1,000 Rolls of Toilet Paper

May 14, 2014 / in General Information / by Jason Terry

Hello!  This is Jason bringing you the Blue Gurus blog post this week.

If you’ve been following our updates over the years, you may know that we adopt a not-for-profit every quarter as a way to give back to our community.

This quarter, we adopted Hope House after hearing about them from our friend Dara Macan who is passionate about their efforts.

Mic and I spent two hours getting to know MaryAnne and Christine and talking about their website, social media strategy and more.

Then we took a tour of the facility and asked a bunch of questions about what they do and why they do it. The answers were moving. I had no idea. Let me say that again…I HAD NO IDEA. More on that in a minute… but I wanted to ask for your help first.

The ASK

We (Blue Gurus) are asking for your help in donating 1,000 rolls of toilet paper to Hope House!

They go through 40 rolls of toilet paper every day between their two facilities and they run out often. 

Here are a few ways you can help:

1. Buy a bunch of rolls of toilet paper the next time you’re near a Costco or Sam’s Club. Then let me know and I’ll meet you to pick them up.
2. Donate money directly to Hope House online. (Be sure to mention the Blue Gurus toilet paper drive in the comments section!)
3. Buy 48 rolls of toilet paper from Amazon.com (currently $24) and have it shipped to me (Blue Gurus, 17001 W. 83rd Terrace, Lenexa, KS  66219. Use 913-207-3036 as the phone number in case there’s a shipping problem) so I can deliver the rolls to them. (Their mailing address is not public knowledge for safety reasons.)

We would really, really appreciate your help in making this happen. Anyone that joins us to donate toilet paper will be mentioned in a future blog post (unless you prefer not to be mentioned, of course!)

We will be collecting rolls until June 15th, 2014 and then delivering them to Hope House!

The REASON

Hope House provides shelter and comprehensive services to survivors of domestic violence in the Kansas City metro area. The words “Survivors of Domestic Violence” didn’t really evoke the kind of emotion that this situation warrants.

We are talking about people who are physically beaten or emotionally traumatized in their home by someone they should be able to trust, but no longer can. Often, their kids are involved and have to watch it happen to their mom or dad.

All too often this behavior can go on for months or even years before anyone finds out or until the victim finds the courage to ask for help.

Hopefully, this person ends up at a hospital for treatment or talking to the police who show up after getting a domestic violence call. I say “hopefully” because they need help and sometimes can’t find the courage to ask. Or, even worse, they fear for their lives.

Hospitals and law enforcement agencies know that they can call Hope House for immediate assistance in taking care of these victims once their wounds have been treated or statements have been taken. They often show up with just the clothes on their backs and their kids, so they need shelter, food and toiletries.

Anyone can call HH when they’re seeking help about an abusive relationship. Although the shelter is for women and children only, other assistance can be offered to men. It is often a dangerous situation and something needs to be done immediately. Hope House has two facilities in the Kansas City metro that can accommodate about 120 people each night.

Hope House is at Capacity Every Single Night

Here are the stats from March 2014:
Number of women in shelter: 111
Number of children in shelter: 85
Number of hotline calls: 402
Number of people turned away due to capacity: 82

This means that there are dozens of people every day that can’t get a bed at Hope House. They work hard to find an alternate place for these victims to stay, but it breaks their hearts to have to say no when they are at capacity.

In Closing…

We really enjoyed helping Hope House with their web and social strategies. More importantly, we got to learn a lot about what MaryAnne, Christine and their team do to help victims of mental and physical abuse.  The hotline number for Hope House is 816-461-HOPE for anyone that needs assistance.

We hope this blog post raises your awareness about Hope House and their mission. If you haven’t done something awesome for someone lately, please share this blog post with everyone you know and help us reach our goal of 1,000 rolls of toilet paper for Hope House!