorts, keep the store organized and a lot more.
If you are interested in donating brand new toys to the holiday shop, you can also drop your donations off at 9656 Quivira Road. Other items such as coats, hats, gloves, diapers, canned food goods and hygiene items are also accepted. Drop off is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 1, except on Thanksgiving. Beginning Dec. 2, people can drop off from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Families that are interested in visiting the holiday shop to get presents for the holiday will need to fill out an application to make sure that they qualify. If you or someone you know would like to fill out that application, make sure to visit jccb.org/apply2022.
“We have our mission is to provide warmth and substance to those in need,” Kimbrough said. “So we’ve served our community over the years and we just know that we want people to be able to come and shop with dignity.”
The Magic Tree in Lee’s Summit
The Magic Tree is an actual tree covered in bright-colored twinkle lights, serving as a holiday landmark and idyllic photo backdrop in Lee’s Summit at 10201 View High Drive. It’s also a spot where you can drop off gifts for children who have parents in the military.
This year, the Magic Tree partnered with Operation Toy Soldier, which gets toys to children of deployed and non-deployed members of the U.S. military.
You can help by donating new, unwrapped toys when you visit the Magic Tree. You can also donate money by visiting their website (https://lsmagictree.com/) and clicking “make a donation.”
They will deliver the toys to the families before and after Christmas, as donations are accepted until Jan. 2.
Overland Park Toys for Tots
The Overland Park Convention Center hosts the largest Toys for Tots donation site in the Kansas City area, distributing to more than 40,000 families around the city. Every holiday season, the toy drive is focused on giving kids a great Christmas even if their parents are having a hard time affording gifts.
“Think of those in need this Christmas time, and if everybody does so, we should have more than enough toys available for all those kids in need, so nobody has to have a disappointing Christmas,” Brett C. Mitchell, the Overland Park Convention Center general manager, said.
From now until Dec. 15, you can take new, unwrapped toys to the collection site or cash donations at 6000 College Blvd. The donation site is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Monday through Friday.
Following that, United States Marine Corps members will take the toys to a central warehouse in the Kansas City area, where they will be distributed to different organizations to give to kids in need.
Sign up to receive toys from Toys for Tots has passed, but you can call the United Way at 211 for help.
For more information, go to https://www.toysfortots.org.
Holiday food baskets and food drives
Harvesters
Harvesters is one of the largest community food banks in the region that has been around for more than 40 years. If you are interested in making sure that people have access to the food they need this holiday season, they have plenty of opportunities for you to lend a helping hand.
If you find yourself at any major grocery chain store, including HyVee, Price Chopper, Sun Fresh and Hen House, you should keep your eyes out for Harvesters’ food drive bins. If you don’t see a bin, ask a cashier about the organization’s Check out Hunger program. This donation campaign will allow you to donate by adding $1, $5, $10 or $20 to your grocery bill when you check out at the register. This money will go straight to Harvesters’ efforts to support families throughout the region. The Check out Hunger campaign will run until Jan. 1.
If you’re at the grocery store already, you can purchase non-perishable food items for a Harvesters Holiday box. The box can include all the non-perishable ingredients typically used in side dishes, and once it’s packed and donated, Harvesters will distribute those boxes to families in need. Examples of foods for the holiday box include canned yams, corn or green beans and boxed mashed potato mix or corn bread mix.
Another way to donate is by purchasing a Recipe for Hope holiday card. Each ‘Recipe for Hope’ card has a unique recipe created by local chefs, and all proceeds benefit families in need. You can also purchase a Harvesters’ t-shirt from Charlie Hustles CommuniTEE line.
If you want to go beyond just donating, there will also be volunteer shifts available throughout the holiday season. Volunteers can serve directly with Harvesters or with one of its 760 network agencies that help to distribute food to the region. Volunteers can help sort and repackage donations to get that food ready to distribute. To sign up for a volunteer shift or learn more visit: Harvesters.org.
“The amount of food that we’re able to distribute is heavily dependent upon the support from the community,” Harvesters’ spokesperson Sarah Biles said. “Whether that’s through food drives, or financial support, and or volunteers. We certainly can’t do any of that, without the community’s help that provides the resources for us to be able to distribute food and get it to our neighbors and our community who are at risk of hunger every day.”
Harvesters is also working with The Kansas City Chiefs for a food drive. You can donate money outside of the stadium for the Chiefs game on Nov. 27 by scanning a QR code displayed by volunteers. They won’t be collecting food items.
If you won’t make it to the game, you can donate money by visiting www.chiefs.com/fooddrive. Non-perishable food items for the Chiefs Kingdom food drive can be donated at your local Hy-Vee from now until Nov. 28.
The Redemptorist Center
The organization in midtown Kansas City helps meet basic needs of members of the community of all ages by providing critical assists with shelter, utility and medical payments; food and clothing; education and work-related needs.
For the holidays, The Redemptortist Center puts together holiday food baskets for people who signed up. The deadline has already passed for people to receive these baskets, but executive director Julie McCaw said they will help anybody, even if they didn’t sign up.
An “Angel Tree” is set up at Our Lady of Perpetual Help next to the center. Parents can still sign their children up at the church, place their kid’s name on the tree and someone will choose that child to buy Christmas gifts for them.
The Redemptorist Center also is hosting a toy drive in December at Chicken N’ Pickle’s North Kansas City location, 1761 Burlington St. You can bring toys to the bar and restaurant from Dec. 4-11.
Families pick up the food and gifts for the holidays at the center on 207 Linwood Blvd. or at Our Lady of Perpetual Help at 3333 Broadway Blvd. based on the date they chose on the sign-up sheet.
For assistance with the food pantry or one of their other programs, the center is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Friday. Walk-ins are accepted, or you can schedule a time by calling 816-931-9942.
“Redemptorist has programs of assistance from cradle to grave,” Julie McCaw, executive director of Redemptorist Center, said. “We help everyone.”
Guardian Angels Parish
The church on 1310 Westport Road serves those in poverty by providing necessities, whether that is food, shelter, clothing or community. No one has to sign up for assistance, just show up when the parish is open from 10 a.m. to noon on Sundays, from 4 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays or by appointment by calling 816-931-4351.
Like Redemptorist, the Guardian Angels parish has holiday food baskets and “Angel Trees” for kids in need. While the deadline has passed to sign up for these, the church is still committed to helping out families for the holidays.
They served over 713 families and over 2,611 individuals last year, and expect to serve the same amount this year, if not more.
You can donate to the food pantry every weekday and on Sunday mornings, just call the number listed above or show up to the food pantry at these times:
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Monday-Thursday
3:15-5 p.m. on Saturdays
8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Sundays
You can also donate money by going to this website (https://guardianangelskc.org/donate).
Warm clothes and other basic necessities
Food Not Bombs KC in the Historic Northeast
KC Food Not Bombs is a small nonprofit that works to have a big impact. This all-volunteer group serves a hot vegan or vegetarian meal every Sunday from 4 p.m. until 5 p.m. at the corner of Independence Avenue and Monroe Avenue in the Lykins neighborhood of historic Northeast Kansas City. During the winter months, the grassroots group also takes donations of warm clothing to distribute to its clients experiencing homelessness.
“We’re really looking for NEW socks and then new or gently used coats, jackets, hats, gloves, warm shoes, scarves, long johns, and any other warm clothing,” an organizer wrote in a message to The Star. “Hot hands, sleeping bags, blankets, tents, and tarps are other items that are in high demand.”
You can drop off these items at Revolution Records in the Crossroads, Phoenix Herb in midtown, You Say Tomato in Longfellow, Goofball Skateboards in Waldo, the Kansas City Center for Inclusion in midtown, the Kansas City Art Institute’s graphic design department, The Ship in the historic West Bottoms, Mudpie Bakery and Coffee in Overland Park or at the group’s weekly serving hours in the Northeast.
Crown Center Giving Machines
A “giving machine” is like a vending machine, but for donating to charities around the city and the globe. These eye-catching machines are currently located at 2450 Grand Blvd. in Crown Center, and will be active until Jan. 1, 2023.
Using the machine is easy: Simply swipe your credit card and pick from a variety of small cards, each representing a physical item that you are “buying” for a charity organization. Options include a polio vaccine, a warm blanket, a pair of shoes, a hot meal and even a goat for a family in a developing country. The charities involved will then receive your full donation and have pledged to buy the actual item you purchase to help their clients.
This year’s charities include The Mayor’s Christmas Tree Association, Children’s Mercy Hospital, The KC Shepherd’s Center, Jewish Vocational Service, Reconciliation Services and Veterans Community Project. Children’s Mercy is also holding a virtual toy drive for its young patients this holiday season.
Holiday decorations and creative gifts
Scraps KC
This one-of-a-kind store and donation center is a one stop shop for secondhand arts and crafts supplies. The nonprofit accepts gently used items from home decor, empty containers and kids’ craft kits to fabric, yarn and fine arts supplies.
Its sizable holiday section is now front and center of the shop’s brick and mortar location at 3269 Roanoke Road.
If you’re having trouble affording ornaments, tinsel, gift boxes or garlands this year, Scraps KC offers all these items and more at prices as low as $0.25. The shop is taking donations of many types of items from school supplies to personal care supplies and clothing for those experiencing homelessness.
After New Years, it will resume taking donated holiday decor, making it a great place to offload your tinsel, ornaments and gift boxes to make room for next year. And if you have a penchant for organizing, the group is always accepting volunteers to help sort donations and run the shop.
Scraps is open from noon until 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturdays. It is closed Sunday through Tuesday.
Do you have another local organization doing great work in the community that you love and would like to see celebrated in The Star? Let us know at kcq@kcstar.com.
