Newhouse shelter air conditioning outage prompts community fundraising effort

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — —

Leaders with Newhouse, located in Kansas City, Missouri, say the domestic violence shelter's air conditioning system went out on Monday when temperatures reached 92 degrees outside.

Days later, the Kansas City area continues to feel the impact of high temperatures, and the community itself stepped up to provide some relief to survivors.

Newhouse's chief marketing officer Rachel Hodgson said donors helped raise the thousands of dollars needed to purchase 30 mobile A/C units for each family's room and seven large rental A/C units for some work and common spaces.

“Our survivors are brave, and they’re strong, and they deserve to be able to just focus on their healing and not worry about something like this," Hodgson said.

Andrae Hannon/KSHB

Inside the shelter, a flower bouquet gifted by a former resident is wilting and therapy rooms feel muggy.

“It’s muggy, it’s hot," Hodgson said. "It feels like we’re outside, but we’re sitting inside, and that’s the last thing that we want — discomfort for our residents.”

Andrae Hannon/KSHB

In therapist Ashlie Dryden's fourth-floor office, you can feel the lack of air conditioning. She keeps a fan on and continues to meet clients in person.

“Here at Newhouse, our focus is always on meeting the client where they’re at," she said.

Dryden was there Monday following the outage.

“There was a lot of fear of once again not having a place to be, a safe place to stay," Dryden said. "Are my children going to be OK?”

Isabel Sierra continues to answer Newhouse's 24/7 crisis hotline in the advocate office, one of the building's work spaces with a mobile A/C unit.

Andrae Hannon/KSHB

She said that with so many fans running and the mobile air conditioning unit plugged in, a fuse blew on Tuesday. She said she always keeps a USB-powered fan plugged into her laptop.

Andrae Hannon/KSHB

"Me and my coworker were sharing it, ‘OK, it’s enough time for you, it’s me time,'" she said. "For a minute, we had one working phone, the computers that hadn’t died yet, and one working fan.”

At Newhouse, staff says it's important to keep those essential resources flowing.

"It is extremely important that we have at least one phone available," Sierra said. "Even if we’re super sweaty, someone has got to be in here to answer because the community is still out there needing to call."

Leaders at Newhouse are now working to find a permanent solution.

Hodgson said the building's air conditioning should be partially fixed by Friday. She said other parts won't be available until January, and the full cost is $75,000.

“If anyone is still willing to help us, we now have this $75,000 goal to truly fix this system long-term," she said.

You can learn more about Newhouse's fundraising goal by clicking here.

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