Relief Agencies Not Surprised by Kansas City's Response
by David Smale
Angel Flight CEO and ED Christel Gollnick.
One organization that worked behind the scenes to provide relief of a non-monetary nature is Angel Flight Central, part of Angel
Flight America. “It’s not a top-down organization at all. It’s just a network of other Angel Flight organizations across the country,” said Angel Flight Central CEO and Executive Director Christel Gollnick. “We all network together when we need to go in and out of each other’s regions. This gives passengers nationwide access.”
Angel Flight Central worked closely with other relief organizations to provide transportation of victims and supplies. They had volunteers on the ground working directly with the Red Cross at shelters and local airports. They also worked with the Salvation Army, Brothers Keepers and Heart to Heart International, which is based in the Kansas City area.
“We also established a real solid relationship with the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children,” Gollnick said. “That particular relationship was one the helped a lot, because we were helping them transport children who were separated from their families during the evacuation.”
Another local effort in which Angel Flight Central participated was Children’s Mercy Hospital taking 24 patients from the New Orleans Children’s Hospital when that hospital ran out of supplies. Angel Flight Central helped bring families of those patients to Kansas City. When they were ready to be released, Angel Flight also stepped up to deliver them where they needed to go.
“We had flown to 2,000 missions and more than 4,000 people, by the middle of October,” Gollnick said. “We’re still very busy because people are still all over the place. Those missions literally happened in almost all 50 states. A lot of them were getting people out of the affected area. That was the first couple of weeks. Then we went through a period of transporting people all over the place, reuniting families.”
Heart to Heart International volunteers (l-r): Don Coleman, Pilot; Paul Wright, MD, Guthrie, Oklahoma; Rob Vogt, MD, Colorado Springs, Colotado; Charlie Hardison, MD, Tulsa, Oklahoma.From a dollar point-of-view, one of the local efforts that was quite successful was the partnership between Meara, King & Co. and Ingram’s Magazine. Ingram’s Publisher Joe Sweeney heard about John Meara and Meara, King & Company’s effort to raise funds on behalf of the American Red Cross from local businesses. The two organizations aligned and conducted an e-mail campaign to the top executives at many Kansas City area businesses. They were asked to consider supporting the cause, either through the partnership’s KC Katrina Relief Fund or on their own. The outcome yielded terrific response.
“You are to be commended for your leadership and generosity at crunch time,” said R.A. “Bucky” Brooks, President of First Scout Realty Advisors of the KC Katrina Relief Fund.
“I applaud and am grateful for your efforts to encourage the Kansas City and surrounding areas to kick in and help out,” said Kathy Youngblood Hellebuyck of The Youngblood Gallery, in Weston, Mo. “I had already sent my contribution to the American Red Cross before your request arrived, but wanted to thank you for getting together and asking all of us to help. I am very proud to be an American and it is actions like this that you are doing to help our people in this tragic disaster that helps reinforce my feeling.”
The KC Katrina Fund effort raised more than $100,000 from 250 donors that went to the American Red Cross. Several sizeable donations came from Mr. & Mrs. Claude Thau, Westrope and Associates, the KC office of Morgan Stanley and from Meara, King & Co. and Ingram’s, which included personal donations from each staffer.
As Bartkoski mentioned, the donations have been quite creative. The University of St. Mary in Leavenworth, Kan., offered a semester of free tuition for students from the area who were enrolled in college. They also looked for host families for the students, even if they stayed in the dorms. It was not the only area college or university to do so.
The Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites in Overland Park donated 154 beds—not in their hotel but from their hotel, to be delivered to the gulf states region and around the area. Webster House, a Crossroads-area restaurant, antique store and design studio, donated all its proceeds from a four-day special event. The Women’s Employment Network made its services available to displaced women who came to Kansas City and needed assistance with employment preparation and career transition. Their classes and workshops are available at no charge to women.