KCTV 5Organization helping Kansas City's homeless exceeds campaign goal

It's becoming rarer that local charities are actually hitting their donation goals, but that's the case for the City Union Mission. The organization now wants to thank Kansas Citians for their support.

Homelessness in Kansas City grew by nearly 15 percent from just 2010 to 2011. In that same time period, homeless families grew by 31 percent.

It's an astonishing number and, for those dealing with it, it's critical to have a place like the City Union Mission and that's what made Tuesday's news so special.

The city union announced their "Celebrate Hope: Reach Out to K.C.'s Poor and Homeless" campaign exceeded its goal by nearly $100,000, raising almost $4.2 million toward next year's budget.

"We've just found over the years if we don't make half of our budget by the end of January, there is a real good chance that we will struggle for the rest of the year," said Daniel Doty, City Union Mission's Executive Director.

While donations are up, so is the demand for the city union. People using the mission have become more consistent year round and, still, 20 percent of the demand is unmet.

"There is no longer any downtime for when we have really low numbers of men or low numbers of families," Doty said. "In the summer we used to have far less, but that number has remained consistently up."

The city union said the need in the area will always be there, but it's good to know Kansas Citians are always willing to help.

The yearly campaign by the City Union Mission is more than half of the union's budget throughout the entire year.

To read more on the campaign and how the money raised is used, click here. 

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