By Michael Bushnell

On Friday, the Kansas City Public Library’s AmeriCorps VISTAs assembled hygiene kits for the city’s homeless population. Volunteers and library staff got together on the fifth floor of the downtown library to assemble the kits for distribution throughout the year.

Library branches have been taking donations of travel size hygiene items such as shampoo, body wash and toothpaste over the last week and those items are being put into kits for distribution across the city.

According to Beccah Rendall, Library VISTA Project Manager, AmeriCorps members from across the metro are sorting and packing the items into individual hygiene kits.

“The kits will have anything a person might need for their morning or evening routine,” said Rendall. “Shampoo, nail clippers, anything a person might need.”

Friday’s event was part of the library’s Day of Service for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 17.

“We’re doing this today, but other organizations are doing things on Monday,” Rendall noted, citing the Martin Luther King holiday on Monday. 

Longtime Jackson County Legislator Scott Burnett was on site Friday, as well, hard at it sorting items for packing.

“I’m here trying to help out the best I can,” Burnett said. “I enjoy the engagement and it helps other organizations like Beyond the Basics who makes sure every KCPD cruiser has at least one or two bags of essentials for folks they might run across.”

For more information about the MLK Day of Service, stop by your local Kansas City Public Library branch or visit: AmeriCorps.gov/MLKDay.