Uplifting Kansas City

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Posted September 15, 2010

Seeing junior Emily Frye’s lancer blue t-shirt with “SME XC” written across the front, the homeless man immediately remembered his son.

“My son went to East,” he said, and asked how Coach Wylie, the current swim coach, was doing.
“I was shocked,” Emily said, “He had lived and raised his kids in Prairie Village and now he’s homeless.”

In the summer of 2009, the Frye and Hornung family experienced something eye opening: Operation Uplift. Operation Uplift is a volunteer group that goes out and delivers anything from dog food to shaving cream to the Homeless of Kansas City. It has been “taking care and compassion to the homeless” since 1990. Their goal is to deliver basic human necessities that are usually not received from other organizations.

“A lot of them don’t like people,” Emily said, “or they want to be more independent.”

Operation Uplift is a volunteer only organization, with no workers getting paid. Of their three organized routes, the east route goes through independence, central route goes down by the plaza and through down town, and west route goes through the west bottoms.

“West route’s my favorite,” Emily said. “The people are more interesting.”

Each route has around 20 to 40 stops, with approximately 10 people at each stop. The vans are stocked with food, drinks, clothes, animal food, toothbrushes, razors, and many more items. Shelves line the side of the van. Three people, plus a driver, make the rounds.

“It takes a long time,” Emily said. “We normally get there at 4 or 4:30 and don’t leave until 9 or 10.”

Operation Uplift makes their rounds three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. If the van doesn’t have what someone wants, they can place an order and have it delivered next time. Shoes are delivered every six months, and Saturday night is toilet paper night.
These daily, weekly, and monthly details are what makes Operation Uplift such a compassionate place. It makes the regulars feel welcome.
“[Operation Uplift] doesn’t want to change the people,” Emily’s mom Amy Frye said. “They just want to help them get by.”
The Frye family goes with the Hornung family as often as possible.
“It’s very hard to get on the list,” Amy said. “We can probably only get on the list once every three months.”
The Frye family found out about Operation Uplift through the SHARE program at East.
“SHARE used to have a project where they would collect water bottles for [Operation Uplift],” Amy said.
Operation Uplift has now expanded to Colorado, where it’s even bigger in size, and has even more resources. It has a new facility, where the homeless can go and shower.
“The head quarters here [in Kansas City] are just a giant warehouse,” Emily said.
The Frye family enjoys helping out and meeting new and interesting people every time they go, like Angie, Reverend Paul, and Sparkles.

“It’s an experience,” Emily said. “We have a good time.”

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