Heat creates surge at City Union Mission, nearing capacity

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - City Union Mission is seeing a sudden increase in homeless people seeking relief from the heat.

Its men's shelter at 10th Street and Troost Avenue has 270 people, executive director Dan Doty said.  The shelter's capacity is 300.

Doty said the jump in demand is unusual for the summer and has started to impact the shelter's food supply and utility bills.

"Hopefully we'll be able to pay the electric bill for the air conditioning," Doty said.  "We have more people to feed, more expenses, more laundry."

The Uplift Organization hit the streets Monday evening to help the homeless. Volunteers from the nonprofit agency setup a van at Cleaver II Boulevard. and Oak Street and started handing out food by the bags full.

"They're human beings, and they're out here in the heat," volunteer Kirk Perkins said.  "They're thirsty, and they're hungry and they're certainly appreciative."

Uplift is also seeing the increase in need and has started to run low on resources. The items it needs most are socks, canned goods and bug spray.

Information on how to help is available at www.uplift.org.