The mission of SAVE, Inc. is still needed in Kansas City 25 years later

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Inside a historic stone home in Midtown, you will find the offices of SAVE, Inc.  It’s a fitting setting for the local non-profit organization, because their mission and origins made history 25 years ago at a time our country was dealing with the difficult issue of AIDS.

“25 years ago, there was only one hospital in town that took care of people,” explains CEO Zori Rodriguez.  “Folks were kicked out of their homes, their churches.  They had no place to go to die with dignity.  It was basically a place to go die.”

25 years later, SAVE, Inc. is still providing housing, and people still come here to die, but their mission is so much more.  Today only about half of their clients are HIV positive.  Rodriguez says they serve anyone who is medically or socially disadvantaged.

“If you got sick, if I got sick, if anybody got sick, and you didn't have a safe place to live, what would you do?  How would you store your medication?  Get a call back from your doctor?  Get nutritious meals?  Have a good night's sleep?  All of those things that are essential for getting better.”

SAVE, Inc. helps some 700 individuals or families obtain or maintain housing every month at a cost of $300,000.  They provide emergency assistance, transitional housing and permanent housing.  They own eight properties throughout Midtown for a total of 72 units.  The rest of their clients are helped through a rent voucher program allowing them to live anywhere.

“We have folks who live in Raytown, north of the river, you know Wyandotte County,” Rodriguez said.  “We work with landlords to make sure that the housing that someone might select meets habitability standards.”

Still, the need to help more clients find housing is always there.

“It's really unfortunate, but we turn away about 60 referrals a month.  So that means 60 families who are ready and need housing, we can't help them.”

They're losing fewer clients to death with advances in the treatment of AIDS and HIV.  Still, they continue to witness the sadness.  Rodriguez is also alarmed at a disturbing trend.

“He had full blown AIDS.  18 years old!  That should never happen!”

Describing a young man who found his way to SAVE, Inc., Rodriguez shared her fears that today's young people don't understand that AIDS is still a threat. 

“It is not a disease of Africa.  It is not a disease of exclusively of gay men.  It is not that issue.  It is something that I'm fearful will increase instead of decrease, because kids just don't know.”

The young man she spoke of recently turned 19.  Days after his birthday he was not looking well, but he downplayed a staff member’s concerns.

“He finally admitted he was sick,” Rodriguez says with tears welling up in her eyes.  “But he was mad at her.  She went to the hospital with him and you know she told him, 'You'll get over being mad at me.'  He died three days later.  19.  He just turned 19.  That should never happen anymore!”

It is stories like those that keep Zori Rodriguez and the staff of SAVE, Inc. working hard to continue their mission.  They are always looking for help from the community.  They need financial support, volunteers and donations of such things as clothing, household furniture, linens and cleaning supplies.  They want every person who is down on his or her luck to have a safe home.

“To be treated with dignity and respect is a value we hold dearly,” Rodriguez says.  “We hold very dearly.”

For more information, visit www.saveinckc.org