Eating out this week? Your bill can help get meals to Kansas City seniors, families in need
This week Kansas Citians are dining for a cause. The 2022 Kansas City Restaurant Week is in full swing, and a portion of proceeds from participating restaurants will go to Guadalupe Centers, one of the longest running organizations serving Latinos in the United States.
The 200 participating restaurants have pledged to donate at least 10% to Guadalupe Centers, as well as two of the organizations hosting the event, Visit KC Foundation and the Greater Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The 10-day event started on Jan. 14 and will run until Sunday, Jan. 23.
“KC Restaurant Week has a proud tradition of giving back to important local causes, to the tune of more than $3 million over our 12-year history,” Jenny Wilson, Visit KC Director of Partnerships said in an emailed statement.
Each year, KC Restaurant Week chooses a local charity partner to support. This is Guadalupe Centers first time partnering with the annual dining event.
“In line with KCRW’s mission, selected beneficiaries traditionally help us enhance accessibility to healthy food and nutrition within our community’s traditionally underserved populations,” Wilson said. “For 2022 KC Restaurant Week, we felt that the Guadalupe Centers boldly embodied this notion, and the organization has a reputation of doing so for more than 100 years.”
What is Guadalupe Centers?
Headquartered on the city’s West Side, Guadalupe Centers has been serving Kansas City residents since 1919. The agency’s primary objective is to offer social services to communities in need. Programs range from workforce development to youth and senior programming.
“Its mission focuses on just making sure that Latino communities and inclusive, underrepresented communities across the Kansas City region are being serviced in education, and cultural enrichment and health services,” Guadalupe Centers’ Director of Communications and Outreach Gary Bradley-Lopez said.
What will the Restaurant Week funds help support?
Proceeds from this year’s Restaurant Week will help fund the center’s catering service, which prepares and delivers hot, nutritional meals to elderly residents, families and other residents in need across the greater Kansas City metro area.
The catering program is currently run by a team of six community members, but one of the agency’s major goals is to expand the catering program into a larger catering service.
“So instead of it just being a department that provides internal foods for our elderly and people that need help, we will also be expanding to actually creating an actual catering service,” Bradley-Lopez said.
The 2022 Restaurant Week creates a unique opportunity for residents to invest in their community. For Bradley-Lopez, that kind of unity in the community can be very powerful.
“I think that when we get that community working, when we connect our businesses, our people, our nonprofits all together, it’s like a magic plan for how to better our community and make sure that we’re working in unison and not against each other,” he said.
Guadalupe Centers started in 1919 as a volunteer school and clinic for recent Mexican immigrants settling in Kansas City, according to its website. It has since grown to be the longest, consistently operating social services organization serving Latinos in the nation.
People can stay involved with the organization by visiting its website. To make supporting local restaurants during the week easier, there is an app that residents can download to explore participating restaurants.
