Wyandotte County community calls on big businesses to support KCK storm recovery

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — KSHB 41 News reporter Braden Bates covers parts of Jackson County, Missouri, including Lee's Summit. Send Braden a story idea by e-mail.

Kansas City, Kansas residents are over half a week without power following overnight storms on Aug. 18. A new activation is bringing big businesses into the recovery effort alongside the neighbors and nonprofits already on the ground.

Lavelle Caldwell Sr. was among those cooking for the community, Saturday. He said they served over 200 meals by 4 p.m.

"Less than an hour ago, like 60 in a row. 15 here, 10 here, 15 here," Caldwell said as he represented his group Neighborhood Eats.

Neighbors and nonprofits have been showing up to offer more than just food and water.

KSHB 41

"You see your neighbor smile, you smile. So everybody's smiling together. Like they say, it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile, so I choose to smile," Caldwell said.

While many have been hard at work, some in Wyandotte County felt big businesses also needed to answer the call.

"They're the ones that have the bigger budget and can make a huge difference. They're the ones who can get pallets of items delivered. Our nonprofits, that takes a lot of work," Emily Blanks said.

KSHB 41

Blanks is a Bonner Springs councilmember and the executive director of the Bonner Springs Edwardsville Chamber of Commerce.

While a candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives in the upcoming November election against Carolyn Cairharr, her role of service Saturday fell under her current Wyandotte County leadership role.

"This is just a great opportunity for them to step in and I encourage more businesses to join," Blanks said.

Blanks said some of the businesses who made donations included, multiple Wal-Mart stores, Destination KCK, Marvin Doors and Windows, and Accelergen Energy.

While cleanup is well underway the need remains. Roy Harris' home is still without power and the outage is affecting more than comfort.

"It's bad. It's real bad," Harris said.

KSHB 41

Harris said a family member depends on supplemental oxygen.

"She need her oxygen and no electricity means I can't, you know, she can't be on her oxygen, so she got portables, but they about ran out," Harris said.

Despite the challenges, Harris decided to join his neighbors, collecting water bottles for residents.

Tamara Barnes has been boots on the ground, helping with resources. She said there's nothing stopping them as they continue to heal as a city and county.

KSHB 41

"We are here and we ain't going nowhere and we are forced to be reckoned with so we're gonna get through this," Tamara Barnes said.

If you would like to contribute to the residents affected or need help yourself, click here.
__

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.