2015 Taz Lombardo – “Homeless Help” Homeless Help STORY DESCRIPTION: The photos in this story were originally included in a 3-part series I wrote and photographed about community partners who are working together to provide services to the homeless population in Warrensburg Missouri. The purpose of this work is not to highlight homelessness as an issue, but to inform about the people and services made available to those in need. CAPTION: Danna Oquendo bags cucumbers for Manna Harvest recipients before distribution Saturday, March 1. Manna Harvest, a nonprofit in Warrensburg, gather every first and third Saturday to distribute groceries to more than 800 Johnson County residents in need. Tony Hart (left) and a partner work quickly to separate potatoes into boxes for families . Volunteer crews average 15-20 volunteers per distribution who meet during the dark hours of the morning to bag groceries before the cars arrive. A long line of people in cars wait outside of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church to receive free groceries Saturday, March 1 in Warrensburg, Mo. Drivers begin lining up as early as 5:30 a.m. to receive their groceries most Saturdays. Lisa and Jim Smith prepare the kitchen before a Nehemiah Feeding dinner Thursday, April 24, 2014. Nehemiah Feeding is a dinner service program through Manna Harvest that serves dinner at no charge every Monday-Thursday. Rather than serving food in a chow-line, volunteers bring dinner to the tables like a real resaurant to provide a dignified family dining experience. Eighth grader Mercedes Tallant passes a “Tiger Bag” down the assembly line to be sealed and sent home with a student in need. Warrensburg Middle School’s Tiger Bag program enlists the help of Brooke Mannering’s eighth grade family and consumer science class to package weekend snack bags for students who might otherwise not receive meals on the weekends. Suzy Latare (left) fills out a Point-in-Time form, making note of known homeless people who have been spotted in the area January 29, 2014. The point-in-time count is a bi-annual count of Warrensburg’s known homeless population. Following the count, it is mandated by the Governors’s Committee to End Homelessness that the counters report to the Missouri Housing Development Commission to develop a statewide total of the homeless population. Bob Vickers (right), executive director of Johnson County’s United Way, instructs volunteers on how to seperate and stock donated goods at the Servant’s Open Door Warehouse in Warrensburg March 29, 2014. Servant’s Open Door provides much of the food and goods distributed by programs like the Point-In-Time Count, Tiger Bags and Manna Harvest. Gary Chaky, a previously homeless veteran in Warrensburg, poses for a portrait in his new home. “I was one of the people counted in the Point-In-Time Count last year,” Chaky said. “(Now) I have a shower that’s my own. I have a toilet that’s my own. I’m very thankful to these people.” These photographs are copyright Taz Lombardo and are used here by permission. They may not be used elsewhere without permission.
