Walking the line: How LINC connected families to millions in rent, utility assistance

From the beginning, LINC’s effort to connect nearly 2,000 households to more than $2.8 million in U.S. rental and utility bill assistance funds was essentially a street mission.

'It's a special day at Morning Star'

‘Get your energy up!’ See what goes on as the LINC Morning Star Caring Communities team helps hundreds of neighboring families and individuals get ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. Check out the video and photo gallery.

Summer blast! Get ready for LINC Caring Communities Day in Kansas City

Hot dogs, carnival games, fire trucks, prizes, money-saving home services, help with rent, utilities, internet and more — for sure, the inaugural LINC Morning Star Caring Communities Fair June 11 aims to entertain and to serve.

LINC sends kids shopping with their friendly, neighborhood cop

For a day, Kansas City law officers traded police cruisers for shopping carts. Their partners were children, sent from LINC and Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, eager to push the limits of $100 gift cards — and make friends.

Mattie Rhodes honors LINC, Morning Star, KC Fire for pandemic partnership

LINC, Morning Star and the Kansas City Fire Department accepted awards for the fast-acting teamwork that helped deliver thousands of Covid-19 vaccinations for communities hardest-hit by the pandemic, including hundreds of Mattie Rhodes households.

'I got a scare.' LINC/Morning Star, Truman Medical Centers double down on vaccinations

The pursuit of the unvaccinated is dogged now — “drilled-down” — as Truman Medical Centers has returned with its mobile clinic to Morning Star’s community center at 27th and Prospect Avenue for moments just like this . . .

#GetVaccinated! Morning Star clinic opens with new hours in fight against Covid-19 Delta variant

The fight against the Covid-19 Delta variant is on in Kansas City, and LINC’s vaccination clinic with Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church and Heart to Heart International is opening for walk-ins on selected Tuesday mornings beginning July 27 at 10 a.m.

Covid-19's Delta variant stalks communities; spurs renewed call for vaccinations

For the fully vaccinated, the summer has opened wide to nearly all the activities we enjoyed before Covid-19. But for the many people in our Kansas City communities who remain unvaccinated, the Covid’s Delta variant brings an intensified threat that is putting Missouri at the top of the list for the rate of Covid deaths and hospitalizations.

LINC, Morning Star clinic partners bid bittersweet goodbye to Missouri National Guard

Just like the entire vaccination mission itself, the send-off party for the Missouri National Guard was overwhelming. More than 100 people gathered on the Guard’s last day, June 15, to celebrate the work they did with a host of community partners to deliver more than 30,000 Covid-19 vaccines — most of them with LINC at the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church’s community center, serving underserved and vulnerable neighborhoods of east Kansas City.

Missouri National Guard's unforgettable Covid-19 vaccination mission: 'Task Force Freedom'

This wasn’t like some of their past service in the Missouri National Guard, plucking flood-marooned families from their rooftops, or supporting police forces during civil unrest, or medical support on military convoys in Iraq. “Task Force Freedom” was a fight against Covid-19 right here, at home, and it was unforgettable.

Giving 'lives back'; National Guard top brass tour Operation Vaccination

“Carry these memories and treasure this mission,” says the top command of the Missouri Air National Guard while visiting the Morning Star vaccination clinic. “You have given lives back — lives back.”

Gov. Parson praises 'model' in Covid fight: Walk in and choose your vaccine at Morning Star

Just as Gov. Mike Parson came to see the “model” in Missouri’s fight against Covid, the vaccination crusade at Morning Star’s Kansas City clinic announced its latest appeal: Now you can walk in and you can choose from any of the three available vaccines. “We know the vaccine works,” Parson said. “So we’ve got to make sure we get everybody to understand how important it is to get that vaccine to get back to somewhat of a normal life.”

'People changing their minds' on vaccinations; Blunt, Lucas say Morning Star/LINC leading the way

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt looked across the room in a community center at 27th and Prospect, watching Covid-19 vaccinations in progress, seeing confidence and hope where there might not have been so much before. “People are changing their minds,” the senator said about vaccinations. And Morning Star and LINC are leading the way.

'I came to lead the way;' See the faces of people getting vaccines at Morning Star

They were restaurant workers, community organizers, neighbors. . . . They came to get their Covid-19 vaccination — certainly because they wanted to protect themselves and others — but also with a sense of obligation to put their faces out front against fear and doubt.

Cleaver: Witnessing community-building 'as great or greater than I have ever seen'

The Morning Star–LINC vaccine and food distribution only continues to grow, the Rev. John Modest Miles told Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. “There is no ending in sight as long as the people keep coming. And as you can see now, the people are coming.”

Kansas City education leaders urge COVID vaccinations

Their districts’ neighborhoods are hard-hit by Covid, but “here we have an opportunity to do something about it,” said KCPS Superintendent Mark Bedell as he was vaccinated. “I’m doing my part to keep everyone safe,” said Center Superintendent Yolanda Cargile.