Bart Farmer and the Dream of The Homeless Foundation

Bart Farmer and the Dream of The Homeless Foundation

by Bill High

Some people have dreams and stop there. Others have dreams and take action.

Bart Farmer was one of those guys. An entrepreneur by heart. But the stuff it takes to build a business is sometimes different from what it takes to see the world with heart.

Bart had both. He lived in an affluent county–Johnson County, Kansas. But behind the affluence, Bart saw the seemingly invisible problem–the homeless. Those ideas don’t seem to go together: homelessness and affluence.

But they do. It’s just that it looks different in a wealthy county. As of 2016 data, over 70% of the homeless in Johnson County are the result of abuse; they are fleeing a bad situation. Six in 10 cases are the result of some underlying psychiatric disorder. Perhaps most heartbreaking of all, at any given time, 50% of the homeless will be children.

Bart saw the need for a place for the homeless in Johnson County. He partnered with Redemption Church, a local church with a vision for getting down in the dirt to serve. And even further, Bart wanted to make it happen financially. So he created The Homeless Foundation. He was the first contributor.

The Homeless Foundation exists to provide ongoing funding to serve the needs of the homeless in Johnson County. While Bart was the first contributor, he hoped that he was not the last. His dream is that the Homeless Foundation would provide an endowment for the homeless efforts until such time homelessness was eradicated.

Sadly, Bart died in January 2018 after a battle with cancer. He died before the vision could be fully completed. But the Homeless Foundation is up and running and ready to receive contributions. You can send a donation to The Homeless Foundation, c/o The Signatry, 7171 West 95th Street, Suite 501, Overland Park, KS 66212.

 

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Published June 8, 2018

Topics: Generosity

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