Better Together

Stop Competing and Start Collaborating

Non-Profit Organizations Band Together During the Pandemic to Improve the Community

by Megan

Stuke

photography by Jason Dailey

If the advent of COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s the importance of a community that works together, linking its proverbial arms and finding ways to lift one another toward safety. We’ve seen volunteers take risks to deliver lunches to school children. Consumers have purchased gift certificates from their favorite local establishments with hopes of using them later but supporting the business now. Social distancing is meant to protect the rest of the community, not just ourselves.

Together, we have sacrificed. “Together Apart” has been a catchphrase of sorts, meant to signify that even though we are tucked away, barely interacting with the rest of the world, we’re mutually united, all the same.

Non-profits have known for years that this is a model for success. This is how we change the world. Industry jargon about partnership, collaboration and interdisciplinary projects peppers the language, meetings and literature of the not-for-profit world. Without a network, non-profits end up working in what is called “a silo” – and silos are less effective and efficient than their interconnected and even interdependent counterparts.

For decades, local non-profits have found ways to partner and leverage their strengths in Lawrence and surrounding areas. The Ballard Center, a low-income childcare center in North Lawrence, has long utilized partners to provide the TOYS, or Take Our Youth Shopping event, at holiday time to its students every year. Hallmark provides funds and McDonald’s provides breakfast to every child enrolled at the Ballard Center. The children are escorted to breakfast and then shopping by their own personal law enforcement officer, spending up to $100 per child on gifts for them and their family for Christmas. This small act resonates with children who need to feel seen and to have safe and positive interactions with law enforcement at a young age.

Lawrence’s Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) saw a need during the pandemic and quickly developed a plan to have virtual support groups with residents of Presbyterian Manor, a senior living facility. Jill Craft, the community outreach specialist at VNA, says, “While this partnership is fairly new, it has been nice working with such knowledgeable and compassionate professionals – both from Lawrence Presbyterian Manor as well as VNA’s hospice team. It is impressive to see the wealth of knowledge the two teams hold and their willingness to help support the Lawrence community.”

“Caring for our community may benefit our bottom line in the long run,” Craft explains.

But she says the important thing is offering this particular support to residents of Presbyterian Manor regardless of their ability to pay. Craft asserts this project may have revolutionized the way VNA does many of their support groups in the future. They have embraced the online platform for the groups and realize this might be an effective model for service delivery far into the future. Through this partnership, lives have been enriched, and organizations have learned new and innovative strategies.

Kathleen Marker, CEO of the YWCA of Northeast Kansas, has seen firsthand how organizations are better together, particularly in the time of COVID-19. She was part of meetings held by the Topeka United Way that are attended by multiple Shawnee County non-profits to problem-solve around urgent community needs as they arise. Together, they have “strategized about getting the word out for programs to provide food and sack lunches to those in need,” Marker says.

This feeding effort involved the multiple government and non-government agencies. Likewise, Community Action, another local non-profit organization, coordinated an effort to get food being donated by Starbucks, who emptied its stock when the shutdown began to the Center for Empowerment at the YWCA. This allowed survivors of domestic violence to benefit from the pastries and sandwiches while they sheltered in hotel rooms, free from danger, since sheltering at The Center For Empowerment was not an option due to risks in co-housing during the pandemic. Community Action also partnered with Capital Federal Bank to create a “care station” in an unused Capital Federal Bank building. The station provided a socially distant space for clients to meet with providers for all manner of Covid-19-related assistance, all under one roof.

The Willow Domestic Violence Center collaborates with a long list of partners on a continuous basis, but a highlight emerged in 2019 when Lawrence’s Tenants to Homeowners (TTH), an organization that provides rentals and oppor

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Kathleen Marker

tunities for home ownerships to lower income residents, partnered with the Willow, KU Endowment and the City of Lawrence to make seven transitional housing units available to survivors of domestic violence. The houses, owned by KU Endowment, were leased to Tenants to Homeowners for a nominal fee, in return for TTH serving as landlord and providing maintenance. The units are all utilized by survivors who are clients of the Willow, which provides close and supportive case management – a position funded by the City of Lawrence’s Affordable Housing Tax. This elegant program is only possible because multiple entities communicate and are willing to participate in bigger picture priorities, together.

Growth, for non-profits, is often a challenge. While leaders may see a need to serve increasing numbers of clients or expand the types of services they offer, capacity is often limited, and facilities present significant funding challenges. Partnerships often drive this growth, as community organizations or businesses see the benefit of having such services available.

For example, Lawrence Meals on Wheels (MOW) was started by a small group of concerned citizens 50 years ago. Meals were prepared in various church kitchens and delivered by a few dedicated individuals. Eventually, the numbers of meals grew, and the church kitchens were no longer viable as preparation facilities. Since then, Lawrence Meals on Wheels has contracted with Lawrence Memorial Hospital to prepare the meals.

Kim Culliss, Lawrence Meals on Wheels executive director, is proud to say this partnership is still going strong to this day.

“For our clients, the partnership means that they can have doctor-ordered specialized meals individualized to their specific dietary needs,” Culliss says.

She knows that much of her work is made possible by the many partnerships Meals on Wheels enjoys with organizations like the Senior Resource Center, Just Food and Visiting Nurses.

“The Lawrence nonprofit community has always been a supportive and collaborative group,” she says.

Pandemic has underscored what the non-profit community has always known. We are, as Lawrence Art Center CEO Margaret Weisbrod-Morris often says, “Better together.”

At the end of the day, we rise together, creating a more buoyant and resilient community when we open our doors to one another and strategize as a team. Competition has no place when you are in the business of changing the world.

Editor’s Note: Megan Stuke is Executive Director of The Willow Domestic Violence Center in Lawrence, Kansas

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