KSHB 41 reporter Claire Bradshaw covers eastern Jackson County, including Blue Springs and Independence. Share your story idea with Claire.
—
For 24 hours, Shelter KC’s executive director Eric Burger stayed up and sat outside the shelter. His “why” is to share the stories of those who either are currently or have been homeless from the challenges to the victories.
The movement is called “Conversations on a Bench” and it is a nationwide event. For 24 hours, 70 missions across the country participated alongside Shelter KC.
Burger had interviews lined up from 2:00 PM Thursday until 2:00 PM Friday to livestream the conversations he was having.
“We’ve just been talking to people about homelessness and so some of that is folks that are staying with us. Some of those are folks who have just walked up and some of those other providers and then also talking to other CEOs from cities all over the country. So Great Falls, Montana to Tulsa to Dallas are some of the missions we've talked to today,” said Burger.
Burger said homelessness is multifaceted and giving someone a home won’t fix all their problems. He wants more focus on mental health, physical health, addiction and other areas that people experiencing homelessness are challenged with.
“So there's a lot of things that are despair out there, but there's also, when you see lives changed, and you see people that say, I've done it, you can do it too, that's exciting,” said Burger.
To learn more about Shelter KC and its homelessness mission, click here.
