All due respect to Haiti, but KC needs disaster relief too, says longtime homeless activist

Richard Tripp

​It seems like just a few weeks ago when our friend Richard Tripp was putting on his annual Thanksgiving-weekend party for poor people in Kansas City. Twice a year, Tripp -- a cab driver who used to be homeless -- organizes a festive event where people can come eat a hot meal, listen to some live music and, most importantly, stock up on warm clothes and hygiene supplies to take a little of the edge off of life on the streets.

Tripp didn't wait too long before the November event was over before he started planning his annual spring event, scheduled for April 3. It takes a lot of volunteers, a few thousand bucks in cash and a warehouse full of donations to pull off one of Tripp's events. But he's good at rallying churches and he knows how to work the media, and eventually everything works out.

Right now, though, Tripp's nervous. April 3 is right around the corner, and he says generous Kansas Citians are tapped out, having sent all of their donations to Haiti.

Earlier this month, Tripp sent out a plea:

Over the last month, I have spoken to several of our supporters that have provided us aid, and materials report back to us that they were sorry but could not help at this time. They had shipped most of the materials that usually get donated to help our poor and homeless brothers and sisters in the Kansas City area to Haiti for their disaster relief efforts.

Tripp made it clear that his heart went out to Haiti's earthquake victims, and said he was proud of America and his community for helping out. But he urged the charitably inclined to consider the need at home.

Disasters come in many ways, and the severity of a disaster is measured in the body, we still have American's dying on our streets from hunger and exposure to the elements. Kansas City area is no stranger to newspaper reports of someone being found froze to death; to me, one is too many.

On Saturday, April 3, 2010 we will have our Spring Break Outreach Event for Kansas City's poor and homeless; this will be the 20th year helping those in need. There will be thousands of families and individuals expecting us to provide the materials "clothing, blankets, toiletry packs, toys, food, etc" that we usually hand out to make their lives easier. In some cases, we save lives by giving out the materials they need to shelter them from the elements.

With that being said we are in desperate need of our own form of disaster relief material drives going on right here in our community, for those hurting here in the metro. In many cases, the supplies we need are the same as those hurting in Haiti. The poor and homeless brothers and sisters in our community need your assistance to survive. They have no one else to ask for assistance, but you. They have no dignitaries to do massive campaigns to raise money and materials to help our needy to survive.

To sum it all up, I'm asking my community to help us help them Kansas City's Poor and Homeless by helping us secure the money and materials at our 20th Spring Break Outreach Event on April 3, 2010. Please contact your Friends, Religious Institutions, Employers, Clubs, and Community Leaders about our cause. To find out how to get involved in helping us please check our web site at www.coppinc.com.

Help out your city, y'all.