Our founder and director, Tiffany Buckley, experienced homelessness for several months in 2016. After rehabilitation in Hope House (a domestic violence shelter) and getting back on her feet, she chose to start giving back.

The first large gesture for VKC before incorporation was a fashion show. In lieu of tickets, critical donations were accepted for Hope House. A call for help to create a nonprofit was made during a speech.

Thanks to the generosity of a Friend of VKC, we became a Missouri Nonprofit. The focus being volunteering at nonprofits which serve the homeless, as well as collecting and distributing donations to those in need.

Volunteer KC, Inc. achieved 501(c)3 status with the IRS.

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the country.

VKC won a contract with the United States Department of Agriculture to receive and distribute 30,000 lbs of food weekly in phases via the Farmers to Families Foodbox program through a local produce distributor - we simply dubbed the program Foodbox.

Rehabbed the Garden at Metro Lutheran Ministry

1,830 Volunteer Hours

300 KC Navigation Bags were distributed

2,800 lbs of Food was diverted from waste and distributed to those in need

The Foodbox program ended Summer 2021. VKC distributed a total of 869,746 lbs of food in Jackson County with the Foodbox program during the pandemic.

1,600 Volunteer Hours

560 KC Navigation Bags were distributed

3,785 lbs of food was diverted from waste and distributed to those in need

1,200 Volunteer Hours

440 KC Navigation Bags were distributed.

3,154 lbs of Food was diverted from waste and distributed to those in need

247 lbs of Food was grown in the Garden at River of Refuge, a transitional housing program for homeless families

423 Volunteer Hours

400 KC Navigation Bags were distributed

1,302 lbs of Food was diverted from waste and distributed to those in need

422 lbs of Food grown in the Garden at River of Refuge

42,000 donations were collected for care bags given out during the annual homeless census mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and conducted by the Greater KC Coalition to End Homelessness.

Volunteer KC’s impact since achieving nonprofit status:

Volunteer Hours = 5,852

Food Grown in RoR Garden = 670 lbs

Food Diverted from Waste = 11,041 lbs

Foodbox = 869,746 lbs

KC Navigation Bags = 1,700

Point in Time Count items = 42,000

Funds raised at Interstellar Escapade will go toward grant writing and capacity building.

VKC is currently 100% volunteer operated, and to scale up for an exponential growth we must begin building a staff.

The Golden Goal is to be the premier volunteer staffing agency in the Kansas City Metro for hundreds, if not thousands, of fellow humans.

We can solve more problems and strengthen the community when we work together!

#inthistogether #vkc #interstellarescapade