Abby Hoover
Managing Editor

Last week, Kansas City Disc Golf donated funds raised during its annual Ice Bowl winter disc golf tournament to Bishop Sullivan Center, a nonprofit serving Northeast Kansas City.

Founded in 1987, the Ice Bowl is a fun and competitive event working to fight food insecurity in the community.

This year’s donations totaled $17,500, with half going to Bishop Sullivan and half to Cross-Lines Community Outreach in Kansas City, Kan.

“We really wanted to work with organizations that are focused on food insecurity solutions, and the year before we did the Mission Project, but this year, just with the rise of cost of living and food increase, we thought, ‘Let’s go back to what the original sentiment of the of the event is,” said event organizer Lupe Herrada.

This year, the event was made up of “satellite events” across the metro, which garnered additional participation with 289 pre-registrations and nearly 100 walk-up participants.

“For the past couple of years, we’ve been doing satellite events, which occur in different parts of the city, so we’re able to capture different audiences that wouldn’t necessarily travel,” Herrada said. “So we were as far out as Longview Lake and Prairie Center Olathe, Cass County, we were up in Liberty, we were out in Blue Springs, so we made sure to hit as many areas as we could.”

Executive Director Michelle Carlstedt said Bishop Sullivan has seen needs dramatically increase just in the last few months.

“Probably at least 20 to 25% more families are visiting our food pantries, so we’re doing about 800 families every month between our two locations,” Carlstedt said.

The pantry at 6435 E. Truman Rd. is busier than their second location at 3936 Troost Ave.

“And we have larger families here, so we do feed more people in this location,” Carlstedt said. “The other thing that has happened is for emergency assistance, we can help with rental assistance, utility assistance and other aid.”

They have an online application – and a computer center on site – to get people plugged in. Clients have the opportunity to share their story, as well.

Those applications have really increased. In the last four years, they’ve received about 16 or 17 applications a day. However, they’ve had two days this month with over 100 applications.

“SNAP benefits have been cut, which has really made a difference, and of course with the cost of living, we just expect that to increase.

Carlstedt said Bishop Sullivan will use the donation for food, the most immediate need. Knowing the need continues to grow, participants support the causes year after year.

“Then we have a lot of people who don’t play but still donate,” Herrada said. “We have an auction where we have a lot of people donate disc golf items. We put them up for auction and that made about $4,000 this year. We find different ways to raise funds that are more than just entry fees, because that’s only $10 per person.”

Kansas City Disc Golf hosts tournaments and leagues throughout the year and across the city. For more information, visit kcdiscgolf.org.

Bishop Sullivan Center provides food, job resources, clothing and other resources to the Northeast and East Side communities. More information on their work can be found at bishopsullivan.org.