Banking on KC – Mo Orpin of The Don Bosco Centers: 80 Years of Cultivating a Stronger Community
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Mo Orpin, the executive director of The Don Bosco Centers. Welcome, Mo.
Mo Orpin:
Thank you for having me.
Kelly Scanlon:
So The Don Bosco Centers have been really a vital part of Kansas City since 1940. What's the story behind its founding back? What is that, 8 decades ago now, 8 1/2?
Mo Orpin:
Yeah. At that time, there were lots of, back in the late thirties, there were lots of immigrants coming to Kansas City, and a lot of Italians settled in Columbus Park. So Mr. Don, his father, donated the bricks and taught the Italian immigrants to be bricklayers. So they built this terrific community center, which was the hub of Columbus Park, and they had movie nights and big shows and boxing and loads of things for all ages there. So it really was the center of that community. So at that time, it was just a community center for the neighbors and the neighboring people.
Kelly Scanlon:
Given that, how has its mission evolved over the years?
Mo Orpin:
Well, our mission has changed as the neighborhood has changed. In the mid-seventies, the Italian council was approached and asked if they would help resettle some Vietnamese immigrants that were coming over after the war.
Kelly Scanlon:
So mid to late seventies?
Mo Orpin:
Yes. So lots of Vietnamese families moved into the neighborhood, and so at that time, there was a need for English as a second language classes. So the building morphed into a school and stayed as an English as a second language school for decades until we outgrew that building. Mr. Bill Don bought a building for Don Bosco over on Garfield, and that became our English as a second language, or first it was a charter school, and then it became the English as a second language school. That left the community center empty. Don Bosco became owners of the community center about 10 years ago. There was a lot of love for that building because-
Kelly Scanlon:
I bet. After all those years and all those fun memories in it.
Mo Orpin:
Yeah. So we had a capital campaign and redid the building. It needed a lot of repairs, and so now it is a community center again. There were lots of seniors going to the community center, and there was a need for them to have a space of their own. So we had a building built up the street, about a block and a half that became the Don Bosco Senior Center. Again, Don was a big part of that. That has been there since about 1990. So that's where one of our main missions is housed in the senior center.
Kelly Scanlon:
And let's stay on the idea of the senior center for a minute. It does serve a significant number of seniors and adults with disabilities too, and you serve them on a daily basis. So what kinds of services do you offer to help them maintain their independence, quality of life, things like that?
Mo Orpin:
We offer a wide variety of resources to seniors. One thing we do is we cater for 10 outlying centers, and then we do Meals on Wheels for about 165, people that are homebound. And we have anywhere from 75 to 125 seniors come into our center every day for a hot, nutritious meal and all kinds of classes. We do recreational educational classes, and there are probably three activities offered a day. And then lots of men come and play pool, or we have Bible classes, dance classes, chair exercise, chair yoga, and there's always a lot going on.
Kelly Scanlon:
So someplace that they can come to feel a sense of community, develop friendships, and just have a sense of belonging.
Mo Orpin:
Definitely. Yeah. A lot of our seniors don't have family here in Kansas City, and so the people at the center are their family, and it's really cool because we'll have Vietnamese speaking and Spanish speaking and English-speaking people all in a group together talking, and nobody under, I don't know how they do it because they're talking to three different languages, but they're all communicating with each other and laughing and smiling. It's really cool to see.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. Well, laughing and smiling. It's a universal language, so the fact they're together is what's important. The English is a second language school, you mentioned that. One of the things you didn't say though is it's one of the largest in Missouri, and it serves students from, I think over 75 countries. So how does the program support immigrants and refugees in terms of integrating into the community?
Mo Orpin:
So we now partner with the Kansas City Missouri Public School District, and they have brought a great partnership to us. And we serve, I think we have around 500 refugees and immigrants that come to the school on two different campuses. They go to either Penn Valley or to the former Truest Elementary School. Classes are offered at three different levels, but we just got funding to open a Welcome to America class for newly resettled people. And that's really cool because it helps them learn more about our world and how to live in America, and that they have to be at their job by a certain time, or how to ride the bus and how to work with a bank and things like that. So it's a terrific tool for us to have so that they can then progress through the other three classes.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about some of the programs and events that The Don Bosco Community Center hosts and their impact on local residents.
Mo Orpin:
We have four different big events every year, the mouse races and-
Kelly Scanlon:
The mouse races? I got to hear more about this. What are the mouse races?
Mo Orpin:
It's just like the horse races, but they have this huge contraption up on the stage with six or seven different levels in which they put mice, and they race and everybody bets on them like the horses, and it gets really crazy. It's really fun.
Kelly Scanlon:
Do they have little mice jockeys or anything?
Mo Orpin:
No. We don't go that far, but that's something we could look into. No, but it's really fun and it's so popular that we couldn't even open it up to the public this year because the tables went just a few days. So you mentioned four, so what are the other three? So then we have a block party, and that's to bring back what used to happen at The Don Bosco Center. They used to have these huge parties once a year, I think, on Columbus Day or near there, and they would have elephant rides and big bands and things like that. We don't go that far, but it's fun. We have live music and a beer garden and loads of games for kids and adults. We have a lot of food and things too.
So in June we have a party at Knuckleheads, and they're terrific to Don Bosco. They hire a band. This year we're going to have the M-80's. It's a fun party. Everybody comes and dances and the money all goes to Don Bosco. So it's really them to do that for us. Our major fundraiser is called Savor the Flavors, and it's held at City Market every year in September. We do it on a Thursday night in September, and we have about 25 different restaurants from all over Kansas City. They come and pick something off of their menu to share with guests. We had over 700 people last year.
Kelly Scanlon:
That's great.
Mo Orpin:
Yeah. They walk around and meet the chefs and talk to them about their dishes, and then it's a competition. So we have a first, second, and third place. And again, that's a really fun event.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. It sounds like you've also mentioned the Meals on Wheels program initiative. You mentioned you serve about 160 some people each day. How does that address food insecurity, especially among seniors here in the Kansas City area?
Mo Orpin:
That's why we do Savor the Flavors, because food is so much a part of our mission. We, as I said, feed around 650 seniors every day, and there are so many seniors in the Northeast that are living below poverty level. A lot of them can't get out of their homes to go to a grocery store and don't have family to do that. So Meals on Wheels is a terrific program for them because the drivers not only bring them a hot, nutritious meal, but they also check in on them daily. And oftentimes we find that someone's utility have been turned off or that they've fallen and have been lying there for maybe over the weekend. Those things come up all the time.
So our drivers serve as conduits to our client advocates. They'll come back and say, Hey, listen, mister so-and-so had his electricity turned off or his heat turned off. And then our client advocates can help remedy the situation. And Mid-America Regional Council helps fund our transportation and our food deliveries and the food costs. We have pretty strict guidelines on the diet, so that's good that it's always nutritious for them. And our chefs are very diligent about following those guidelines and making good meals.
Kelly Scanlon:
So you're providing at least one nutritious meal a day. You're guaranteeing that they're getting that, and then you have the welfare check, so to speak. But you also, for so many of the people who may not have any contact with people or very infrequent contact with people, that's either one time in the day that they actually get to speak to a person. So there's a little bit of a social aspect to it too.
Mo Orpin:
Yeah, there definitely is. And our drivers become a part of those people's lives. Some of them have been there for years, and so they're really close to these seniors, which is nice because that age of folks, they have a lot of pride and they don't want to tell when something's gone wrong, but they become friends with their drivers, and so they will open up to them. And that's a great thing. A couple of years ago after we had a big storm like we just had, we were closed over the weekend, and then like three weekdays, so the seniors hadn't gotten their meals delivered for five days. And I volunteered to drive if one of the younger people on the staff would run in and out with the food. And it was so cool because I saw so many seniors wrapping their arms around the kid that was delivering the food, and they were just so excited, and it really showed me the importance of what we're doing.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely. You mentioned that one of the reasons some seniors can't get to the grocery store is the lack of transportation, and that's true too, to get to your community center and to some of the other services that you provide. So given that transportation barrier, how does The Don Bosco Center provide solutions to ensure that people can take advantage of everything that you offer?
Mo Orpin:
We have two buses that go and pick people up in the mornings. I think we have about 40 people that come by Don Bosco buses and others ride the city bus. Some drive themselves, but we also, maybe there is a senior that needs to get to a doctor appointment or go to the hospital for something, then our client advocates or our senior center director will help with that and take them.
Kelly Scanlon:
And then that's another very important thing to get them to their medical appointments. You serve as you've already established such a diverse clientele, you talked about the groups of people at the community center who are all talking in various languages, but still seem to understand each other. But given that diverse clientele, how do you tailor your programs to meet the cultural and social needs of those individuals?
Mo Orpin:
We have a Vietnamese-speaking client advocate and two Spanish-speaking client advocates, and then our activities' director who speaks just English, but she's terrific. So they get input from the seniors on things they'd like to do. In the last maybe six months, we've started Vietnamese karaoke. It's great. I'll be in my office and all of a sudden here are these loud singing, and it's in Vietnamese. It's fun. So go in and watch. But our activities' director asks them for input, and she's terrific about addressing things that they'd like to do and trying to serve them that way.
Kelly Scanlon:
Given everything that you do, I'm sure that volunteers and partnerships are very critical for what you do for any nonprofit organization, really. So for those who are listening today, how can community volunteers get involved? And what are some of the most impactful collaborative efforts to date? I mean, what have you seen that's really worked well?
Mo Orpin:
We have lots of groups that have helped us through the years, and Church of the Resurrection comes on weekends and helps paint, or they help with any needs, and they've been terrific. The Junior League of Kansas City has helped us on things that they help at events as well, which is nice. We have lots of individuals that come. One of the programs that we have is that we deliver fresh fruit and produce to refugees and seniors. So we have two men that come one week, and a couple that comes the next week. They take turns and deliver this food to the seniors and refugees. And that's a cool program because a lot of our people live in food deserts, and they really don't have access to fresh produce. And if they do have access, it's more expensive than buying a box of macaroni and cheese or some ramen noodles, something like that. So that's a really important service that we've been doing since the pandemic.
Kelly Scanlon:
So excited to have that. So anybody who's listening, should they just go out to your website and find the contact information and give you a call? Is that the best way to find out more about how they might be able to help out?
Mo Orpin:
Yes, definitely. That'd be terrific.
We always welcome help.
Kelly Scanlon:
What is the website?
Mo Orpin:
www.donbosco.org.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay, donbosco.org, go and look at the various volunteer opportunities and give them a call. Mo, thank you so much for all that you do to serve the community and your staff and your group of volunteers. I know that it's a big task, but I'm sure it's very rewarding too. Thank you.
Mo Orpin:
Thank you very much.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Mo Orpin for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. The Don Bosco Centers have been a cornerstone of Kansas City for more than 80 years, providing essential services that support immigrants, refugees, and seniors. From English language education and community building programs to vital senior services like Meals on Wheels, Don Bosco continues to adapt and meet the evolving needs of our city's most vulnerable populations. At Country Club Bank, we believe in the power of community and the importance of organizations like Don Bosco, that foster connection, support, and opportunity for all Kansas Cityans. Their work exemplifies a spirit of service that strengthens our city and enriches the lives of so many. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on new Kansas City Country Club Bank, Member FDIC.