The Deliverance Of Dignity

Care Package Inbound Newsletter October 2025

Written by Austin Fitzgerald

“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”  Matthew 25:37-40 ESV

In order for the mission of Care Package Inbound to be successful, the hands and feet of Jesus displayed through the generosity of the community is required to make that happen. Whether donations are big or small they all play a very integral part in being united to help kids get the integral resources delivered to them to continue living dignified lives.

I talked to Jesi Kendall who is a resource manager for KVC Kansas and she said that not having the right resources and not enough volunteers has led to not getting these bags into the right hands quick enough.

“These bags are used for emergency purposes. Whether the shirts are worn or not the right size, we have to go through and take them all out.” she said, “Most of the time when we don’t have a lot of volunteers, it is just me and maybe one or two other people sorting through the bags.”

Kendall also said another problem they have is getting already used resources which pose a risk to the children that they serve.

“We are getting half used shampoo bottles.” Kendall said. “We have no idea where those bottles came from and what they have had put in them. We need to be certain that these items have what they say they do in them so we can be rest assured that these children feel safe and protected under our care in receiving these backpacks.

According to the Anne E. Casey Foundation, they said that “over a third of foster care children and youth experience more than three or more placements per year,” which is due to “high family turnover and burnout” as well as “foster parents [not being]equipped to meet their specific needs”

Kendall says that mental health is huge in these situations and while they deal with these bigger issues, these backpacks they receive are a “glimmer of hope”.

“Kansas has the highest rate of disruption. On average, children that go through our state’s foster care system will go through 7-8 placements but the national average is around five placements. Whenever they go from their home to a stranger’s home, it rocks their world ” Kendall said. “All of these questions pop up in regards to ‘where will I go to school and who will be providing for me. These bags let these children know that through these moments of uncertainty, they have a community that purposefully and thoughtfully picked and packaged these items to let them know how much they really care for them.”

In FY 2023, in Kansas there were a total of 6,420 children in out of home foster care placements with only 2,343 licensed foster homes available to them. In Missouri, there was 11,575 children in out of home placements with only 4,567 licensed foster homes available to them.

Trauma, whether physical and emotional is something that these kids hold on to that if they had done nothing about it, they would be in a ‘better place’

“Neglect as the biggest reason along with other behavioral and psychological challenges are why kids are increasingly in the foster care system.“ Kendall said. “These kids are feeling guilty that they did something wrong and when they get picked up, internalize the wish that they had not told anybody about their situation.”

Kendall mentioned that teen clothing as well as winter coats are the biggest items of needs currently.

Kendall said whether you give a gift card directly to Care Package inbound or directly donate to help deliver dignity in getting these bags filled, “anything you can do to stretch the dollar you give helps”.

I also talked to Phil Hammond, who is the Executive Secretary for the Rotary Club of Lenexa who said that they were impressed with the long term mission of Care Package Inbound and the ability they have to create a lasting partnership spurred on by their donation of $15,000 this past August as well as ongoing donation to help fund our bags.

“There was more of a need for 400 backpacks. Our donation is taking 200 backpacks which will help get CPI forward and helping all the partners they have in the foster system” Hammond said. “We are interested in working with Jessica [to raise more support] each year moving forward so that the help we are doing this year is sustainable.

Hammond said the Rotary Club of Lenexa values the personal aspect of all the projects they get involved in with the reward of getting the help they need and does not want politics in the middle of it.  

“The emphasis of our club is to help whoever it is,” Hammond said. “We are not just interested in throwing money at a project and that is it. What impressed everybody [with CPI] is the amount of research and the amount of touches they had with case managers and social workers”

Hammond said over the past year they have been very active in the community and have partnered with churches and schools for events like the foster care backpack packing event for CPI they held on October 1st.

“Last year, we volunteered about 1,400 hours and project wise gave about $80-90,000 worth of money” Hammond said. “The church we have partnered with has invited their junior high and high school classes if they want to attend. We also have a Shawnee Mission Northwest Interact club which has about 100 members which is made up of National Honor Society members. where we give them volunteer service hours for projects they pick and choose that means something to them.”

He also said they have been involved in other packing events like CPI and what they did to make a difference.

“Once a year, we would package about 30-40,000 meals and would have around 150 volunteers and track where the meals would go.” Hammond said. “We would also do state packaging events for anti-trafficking where we would also help create backpacks both big or small whether it was an overnight or long term need to support various district attorney offices and police departments in the area”

Hammond mentioned that over his life, he always knew about the complexity of the foster care system but the challenge is how and what you can do to make a difference which he felt CPI does perfectly.

“The thing we saw with Jessica [Silvey’s] discussion versus our experience is CPI has done its homework on getting exactly what that gender and age needs going into a foster home. What you are doing is creating compassion with that person and showing them that people care about them.” Hammond said. “Sometimes, they can’t pack a bag and carry it with them to the next location because it takes time for that to catch up with them. This program gives them a little bit of pride that it is not just them, there are other people behind it and helping them forward.”

Hammond said along with the goal of being able to replenish the backpacks, he says there is the hurdle of needing a “clean room" to be able to give these backpacks safely to the younger kids.

“We have a relationship with a hospital in the area. They had an infant development center and we helped finance that, ”Hammond said. “I believe that we can introduce a partnership where you can get that clean room so you can offer them to the younger kids instead of just six and up”.

Hammond said the demand is going up because Care Package Inbound is listening to the needs of every population they serve and acting upon it.

“Maybe 600 [bags] that we did last year, that’s now up to 800-1,000, what if you are providing a service and quality product that people want. One of the things is you can give them everything, but to make them feel wanted, and that somebody cares is important, ”Hammond said.

We are so grateful for the Rotary Club of Lenexa and the passion they show in helping kids live dignified lives. We are thrilled to see how our relationship will grow as we work side by side in the future.

We were also honored to get a donation of $1,000 dollars from Advocate Construction in August as a bronze level community member. We are grateful for their support to CPI and we are excited to see what the future holds working side by side to help kids who desperately need it in the foster care system.

If you are a business and would like to become an annual donor, you can click here for more information about our five partnership levels so together we can “provide support and restoration to the Foster care community.”

Thank you for helping us transform the foster care system so we can make a generational impact!

God Bless you all,

Care Package Inbound