OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — On a windy hilltop, cars lined up outside of a closed recreation center. One by one, each dropped off something. Some dropped off a box. Others handed over a bag.

“This is one of the wonderful things about Kansas City,” Janie Ott of the Univeristy of Kansas Health System said. “That we’re always in it together.”

It was a donation drive for area hospitals, organized by a resident. 

“We have lots of wonderful folks driving up in their cars, and safely putting things on a table, and then we’re processing it, and we’re going to get it into spots that need extra help,” Ott said. 

That extra help cam one box or bag at a time. Kim Sutton was one of them. 

“Dropping off bars of soap and a little bit of hand sanitizer for KU Med and Children’s Mercy,” she said as she walked back to her car.  “[I’m] worried about all those healthcare workers that are taking care of the coronavirus patients.”

Huge cardboard boxes were strapped down with yellow webbed belts. There were a few supplies inside them, but not enough to keep them from blowing away in the Kansas wind. Two large delivery trucks sat empty on either side of the boxes.

“Every little bit helps,” Sutton said. “It was a little, but it was something. I hope it does help.”

Help is something everyone wants to do right now. Saturday’s donations didn’t fill the boxes or the trucks, but it did help. However, who it helped and how it helped may not have been who and how it was originally intended to help.

The University of Kansas Health System has had so many people reach out to donate that they now have a full time staff member dedicated to those requests. If you would like to make a donation, click here.