We recently teamed up with Amethyst Place to collect food for local women and children. Travois staff filled reusable bags with food items, using Amethyst Place’s tips for Healthy Meals in a Bag.
Amethyst Place is a nonprofit in Kansas City that provides transitional housing for women who are in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. Often, their children join them in the housing, sometimes after recently being reunited, and the families benefit from the stability, support and enhanced living environment.
Working in the affordable housing industry, all of us at Travois recognize how important stable housing is for families. Even our little Travoisians helped out with this cause. Our head daycare teacher, Miss Steph, was able to take some of the children to the grocery store where they helped shop for food.
We collected a lot of food! Rachael Rider and I visited Amethyst Place to drop it off. Julie Carmichael, director of programs, was nice enough to give us a tour of the buildings.
Julie showed us an apartment that was recently furnished and decorated for a new family joining Amethyst Place. She explained that every apartment is fully-furnished from donations, and volunteers design and decorate the apartments to create a comfortable living space.
She also said that once a woman successfully completes the Amethyst Place program, the woman and her family keep the furnishings to give them a head start and smooth transition to independent housing.
It’s easy to get involved! A few staff members donate their time: Elizabeth Bland Glynn, chief executive officer, and Beth Heap, communications director, are active in the EnCompass program. Others have donated home items: Crystal Banks-Mann, assistant director of Travois Asset Management, recently donated furniture, and Rachael helped Crystal deliver the items.
Travois is also proud to support 100 Jobs for 100 Moms, a program that places Amethyst Place moms in new jobs. Amanda Recob has joined the Travois Asset Management team as an administrative assistant.
I enjoyed learning about Amethyst Place and participating in the food drive. I am amazed with how much Amethyst Place does for the Kansas City community — and so happy they do.
If you’re interested in giving back and taking action, learn how you can help here.