Charity Spotlight: Uplift

It’s 2 o’clock on Saturday afternoon, and while most people are at the pool or spending time with family I am in a nondescript warehouse off Truman Rd. just east of downtown. We are cooking, sorting, and prepping a fleet of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans for their delivery routes.

The Uplift vans being prepared for delivery.

We are at Uplift HQ, the home base for Uplift, a local charity that delivers meals to local homeless people twice a week. Here at the warehouse, complete with kitchen and sorting facilities, hot meals, sanitary items, clothing, and supplies are prepared and loaded onto 3 trucks that run 3 separate routes through the KC area.

Uplift: Powered by Mercedes-Benz

There’s two hours to go until the trucks depart as volunteers begin trickling in. Local families and churches rotate through the cooking duty, with scheduled cooks twice a week. I’m on lemonade duty, charged with making 7-12 gallons for each of the three trucks. Others are loading supplies such as socks, toilet paper, and canned goods (to hold them over until the next delivery day).

At 5:00 the trucks depart and our Aristocrat Motors service manager Jim Schmidt is driving the East route. Jim has been with Uplift for years. It started with his wife, Jennifer, who began helping out the organization. Eventually Jim joined, and they have been going out in the truck together for years. They now sit on the board of directors for the organization. Originally Uplift used old bread trucks to deliver, but have since then traded them out with Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, a more reliable and maneuverable alternative.

We arrive at the first stop, which is on the side of a highway by the edge of a large wood. Jim hops out of the driver’s seat and sets off into the trees, with me close behind. Amazingly there is a trail in this remote area of trees. After following along the trail we arrive at an enormous camp site. There are several pieced-together homes in the clearing, and Jim goes door to door, alerting them to our presence. He knows everyone there and I’m quickly introduced to all of the residents.

A makeshift home at a homeless camp.

We lead them out of the woods to the truck where all of them get a hot meal, some cold lemonade, and enough supplies to last them until the next time the truck comes by in a few days. I chat with a few of them while everyone else goes through the line, and each one displays an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

There are 14 more stops on the night’s route. Some of the stops are campsites like the first; others are under overpasses or behind warehouses. One is in a junkyard, another just off a highway. 

To give a little background on myself, I have a small one-bedroom apartment in the 909 Walnut Tower, the tallest residential building in Missouri and a part of the KC skyline. The east route stops are all within 5 miles of downtown with a direct view of my building.

The reason I mention this is while delivering meals it is easy to feel like being on a different planet. Situations that I couldn’t begin to relate to came into focus when a view of my building was constantly in sight, reminding me how well I have it.

After delivering to 15 stops and serving over 65 of Kansas City’s homeless we returned back to base. The trucks were cleaned, supplies refilled, and everything was reset in preparation of Tuesday’s run. After the last light was turned off I headed home with the profound feeling of satisfaction, both glad for what I have and happy to have helped someone in need. 

To get involved, visit www.Uplift.org for more information. You can donate, volunteer to sort, or sign up to deliver yourself!