photo by: Bremen Keasey

Dustin Moore, a team lead and peer specialist with Lawrence's Homeless Response Team, handing out pet food and snacks to a client as part of the group's outreach work. Moore thinks their daily outreach of providing supplies like cold water builds trust with unhoused clients which can help them ask for future help.

At midday Wednesday at Burcham Park, not even being by the Kansas River provided relief. With the sun beating down and the heat index around 100 degrees, it would have been a wise idea to stay inside.

But that’s not an option everyone in Lawrence has.

Many people are still living outside in Douglas County — in unverified point-in-time count data from January 2025, 142 people in the county were found to be living outside, and advocates say stats like these are often undercounts. And for the city’s Homeless Response Team, it’s just as important to make sure they’re safe in the hottest days of summer as it is in the coldest nights in January.

That’s why, at Burcham Park on Wednesday, HRT members were distributing cold water bottles and popsicles. It may seem like a small gesture, but it can actually help unhoused individuals cool off and reduce their risk of illness from the heat.

“We don’t want to see any deaths,” said Steven Carter, an outreach specialist with the HRT.

It also helps build a little trust with people who may feel like the community doesn’t care about them. The team provides both small and big things in its daily outreach — a conversation, snacks, pet food, but also help with applying for things like identity documents that can help people get back into a stable living situation.

Kristin Demby, an outreach specialist with the city, said she’s seen progress in these areas, and that it’s been inspiring. But that doesn’t mean the group can let up.

“It’s not a one and done thing,” Demby said. “It is ongoing work.”

• • •

During the freezing winter months, the danger of living outside is obvious. But unhoused individuals are also at serious risk of illness or death from extreme heat, and the city wants to make sure there are places they can find relief.

The nonprofit Texas Homeless Network reported some statistics on how disproportionately heat illness affects the homeless. It found that heat contributes to some 1,500 deaths each year across the country, and about half of those people are homeless. People experiencing homelessness are 200 times more likely to die from heat-related causes than those who have shelter, the Texas organization found.

Last year, the City of Lawrence created an Extreme Weather Emergency Shelter Plan, which activated when certain kinds of severe weather were in the forecast, such as when the National Weather Service issues cold advisories or winter storm warnings. The plan involved adding overflow shelters to increase capacity at night and providing warm places for people to go during the day when the temperature was under 40.

In the summer, the city has cooling sites that it wants the homeless community to know about, too. Misty Bosch-Hastings, the director of the city’s Homeless Solutions Division, said that in the summer, the city’s air-conditioned community buildings are open to people “no matter what the temperature is.” If there is potentially dangerous heat in the forecast, Bosch-Hastings said the HRT is “intentional about reminding people where they can go to get out of the heat.”

• • •

The HRT isn’t getting out of the baking heat on Wednesday, though; it’s heading into it, with a couple of vans and an all-terrain vehicle packed with coolers of ice, water, popsicles and other supplies.

They arrive in the parking lot at Burcham Park, where a couple dozen campers are already gathered to get supplies and to talk.

These first interactions of the day aren’t taking place at a camp, where people live and where they might be more on guard. It’s a neutral place, which helps “lower the temperature” of interactions and can make it easier to do outreach, said Dustin Moore, the team lead, who also works with Artists Helping the Homeless.

As they pass out drinks and snacks to the campers in the lot, the team members are also asking how they’re doing and handing out other supplies they might need.

Carter said some of the most frequent requests will be for hygiene products or pet food for their animals. HRT members handed out at least four bags of pet food on Wednesday.

Other requests vary by the season. Demby said that in the winter, they’ll be asked for blankets or other cold-weather gear, and in the summer they will be passing out bug spray or sunscreen.

Sometimes, there are things that might seem unusual for city staff to be passing out — but that make sense if the mission is to build trust and reduce harm. Moore said he brings cigarettes and offers them to campers who smoke. That small interaction can serve as a way to start a conversation about other problems they may be facing.

The campers sometimes open up about services they want or need, which can help them create a plan together to get them in a better situation. Other times?

“Cold water and popsicles are sometimes all they want,” Moore said.

• • •

After the initial wave of people coming to the vans to get supplies, the group sets up a table and tent. Another group of homeless advocates is there, as well: Washed Ministries, which provides shower and laundry services for the homeless.

Moore said the presence of other services, like the laundry service, helps make the HRT’s work easier. And Bryan Daugharthy, a peer support specialist with Mirror Inc. and the HRT, agreed. When the HRT sets up alongside other services that unsheltered people need, it’s more likely that clients will show up, and because it’s a more neutral place, people are more likely to open up about what support they might need.

At the tent, the HRT has iPads to help clients with applications on the spot, meeting them where they are at, Daugharthy said. He said he had two appointments set up with clients to help them get vital documents like ID cards or birth certificates.

It felt like a breakthrough, he said. Those clients previously did not express much interest in getting additional assistance.

Moore knows firsthand how difficult it can be to get back into society, and how much persistence it can take. He had previously been homeless in Kansas City after struggling with substance abuse and spending time in prison. People can feel “powerless,” he said, and unable to make choices that can help lift them into a better situation.

Being able to get those crucial documents is a key first step for them. And once the HRT helps deliver those to them, it can build even more trust and let them know there is someone looking out for them.

“They start to see wins stack up,” Moore said.

Demby said the HRT’s work has gotten easier over her two years working on the team. The advocates don’t need to pry as much and ask how the HRT can assist clients, she said. The clients are taking initiative and asking for help.

“People are coming to me (for support) before I come to them,” Demby said.

• • •

photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawrence Homeless Response Team members heading deeper into Burcham Park to talk to unhoused people in their camps.

But not everyone comes out to seek help on their own. So, before Wednesday’s outreach trip started, members of the HRT huddled briefly to update their information on where some people were staying.

And, once the tent was set up in the parking lot, it was time to get on the ATV and go deeper into the park, in the areas where people were known to be camping.

The ATV would stop at each camp, and Moore, Carter and Daugharthy would announce that they were there. They’d shout “Outreach!” and wait to be greeted back.

Moore said they have to make sure to announce their presence and be welcomed into any client’s camp. To go in without letting the campers know would be like someone barging into your house unannounced.

They spoke with about another dozen people who were living deeper in the park. The campers appreciated the water and popsicles, but also the chance to talk. They vented about some of their things being stolen, or talked about a bike that one of the campers was working on. Daugharthy also warned them about the thunderstorms expected on Thursday, letting them know to tie their belongings down and protect items they don’t want to get wet.

Moore said when he joined the HRT last year, it could sometimes take three days to reach every single unsheltered person in the area. Now, he said it just takes one day to make contact and reach out to every unsheltered person. It’s important to let everyone know that the team is there for them, he said.

“We will come to you and make it a point to (be there),” Moore said.

• • •

It’s even more important to keep track of people now, because the city’s rules on camping are about to change, and people who are living outside need to be made aware.

When the advocates make their rounds, they remind the people living outside that, starting in mid-August, the city will no longer allow camping as long as shelter beds are open.

This change will coincide with new Pallet 24 shelter, which is expected to open behind the Lawrence Community Shelter’s main building at 3655 E. 25th St. by Aug. 15, as the Journal-World reported. The project involves putting 24 prefabricated, 64-square-foot Pallet cabins behind the shelter building to use as a new low-barrier, pet-friendly shelter.

The Homeless Response Team started notifying people about the change in late spring.

Some people are having success in finding more permanent accommodations. Daugharthy noted that there were a couple of people they spoke with who recently received vouchers for housing.

Those steps are crucial, and Moore thinks they are a sign of how the constant outreach helps pull people out of what can seem like hopeless situations.

Moore said that during the many years he spent homeless, he thought he was powerless and all that life had in store for him was “to be a junkie.” At one point after around a decade of being homeless, he felt he preferred living that way and did not want to rejoin society. He believes his perspective and experience make it easier for some of his clients to open up with him, because he understands their position.

He hopes his daily work can prove to people who might be feeling hopeless that they have other options.

“I hope to tell people not only that it is possible (to be housed again), but that you deserve it,” Moore said.

photo by: Bremen Keasey

Dustin Moore, top, and Bryan Daugharthy of Lawrence’s Homeless Response Team get water bottles out of a cooler in Burcham Park.