Banking on KC – Matthew Entringer of Street Support KC
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Matthew Entringer, the founder of Street Support KC, an organization that provides direct outreach and essential resources to individuals who are experiencing homelessness in Kansas City. Welcome, Matthew.
Matthew Entringer:
Thank you so much, Kelly. I appreciate you having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
Let's start with your why, which is what drives people and it's what keeps their commitment to their cause really high. What inspired you to launch Street Support KC and how's your vision evolved?
Matthew Entringer:
Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, my why started in December of 2021. I was living downtown Kansas City in the library district in a big apartment complex, and I would always see, because I'd lived down there for several years, people that were experiencing homelessness out and about. But it seemed like in 2021, I was just seeing more people. And we had a lobby in our building where people would come in, especially during the winter, late at night and just stay there for warmth. And there was one event in particular where there was two or three people, and I don't know why. It just really affected me where I was like, okay, well this is, it just felt like something I had to do. I couldn't really explain it other than it just felt like I had to find a way to help. And I would always walk to work back and forth, but would always just walk downtown in general. And I saw a group on Saturdays that was about a block and a half from my place that was helping with T-shirts and food and other sorts of things for people that were experiencing homelessness. And it was another nonprofit in town here called Scraps KC that does creative upcycling. And what they'd always done, the homeless mission on the side.
And so I came over, introduced myself, just said, "Hey, I'd love to help out. I'd love to bring socks and drawstring bags or whatever I could just to help supplement what they had." And started doing that. And about a year and a half of doing that, I just felt really good and I just really enjoyed giving back and I could see the difference in people I was making and it felt like something really tangible that I could affect. There's a lot of big goals like climate change or income inequality or things like that that are just way beyond what a small group of people can really do, but homelessness here in KC and helping people with just basic necessities seemed like something that I could tackle. And that was the part to me that I just really enjoyed and it was very different than my day job.
And so after about 18 months, I went to Jeff and Brenda who run Scraps KC, and I was like, "I'm thinking about starting a nonprofit and really taking on this homeless initiative to the next level and wanted to do more." And they were like, "That's amazing," because coincidentally, they were, "Our creative upcycling is taking off so much that we actually have to stop doing our Saturday events down here, but we would love to support you however we can." And to this day, they still have, I just picked up dozens of blankets from them the other day, but it was just serendipitous how I was like, "Hey, I'd love to take this on. And they were like, well, we're need to pass the baton anyway." So it just worked out that way.
Since then, it's really just grown up with mind of its own as far as how the organization is shaped. So it's been really cool how there were certain things at the beginning I was like, well, I don't want to do clothes because there's so many different size variations. It takes up so much space, but all the donations that we get are clothing, and that's a huge need for people that are experiencing homelessness. So you just adapt based on what you find the need to be. And as you get just more educated on the issue like I am about, like what are the items that actually make an impact? So that's just how we've evolved is just listening to the needs of the community and the people that we serve and then trying to give back to that as much as we can.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about how the organization works. Do you have these Saturday events? Is that the crux of what you do? Is there more involved?
Matthew Entringer:
The first Saturday of every month we have our outreach events, and that's really the crux of everything that we're doing. We'll help 50, 60, sometimes 70 people downtown with everything from, we'll have blankets, we'll have sleeping bags, we have hygiene kits, flashlights, batteries, food, clothes. It takes about 15 volunteers for us to be able to have all these different stations. The Wednesday before an event, we'll have people over to our workshop, which is just my double car garage that I no longer park in. And we sort through all the clothes that we get and all the donations, and we get thousands of dollars in clothing almost monthly at this point. And so being able to have a team of volunteers that will help us sort through that and get stuff ready. And then we take all that stuff downtown to our outreach events, which are right near the library who's been a really great partner for us because that's where a lot of people that are experiencing homelessness hang out during the day because once they have to leave the shelter, they need somewhere to go where they can spend time.
And so we partner with the library as a way to help raise awareness with people that are experiencing homelessness. And we do the event right out on the west side of their building. And it's just really great to be able to give back and to help people. Even things that you don't think make a difference make such a huge difference, like a backpack, or somebody came at one of our events last time, I was like, "I've got a job interview with a local company here. They're going to give me a chance. Do you guys have any shirts with a collar that I could wear?" And be like, "Yes, we do. 100%." For someone that really doesn't have much income or any type of money, even going to Goodwill or Savers and buying a nice dress shirt is out of his price range. So being able to help people like that and give back has been really cool and really rewarding.
Kelly Scanlon:
You've built strong partnerships with other organizations around the community as well. I'm thinking of Boulevard Brewing Girl Scouts. Those partnerships, what role do they play in your mission and how have you been able to engage them? I mean, when you talk about the Girl Scouts, you're talking about young girls, and when you talk about Boulevard Brewing, you're talking about a whole different demographic. So how have you been able to tap into all of those different ages and different sectors to really create this community that helps?
Matthew Entringer:
Number one, it just came out of necessity because we're celebrating our two years of our 5 0 1 C3 status next month. As we continue to grow, there's only so much that you can do by yourself, and especially as you're starting off with new organizations, sometimes grants aren't available to you right away depending on how long you've been around. I 100% get this. When you don't have a track record of doing a lot of the things that you're saying, "Hey, if you give me this money, I'm going to do it." Private donations too can also be like, okay, yes, we're willing to help you out to an extent or whatever with charitable foundations or things like that, but getting able to do in-kind donations and things like that have just been a huge way for us to really kickstart our nonprofit.
Kelly Scanlon:
So you don't have to take the funds that you do have and spend them on clothing and on backpacks and things like that.
Matthew Entringer:
Exactly. Because we're an entirely volunteer-led organization, so whether it's a dollar or whether it's a T-shirt, like everything is going to the same place. Whatever we don't get donated through in-kind donations, we got to pay for. So getting things and having Black Dog Coffeehouse in Lenexa letting us put donation bins where we can get clothing and stuff like that has been huge. I mean, we've generated thousands in clothing just off of that. We had a fundraiser last year where we had a lot of different groups like Boulevard and Joe's KC and just all different sorts of groups that wanted to get involved and donated prizes and gifts for us for our raffle and things like that.
And then the really cool stuff is just people that find us organically through our website. There's a lot of different organizations that are trying to tackle homelessness here in KC, like a Girl Scout troop that I had a mom reach out and she was like, "Hey, as part of their service activity, they really wanted to put these comfort kits together with hot hands and a hat and gloves and scarf and all this sort of stuff, but we just don't know where to bring it to actually have people pass it out. They're like, would you take these?" And we're like, "Absolutely." And so that's how it came about it. Is a lot of people doing things on their own and then just finding a need for someone to distribute that.
Like Notre Dame de Sion grade school here, they had reached out and they were like, hey, our group made 200 little doc kits with different things for people with cute little notes that were like, we're thinking of you. We hope you have a great day, and all that. It was just really adorable. Well, same thing there. Their teacher had found out about us just I think through our website and then was like, "Hey, do you guys take these? We're doing this big project."
So I think when you talk about how we engage each of these different groups, what I think is really cool is just the spirit of Kansas City with everybody wanting to give back. And so you've got people that are heads of companies, you get retirees, you get elementary school kids that they all want to give back. And I think what we're doing with Street Support is addressing a little bit of a need. If people want to give back, they just don't know how to do it exactly. So hey, we want to make these kits. Hey, our business resource group at J.E. Dunn wants to put together some tie blankets. Would you guys take these and distribute them for us? And so that's almost the cool partnership is people have all these ideas, these projects, and they come to us and all we really have to do is hand out all the great stuff they've done. So the cool part is finding out how much Kansas City really cares.
Kelly Scanlon:
You mentioned that there are several other groups in Kansas City that are attempting to address the homeless situation. Do you partner with any of them or work with any of them?
Matthew Entringer:
We've started to, just in the sense of really, I would say Scraps KC is a group that still gets a lot of donations with clothing and backpacks and blankets. And so we've partnered with them even though they're not doing direct homeless outreach, but we started to reach out to different partners that would add to our outreach events, whether it be onsite medical care or even grooming services like a barber or something like that. So trying to figure out ways to do strategic partnerships that make sense where we can add value to each other. So definitely, as we continue to grow, I hope to do more of that.
Kelly Scanlon:
You mentioned it yourself that as you live downtown, you started noticing the rise of homelessness, and I think most of us are aware that it is becoming not just a more visible issue, but a real practical issue. What are some of the reasons behind that? And then also, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that the public has about the issue?
Matthew Entringer:
When it comes to what are the biggest reasons, number one you can probably look at is just the cost of housing going up. Whether you're renting an apartment or you have a mortgage on a house, we've all seen our prices increase in the last few years that really hits the people that are just hanging on and hoping for a place to stay. It's making it harder for them to get into low-income housing. It's making it harder for them to find places they can actually afford.
The other side of that is even if we gave a house to every single person that was experiencing homelessness right now, we would still have the issue of substance abuse, which is I think over a third of everybody that's experiencing homelessness has some sort of substance abuse issue, whether it's alcohol, whether it's drugs. And then also mental illness is a really big thing too. I mean, really since the pandemic, we've seen mental health decline across the board for a lot of segments in the population, but especially for one of our largest growing segments of people in the US, which is people experiencing homelessness. So last year in the US we had an 18% increase in people experiencing homelessness and drug addiction and mental illness were the two biggest reasons for that. And so even if we were to solve the issue of affordable housing, which is definitely a major issue, not just in Kansas City, but really across the country, we still need to have better mental health therapists and addiction recovery specialists to really help get us out of this kind homelessness crisis that we're in right now.
And as far as misconceptions think, I think one of the biggest misconceptions, and I fell into this because before I started this nonprofit, I was like, I didn't know a lot about people experiencing homelessness. I grew up in South Dakota. I didn't see a lot of people. I didn't see a lot of people in general, but definitely didn't see a lot of people experiencing homelessness. You try and simplify the issue in your mind, I think when you don't have a lot of knowledge about it. And you're like, well know, it's because they just, they're not working right now, so they can't afford, it's like, well, if they just got a job, that would solve everything, right?
Or you must think, and I can see people rationalize it this way now is we live in an amazing country, we wouldn't allow our fellow residents to just live on the street if it wasn't through something that they did themselves. And I think that's the biggest thing that I try and teach people on is like, it's not having a job versus not having a job. I've met people who have full-time jobs and then when they leave their job, they go across the street to sleep in a car until their next shift. That shouldn't be something that where you work 40 hours a week, you do what you're supposed to and you still end up not having a house. So I think that's the biggest misconception is well, homeless people, if you're experiencing homelessness, it's because you're lazy. You don't want to get a job or don't want to go anywhere else. And that's just not true.
Kelly Scanlon:
I can't remember the statistic right now, but I've read in the past about how it's a significant percentage of the population in the United States that are just one major crisis away from not being able to make their mortgage payments or whatever it might be that could possibly send them onto the street.
Matthew Entringer:
No, it's absolutely true, and everybody that comes to our events, I have a real soft spot for, but specifically the people that show up in khakis and a button down are like, "I lost my job this week. I'm sleeping in my car. I didn't realize how close I was." And that's the stuff where you're like, "Oh, wow." It really puts a different perspective into how close we all are and how I think a lot of us assume that there's a safety net that's going to catch us if we lose our job unexpectedly or whatever else might happen. But unfortunately, it's because of the rise in the amount of people that are experiencing homelessness. Resources are more stressed than ever. There's a lot of great organizations in Kansas City that are working to address homelessness, but the problem's growing at just a much bigger rate that could really probably be addressed. So those are the people that I always have a particular soft spot for is people that just weren't finding themselves in the situation or weren't expecting to find themselves in the situation, but ended up there really through what I would consider no fault of their own.
Kelly Scanlon:
You talked a little bit about this, Matthew, but let's talk in a little more depth. What are some of the most urgent needs of the people that you serve? And how can our listeners today get involved in meaningful ways beyond donating money, which I know you'd use that to purchase what you don't get donated, but beyond donating money, how can our listeners get involved?
Matthew Entringer:
Yeah, it's a great question. Going back to what are the most urgent needs of this community, we see people that are living in their cars, some that are just full on living in the streets, and you talk about just your basic needs of shelter, clothing, food, things like that. So that's part of what we're trying to do at our event is just make sure to give out things like new underwear, new socks, a sleeping bag to keep them warm, a backpack to keep all their stuff in. One thing I'd never really considered is when you're homeless, literally what you can carry is what you have.
Kelly Scanlon:
So the backpacks become a very covet possession.
Matthew Entringer:
Exactly. And so it's one of those things where the most immediate needs are things that are just related to their daily survival. But from the long-term, research has shown that if you're experiencing homelessness, your expected lifespan is about 20 to 30 years shorter than somebody that lives housed. And so we talk about exposure to elements. Luckily, we're getting out of winter now, which can be a really dangerous time for people experiencing homelessness. But even the summer when you think about whether it be heat stroke, whether it be just even rainstorms that can come, and I've met people who've all their possessions were just soaked, wet, ruined, or washed away because they didn't have any shelter as far as where they could put it. So some of the most immediate needs are clothing, food, things like that. But long-term, just getting out of the exposure from the elements is really what affects a lot of them.
And when it comes to getting involved, we talked earlier about the groups that are doing their own projects, and I think that's what's really cool is how many different people that are working at companies right now have an employee group that are out there that the amount of times they're like, "Hey, we're trying to look for an activity," or especially around the holidays, but even outside the holidays like, "Hey, we want to give back. We want to do a team activity." Putting things together like hygiene kits, putting things together like comfort kits for little winter items, things like that. Putting together snack kits for people that don't have access to a refrigerator or a microwave or anywhere to prepare food, getting things like granola bars and trail mix and crackers and things like that, and just making these kits together super helpful.
So I would encourage people as they're looking for how they can give back to take these ideas to different groups you have at work, at church, any of the civic groups you have, and even if it's not our group, getting those and creating those and doing that and finding groups that like myself that are doing the distribution part of it is a huge way to give back. Money is always fantastic, but a lot of times these cool projects are things and these ready made to go, Hey, we've gotten all the snacks ready, everything's ready to go for you. You can just hand them out or sometimes even better. So I would encourage people just to think creatively about that, about different groups they can lean into and do some teamwork with that.
Kelly Scanlon:
Street Support emphasizes connection, consistency, and compassion. We've talked a little bit about each of those individually, but how do those values guide your day to day work. And really importantly, how do they influence the way your team interacts with the people you serve?
Matthew Entringer:
There are a lot of nonprofits out there that could just literally make it be more of a transactional thing where it's like, Hey, here you go. Here's what you need. Keep the line moving, things like that. Every single person that we have that volunteers with us has gotten into it because they want to make a connection with the people that we see on a daily basis. So these aren't just the people that we're serving. I've known some of these people for two or three years like that I see on a regular basis. There are people that my parents ask about and they're like, "How's Dennis doing?" I was like, "I think he did really good". My mom bought a man that I'm friends with that's experiencing homelessness, a brand new pair of winter boots, and she's like, "Make sure to give that to him for Christmas." And so you get to know these people on a really individual basis.
And I think going back to what we started the show-off with, why is the people that you're helping, right? It's easy to ignore a number, and when I say homelessness has increased 18% this year, it's like, okay, well that's just a number. If it's like, well, that meant that Dave and John and Fred are no longer able to put a roof over their house, it becomes much more personal. And so that's the compassion side of it, is connecting with people and we're very open to feedback and talk with them. So like, Hey, are you guys getting everything you need from this? Were there things that we didn't have that you would want to see? Or are there things next time where, hey, we didn't have this particular size of clothing or whatever, but next time we'll make sure to find a jacket that's in your size. So I wouldn't say we always take special requests, but if it's something that we don't have and that we're looking to expand on, we love being able to add more things that people directly tell us about.
And the consistency is just, this year we went to every single month. The first Saturday just had a much more consistent schedule. And we see people when we show up on our Saturday events, might be 10, 15, 20 people deep just waiting for us. That might be the only help they get the entire weekend. And so being consistent is a huge part of just showing up for people. I would say those are the two biggest things that guide our mission is setting our events at consistent time, and then also just getting people that genuinely want to make a connection with people we're serving.
Kelly Scanlon:
And I would think that for the people that you see regularly and for the people like yourself who are there every week, I know different groups rotate in and out, but you do have some people who are there consistently that as you get to know these people, you probably also can be a person who notices a change perhaps that something they're in need of something that they're not telling you about, whether it's from a health standpoint or whatever, and you can maybe make a referral to another organization or agency that could perhaps help them?
Matthew Entringer:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the thing that's nice about, like you said, seeing people on a regular basis is you get to know them, you get to know what the normal behavior is, right. And for a group that is particularly adverse affected by substance abuse and mental health issues.
Kelly Scanlon:
well, and even the threat of violence that you might be subjected to every day.
Matthew Entringer:
100%. Yeah, no, you're exactly right.
Kelly Scanlon:
And you've been at this now for a few years, two years celebrating your not-for-profit status, but actually in the trenches a bit longer than that, and you've seen a lot of things. If there was one thing in the next year that you could accomplish, what would you say you'd like to do?
Matthew Entringer:
Yeah, that's a great question. A lot of my goals around Street Support KC are how many people we serve. And so we're able to hit about 50, 60 people per event. I would love to get to a number, like a thousand people I'd love in the next year for us to do a thousand people. So that would involve all of our monthly events plus some additional probably holiday ones. So that's really my goal is more people-based. How can we address as many and help as many people as possible?
Kelly Scanlon:
because there are that many people out there that are homeless.
Matthew Entringer:
I think this, maybe two years ago was there was over 1800 people experiencing homelessness, and then if you just include Kansas City rise at the rate of the US last year, 18%, I mean, that's well over 2000 people now. And of the 50 60 we see, it's like that might only be 5% or less of the people that are actually experiencing homelessness. So if we're impacting more people, that means that we're spreading out, we're getting more awareness. I think that's another thing is just trying to drive awareness with people that are experiencing homelessness. Like, Hey, we have this opportunity to get some essential supplies on Saturdays, and we've partnered with the library to get on their street sheet, their resource kit for people that are experiencing homelessness. But I think being able to get a thousand people would say that we're doing a good job of not just expanding this organization from a donor or volunteer standpoint, but getting more recognition as a place that people can come to if they need help for people that are experiencing homelessness.
Kelly Scanlon:
For those who are interested in getting in touch with you, what's the best way to do that? Go to your website?
Matthew Entringer:
Yeah, Streetsupportkc.org. If you want to get in touch with us, there's a contact form. We also have volunteer form or a donation form, or you can reach out directly to me at [email protected]. And whether it's just questions, whether it's figuring if we want donations or whether you want to volunteer, we'd love to talk with anybody that's interested in learning more about our organization,
Kelly Scanlon:
Streetsupportkc.org, look into it and get in touch with Matthew. Thank you so much for coming on the show today and talking to us about this really important work.
Matthew Entringer:
No, thank you so much, Kelly. I really appreciate it.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, President of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Matthew Entringer, founder of Street Support KC for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. Street Support. KC is making a meaningful difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness in Kansas City by meeting them where they are offering not only essentials like clothing, hygiene items, and food, but also consistent care, community connection, and compassion. By partnering with schools, local businesses and volunteer groups, Matthew has created a grassroots model of service that is deeply impactful. At Country Club Bank, we recognize strong communities are built by those who take action. Street Support KC exemplifies what it means when one person decides to take action to serve others with purpose, and we're happy to shine a light on their work. Thanks for tuning in This week we're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank, Member FDIC.