In order to help working poor families, Cross-Lines Community Outreach provides support services and refers them to partners in Kansas City. The charity provides assistance with rent and security deposits for housing. Families in need can go to the pantry to get food or a meal from the Annex Kitchen. In addition to providing financial assistance, they also offer other basic needs, such as baby supplies.
Food and basic needs from Cross-Lines
The Cross-Lines Community Food Pantry provides three days’ worth of groceries or fresh food for free. Each low-income family that is a client of the organization will receive the items. Some people have a hard time making ends meet and providing food for their families because they only get paid once every few weeks. They often have to visit the food pantry in order to get enough to eat. Some clients may have short-term or unexpected emergencies that need to be addressed immediately.
The food packages from the food bank include non-perishable items, fresh produce, dairy, meals for the elderly, and frozen ground beef or turkey. Cross-Lines Community Outreach is committed to providing healthier options for its clients, including low-sugar cereals, infant formula, low-sodium canned vegetables and soup, yogurt, and whole wheat pasta. The Food Pantry receives donations from businesses, churches, civic groups, and individuals who are generous and local to Kansas City and Johnson County.
Hot, freshly cooked meals are given to people who are hungry. The Cross-Lines Community Kitchen is located at the Don Bakely Community Annex and provides meals including breakfast and lunch to those in need. This means it is open Monday-Friday and closed on weekends.
The charity provides lunch boxes to people who are heading off to work or a job training session, so they have food while they are working. The Kitchen at Crossroads also feeds numerous children during the summer months when free school lunches and other school-provided meal programs are not available. The Community Annex Kitchen needs volunteers from Wyandotte County to help it run throughout the year. Volunteers may come from different groups such as church groups or community organizations to help cook and serve meals.
There is a lot to choose from for breakfast and lunch. For breakfast, you might have cereal, oatmeal with fruit, or pancakes. For lunch, you might have anything from sandwiches to dairy or spaghetti. The goal of the annex is to ensure that healthy food options are available at every meal. This may include fresh fruits and vegetables. The Commodities Program’s staff and volunteers work together to assemble and deliver boxes of groceries to seniors living in the community each month.
The USDA provides monthly boxes of food to low-income seniors through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. This program is funded by the US Department of Agriculture and is available to residents of Johnson, Wyandotte, or Leavenworth Counties. In addition to the food provided by the USDA, Cross-Lines also distributes a monthly box of groceries to seniors or parents with children.
The Cross-Lines Community Garden and Orchard is a 0.25-acre lot on the Cross-Lines campus. This site provides working poor families in counties such as Leavenworth with fresh, nutritious food. Every month, volunteers from the charity go out and pick thousands of pounds of fruits and other produce. This produce is then used in the Community Annex Kitchen and also distributed to the Pantry.
The Cross-Lines Community Outreach will have produce from the garden available for purchase by Kansas City members at a reduced price. Cross-Lines has partnered with a local non-profit known as Giving Grove to plant an orchard of pear and apple trees. This allows more fresh food to be served.
Cross-Lines provides guidance to customers who want to build their own gardens. The Kansas City community can receive tools, raised-bed gardens, dirt, wheel barrels, and seeds from members who would like to see them take care of their own gardens.
The people who use this program have to agree to work in the garden by themselves. They grow their own produce and keep it fresh. This much-needed service, which allows families to get healthy, fresh food from their own gardens, would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of members of the community.
The Cross-Lines Nutrition Education Service provides food demonstrations, classes, newsletters full of tips, coupons, and information on healthy living. It also covers gardening to show families who live in poverty in Kansas City and Wyandotte County that they have the ability to provide for their families. Clients can learn how to find nutritious, affordable foods for their families, how to save money on groceries, and more.
The Cross-Lines Wellness Workshops provide information and guidance on a variety of topics that can help improve your life, including topics like health, finance, nutrition, debt reduction and relationships. The topics and presenters change every month, and there are sessions for families in Wyandotte County and Johnson County.
The Cross-Lines Community Outreach Don Bakely Community Annex provides basic needs to those in need. This means having hot, nourishing meals, clothing, and warm showers each morning before breakfast is served. The Cross-Lines organization washes and cleans clothes for those in need and has them ready for pick-up the next day. This service is provided by full-time staff and volunteers. For many of the clients of this annex, including those homeless and people in poverty, these services are vital in reinforcing hope as well as dignity in times of greatest need.
A Thrift Store that sells items essential for a household at a low cost. This means that depending on what the store has in stock, you may be able to find items such as dishes, furniture, clothing, and major appliances. The prices of the goods are very low and affordable for families with low incomes.
The money that is made from selling goods is used to help pay for things like financial aid programs and other operational costs. The Thrift Store is a great place to donate unwanted items, especially those that Cross-Line has a high demand for, such as knick-knacks, small appliances, dryers, stoves, and refrigerators. Other items that can be donated include bath and bedding items, furniture, chairs, sofas, dressers, kitchen tables and chairs, as well as kitchen items and housewares.
HappyBottoms partners with organizations in Kansas City to provide free diapers to clients in need, including single mothers. This organization believes that every baby should have enough clean diapers and baby formula, even though they can be costly. The center will partner with groups such as HappyBottoms to provide a monthly supply of diapers to babies under the age of three to ensure that infants are both happy and healthy.
These items are important for everyone, but they can be costly. This means that people who rely on these benefits will not be able to use them to pay for food. The Cross-Lines Hope Tote Program helps low-income families in Wyandotte County by giving them a bag of hygiene items, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
You can bring back the items after 2 months to be refilled. The Hope Tote Program from the Kansas City agency relies on toiletry drives, donations from the community, and money raised from the community to support its operation. The program also relies heavily on volunteer support.
The Cross-Lines Community Outreach Christmas Store provides an opportunity for parents who are struggling to select free gifts and toys for their family members. Presents can be anything from food to new clothes to toys. Anything that is needed for a holiday dinner can also be given as a present. The volunteers and staff at Cross-Lines are committed to helping parents give their families a happy and enjoyable Christmas.
Financial help and other social services
Many lower-income families live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have much left over after covering basic expenses. This means that they are very close to not having enough money to cover their expenses. If you have unexpected expenses or a reduction in your hours at work, it can be tough. A household crisis like an unexpected medical or car repair bill, or a sick child, can threaten their housing stability. Some people fall so far behind on their rent that they become homeless.
The Cross-Lines Community Outreach Housing Stability Program provides financial assistance to people who are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage. The program provides families with assistance in finding and maintaining a safe and affordable home. It will help them with paying some of their rent and utilities, as well as providing them with new housing.
Case managers help families with meeting their immediate needs, such as rent and energy bills, and with achieving their long-term goal of financial stability. The goal of the service is to keep families together in their homes by preventing evictions.
The first step for anyone who wants to use the non-profit’s Housing Stability programs is to meet with a case manager. This session will be focused on determining what the person needs and how much money they have coming in. This staff member will manage finances, communicate with landlords and utility companies, and handle other similar tasks. Each client has different goals and needs, and case managers help them address both their current and future needs.
The Homeless Rapid Re-Housing Program helps homeless individuals in Kansas City find housing that is both stable and affordable. It provides financial aid in the form of grants for security deposits, as well as guidance. This is done to stop future evictions and the stress that homelessness has on families. This means that the agency will help people find and move into safe and affordable housing as soon as possible.
The Rent Assistance Program from Cross-Lines helps families who have received eviction notices by giving them money to pay for rent, so they don’t have to worry about being homeless. The charity could give money to help pay for back rent, either as a loan that must be repaid, or as a grant that does not have to be repaid.
There are utility bill assistance programs available to help families with their heating and cooling costs in the winter and summer. This service is very important to the Cross-Lines mission. This program helps people in Kansas City who are having trouble paying their energy bills to keep their service from being shut off. The fund will help with heating bills and other needs, while also assisting with restoring service for those whose utilities have been disconnected.
The Medicine Cabinet is a program that provides free or low-cost emergency medical services to people who do not have health insurance coverage. The Cross-Lines medical program provides various forms of emergency care, such as dental care, 30-day supplies of free prescription medications, eye exams and prescription glasses, and a limited selection of durable medical equipment.
Cross-Lines Community Outreach education and employment services
Cross-Lines is responsible for education. This is a important way to be financially stable and successful in life. This program provides opportunities for success in life and school by giving away free school supplies like backpacks filled with items for school-aged children and youth. The goal is to ensure that children have the clothing and supplies they need to be successful when they start school.
In today’s age, it is critical to have access to a computer. It is important to have a good resume when looking for a job. The Cross-Lines Computer Lab is a free, open lab environment where job seekers can connect with local resources, apply for jobs, review employers, update their resumes, and more. The non-profit offers computer classes to community members to help them improve their resume, use a computer, search for local employment, and send emails.
The Cross-Lines Community Engagement Program strives to improve communication and relationships within the community. The focus is on the Armourdale neighborhood in Kansas City and the people who live there. Cross-Lines works with the Armourdale Renewal Association to provide services and organized events that strengthen the community as a whole and each client.
The resources provided are very diverse. Cross-Lines Community Outreach is located at 736 Shawnee Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas 66105. You can find more information about them on their website. To reach customer service, please dial 913-281-3388.