Our world has been turned upside down. The impact of Coronavirus has taken over our attention and our media feeds. Medical personnel are leading the fight to diagnose and treat our loved ones with COVID-19, on top of the daily medical needs that don’t stop for a pandemic. Most of us are relegated to our homes for the next month. Our schools and most businesses are closed or operating on the financial edge. Already, millions have lost their jobs in an environment with few, if any prospects, raising the importance of organizations designed to address such needs.
Metropolitan Lutheran Ministries (“MLM”) is one of those organizations in Kansas City, Missouri. MLM was started in 1971 to connect those in need with food, housing, health care, education and employment services to nurture greater hope, health, opportunity and peace. Client faith practices matter not at all to qualification. They now offer services in Kansas City, KS and North Kansas City, MO as well. Normally, demand for their services fluctuates very little, providing capacity to plan for financial and physical resources to deliver efficiently and responsibly. These are not normal times. In the midst of the expanding economic fallout from Coronavirus, food distribution is up 300% and client demand for other services is growing further still. They are already running into capacity constraints in their distributions and service infrastructure.
To complicate matters, MLM relies on three primary fundraising events throughout the calendar year. One, scheduled around March Madness, was effectively cancelled with the quarantine ordered for Kansas City, as was a second event scheduled for early May. In addition, Blessings Abound, an affiliated thrift store located in Overland Park, KS, which shares a portion of its revenues with MLM, has been deemed non-essential and is currently closed until the quarantine is lifted. With the loss of these revenue sources, the ability of MLM to service a constant, and now growing community need, is put at risk.
Recently, however, an anonymous donor has offered a matching gift of $140,000 to help MLM through these difficult times. For every dollar contributed to MLM, the donor will match dollar for dollar, and they hope to raise $140,000 to receive the entire match. Despite driving us apart to self-distance and shelter-at-home, Coronavirus has served to drive our communities closer in ways that manifest themselves differently than before. We feel called to help in a tangible manner that makes a difference. Supporting organizations like MLM provides an avenue to do just that. If you feel called to support MLM in their mission, and leverage your dollars at the same time, log on below and make a donation. In addition to sharing your financial treasure, they can also find ways to use your time and talents to make our neighborhood a little better for someone else.
https://www.mlmkc.org/donate.html
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