El Centro provides emergency assistance to families in need. Funding for our emergency assistance program comes from a variety of sources, including the Olathe Mayor’s Christmas Tree Fund. This year we received a contribution of over $13,000 from the fund. We are extremely grateful for the generosity of these donors and the support that they help provide our families. A grateful client provided us with the following testimonial:
“Arriving home late one evening, my husband and I noticed smoke rising from the roof of our apartment building. We then realized the building was on fire and immediately called 911. Rushing inside the apartment, we roused our sleeping 16-year old daughter for her to evacuate with the pets. We then went knocking at the other apartments for the neighbors to get out. Thankfully, the Olathe Fire Dept was quick to respond and extinguish the fire, and no one was injured. Sadly, however, we lost most of our possessions mainly due to water damage. We also found ourselves suddenly homeless with only the clothes on our backs (our daughter was in pajamas and shoe-less).
“Fortunately, many wonderful friends came forward to help us, including the people at El Centro. El Centro assisted us with a portion of the first month’s rent at our new apartment, for which we are very grateful. May God bless them so they can continue helping others facing difficult hardships.”
—Marcela Serrano, Olathe, KS