Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas relies on our volunteers and supporters to help provide essential services to those in our 21-county service area.
If you are healthy and do not have contact with anyone in an at-risk population, consider volunteering with Catholic Charities.
Assist with the food pantries, sorting food, answering phones, screening for financial assistance, etc.
Sort donations and assist in the thrift store. TurnStyles helps support all of Catholic Charities’ other programming.
Sort and take inventory of food donations in a socially-distanced environment. This is a great volunteer opportunity for family groups to volunteer together.
Our Family Support Centers continue to provide services during this time of uncertainty. We have modified our hours and are only open on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 9am-noon and from 1pm-3:30pm. The Family Support Centers will be deep cleaned during the off days for your safety. We are currently accepting appointments for those needing utility or rental financial assistance and will continue to operate our food pantries.
Volunteers are needed in various ways including making food bags, distributing food bags into cars, sorting food, stocking shelves, answering phones and assisting with screenings for financial assistance. Volunteers must be 16 years or older. All volunteers will be required to wear gloves and a mask in the food pantries. We will provide these if needed. Please sign up at one of our seven locations listed below.
Central KCK – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0844A5A82AA4F49-staff6
Hope Distribution Center – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0844a5a82aa4f49-staff
Lawrence – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0844A5A82AA4F49-staff4
Leavenworth – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0844a5a82aa4f49-staff3
Topeka – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0844A5A82AA4F49-staff1
Olathe – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0844A5A82AA4F49-staff2
Overland Park – https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0844A5A82AA4F49-staff5
All staff and volunteers must wear a facemask and gloves in the food pantries.
Our TurnStyles Thrift Store on 87th St. (9750 W. 87th St. Overland Park, KS 66212) will open on Monday, May 11th. TurnStyles provides discounted clothing, housewares, electronics and more at a discounted price. TurnStyles helps support all Catholic Charities programming and allows us to serve those in need.
Our new operating hours will be:
o Monday – Friday from 9am – 7pm
o Saturday from 9am – 6pm
Our donation bay hours will be:
o Monday – Friday from 10am – 6pm
o Saturday from 10am – 5pm
We are seeking volunteers to help us in our thrift store. If you are interested, please sign up through the sign up genius below. You must sign up, so we can keep track of total number of volunteers per shift and keep our practices of social distancing. Volunteers must be at least 14 years or older to volunteer by him/herself. Volunteers ages 10-13 years old must have a guardian present.
TurnStyles will be implementing new process throughout the store to ensure a safe environment for all.
· We will be limiting our guest to 5 people per 1000sq ft. This means that we will only have 40 guest in our store at any given time.
· We will have someone wiping down carts after each guest in preparation for the next guest.
· We will also have someone walking through the store to assist with cleaning at all times.
· We have installed a Plexiglas barrier at the checkout station. It will essentially be a see through barrier to separate our cashiers from the guest. It will have just enough space below for our guest to place their chosen purchases on the counter for check out.
· Our checkout counter will be cleaned between guest.
· We will not offer any public restrooms or drinking fountains at this time.
· We are placing social distancing reminders throughout the store as well as 6ft measured out spaces on the floor near the checkout.
· We will be spraying our shopping carts every two hours with a hospital grade disinfectant.
· We will also be requiring that all staff and volunteers wear gloves and facemask while at work. (Some fabric Facemask are available and should be washed for reuse by the staff/ volunteers using the mask)
· Our Donation process will be a contactless process. Our donors will be asked to place their donations directly into marked tubs. All of our donations will be quarantined for 72 hours before we process them. (This is in compliance with current CDC guidelines)
· No outside guest will be allowed into our Donation bay while making a donation. Our Facilities team has constructed a barrier that will allow our guest to deposit their donations directly into tubs that can be moved into quarantine once full. (This will happen outside of the donation bay)
· We will only accept clothes, house wears & electronics at this time (this is due to our available space for quarantine).
· We will adhere to strict social distancing guidelines in all areas of our store including our production areas.
All staff and volunteers must wear a facemask and gloves while at work.
Hope Distribution Center (HDC) serves as the central location for food distribution to eight food pantries and 21 counties served by Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas. The warehouse helps us ensure a balanced inventory for all of our pantries. We rely on the generosity of volunteer-driven food drives, gifts-in-kind, as well as financial contributions to help us keep our warehouse shelves stocked to meet the growing needs of individuals and families throughout our service area.
Volunteers are welcomed at HDC through a variety of volunteer opportunities, including sorting food, hygiene and other items and packaging and taking inventory of donations. HDC is located at 1708 Steele Road Kansas City, KS and is open Monday – Friday 8:30AM-4:30PM.
To sign up to sort food, please contact Cari Olberding at colberding@catholiccharitiesks.org to schedule a date for the summer. We typically recommend a 2-3 hour timeframe per group. Gloves are always provided and masks will be provided if requested. We ask all volunteers to please wear closed-toe shoes. A Catholic Charities staff member will train you on sorting procedures the day of.
Gloves are always provided and facemasks will be provided if requested.
Please contact Cari Olberding at 913.433.2104 or colberding@catholiccharitiesks.org for additional information regarding all volunteer opportunities.
Above: a volunteer helps deliver food into vehicles
In this time of trial, we are reminded of our common humanity—and our calling to support those in need.
Because of the local business closures, many of those we serve have been placed in financial hardship and many will be without food. Our top priorities over the next few weeks are to ensure our food and healthcare ministries remain intact, and after the initial crisis is over, to continue to provide all services.