KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — A Kansas City man experiencing homelessness was rescued on Thursday after being mistaken for a “pile of trash” under accumulating snow.
The man had parked his wheelchair outside of Hope Faith, a daytime homeless shelter, while he waited for the facility to open, according to the non-profit. He was there for hours and passed the time by sleeping under a tarp, they said.
After initially mistaking his shape for a pile of garbage, volunteers rushed the man inside.
“What we thought was a pile of trash actually was a guest who has multiple sclerosis covered by a tarp while they slept in their wheelchair,” Hope Faith, the non-profit shelter, wrote in a Facebook post.
In its post, Hope Faith shared a picture of security guards helping push the man through the snow in his wheelchair, along with a photo of the man inside, warming up with a hot beverage.
More than 7 inches of snow covered Kansas City by the time Thursday’s record-setting storm moved out of the metro. Hope Faith said it served more than 125 people throughout the day on Thursday.
The group also operates a warming bus from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, helping the homeless stay warm as they move inside shelters overnight.
The warming bus, among other efforts, is part of Kansas City’s plan to help the homeless survive winter. The plan includes opening an overflow shelter when other shelters are full.
The city also operates a dashboard that provides information on available shelter beds, updated at 12:30 p.m. CST each day.