Charity’s delivery volunteer killed in accident

56-year-old Lenexan dies Thursday morning after being hit by car during his rounds

Lenexa ? A man making deliveries for a charity group was killed Thursday when he was hit by a car as he tried to retrieve food that fell from his truck.

Dennis L. Goodwin, 56, of Lenexa, had been a volunteer hauler for Shawnee Community Services for about six weeks.

Evelyn VanKemseke, president of the charity group, said Goodwin and another volunteer were driving food from an Olathe warehouse to the community center in Shawnee, where it was to be given to the needy.

But a supply of cups and a box of dairy products fell out of their pickup late Thursday morning as they were driving through Lenexa.

A MedAct ambulance was following the same route, heading to its station in Shawnee, when the crew noticed the supplies in the road. Other drivers were weaving around the obstruction, but the ambulance stopped.

Brian Pruessner was one of the paramedics who helped move the cups and food to grass on the east side of the road. As they finished, Goodwin caught their attention from the southbound lanes, where he had stopped after turning around.

His truck was parked in the right-hand turn lane, still laden high with supplies for the poor.

“He shouted a thank you for moving his stuff out of the road,” Pruessner said. “He looked like he was going to be OK.”

The ambulance workers got back into their vehicle and continued on their way. About five minutes later, a dispatcher told them a pedestrian had been hit by a car.

When they heard the location, they thought of the man they had seen standing on the side of the road.

“He was getting ready to walk across the median, it looked like,” Pruessner said.

Witnesses told police Goodwin was in the street when a driver ran into him, throwing him to the pavement and causing a severe head injury. The driver turned around and stopped in a parking lot east of the accident as police and the MedAct crew rushed to the area.

Goodwin’s family said through police that he was an appliance installer who had been volunteering at food pantries in Johnson and Wyandotte counties for about two years.

VanKemseke said Goodwin had donated about 40 hours at Shawnee Community Services.