The Kincaid Group and its various divisions, scattered throughout the Kansas City area, feel very fortunate to be blessed with such supportive communities. In an effort to give back, during the month of December, the group and its divisions have worked to spread the holiday cheer. This has come in the form of collecting Christmas presents for local families and foster children, as well as hosting an internal canned food drive and 50/50 raffle at the annual company Christmas party.
To start the month off on a high note, The Kincaid Group hosted its first annual Stuff the Bus event at the Bonner Springs, KS Walmart. This event entailed parking a school bus, jointly provided by Midwest Bus Sales and DS Bus Lines, in front of the store and setting up shop to fill the bus with as many toys and clothes as possible for youth, aged toddler-teen. Volunteer employees from The Kincaid Group and its divisions teamed up to collect donations outside of the Walmart on Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. each day.
In addition to the Stuff the Bus event, donation bins were set up at the office locations of The Kincaid Group’s divisions throughout the end of November and beginning of December. Between Stuff the Bus and donation bin collections, over 200 toys and 30 articles of clothing were donated. The Kincaid Group joined forces with a program called Red Bags KC in order to distribute the donated items to local families and foster kids. (Read more about Red Bags KC and how it came about at the bottom of this blog)
All toys and clothes were delivered to a Red Bags KC drop-off location in a Kincaid Coach Lines motorcoach, nicknamed the “Silver Sleigh”, where Red Bags KC volunteers were waiting to help unload the items. The Kincaid Group feels honored to have been able to contribute to this cause in even the slightest bit and is very appreciative of the selfless individuals at Red Bags KC.
To put a bow on the month of giving, The Kincaid Group hosted an internal canned food drive at the company Christmas party and also held a 50/50 raffle. The canned food drive resulted in 200 pounds of canned goods and the 50/50 raffle raised just over $100. All canned food and cash donations will be given to Vaughn-Trent Community Services in Bonner Springs, KS.
Backstory on the Red Bag Program:
The Red Bag Program was established by Daniel Jacobs in the late 1980’s when he saw an opportunity to support less fortunate Kansas City area families around Christmas time.
In 1984, Daniel was tasked with driving to western Johnson County to tell a family that KCPL was having to cut off their electricity due to lack of payment. He had done it before, and he would need to do it again but this particular family’s plight haunted him. With Christmas approaching, he knew he had to find some way to help! Stirred by Daniel’s passion, within eight days, his family, friends, and co-workers had donated so many gifts and so much food that his garage was overflowing. That first year, three families were blessed with the magic of Christmas.
A couple of years later, a fortuitous encounter with a social worker inspired Daniel to extend his outreach and the Red Bags portion of Christmas Families was launched. Foster kids on both sides of the state line became recipients of large red bags stuffed with things they needed such as warm clothing and school supplies and items they longed for like remote-control cars, Barbies, and Legos.
Thirty-four years later, this grassroots organization continues to bring the spirit of the holidays to more than 50 families and 1500 foster kids every December.