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What Atlanta Reminded Me About the Power of Community
I went to Atlanta for a service event and came home with a question I could not shake:
What would it look like if Kansas City did this?
Not a small “this.” Not a nice little gathering with coffee, name tags and a few polite claps. I mean a big, energized, cross-sector, roll-up-your-sleeves kind of “this.” The kind of experience where people walk in curious and walk out with a clearer understanding of what their community needs, who is already doing the work, and how they can be part of something bigger than themselves.
On Thursday, May 14, I had the chance to join Hands On Atlanta, Points of Light and Be The People for Service Shakeout 2026, a morning focused on economic mobility and workforce readiness. The event brought together issue education, corporate engagement and hands-on service in a way that felt thoughtful, practical and, honestly, a little contagious.
The morning included a powerful keynote from Rodney Bullard of The Same House, an insightful panel discussion with Westside Works and corporate leaders, and a volunteer project with team members from Delta, Home Depot and UPS. Together, more than 150 volunteers packed over 1,200 workforce readiness kits for Westside Works, creating nearly $15,000 in service value for the Atlanta nonprofit.
That is impressive on paper. In person, it was even better.
There was music. There was momentum. There were people from different companies, sectors and neighborhoods all working toward the same goal. There was the unmistakable sound of community moving with purpose. And yes, there were enough supplies, boxes and moving parts to make any nonprofit professional quietly appreciate a good logistics plan.
What struck me most was not only the size of the project. It was the intention behind it.
This was not service for the sake of checking a box. Participants were not just packing kits and heading back to their day. They were learning about workforce readiness. They were hearing directly from people close to the issue. They were connecting the task in front of them to the larger challenge facing their community.
That matters.
When service is paired with education, empathy and context, it becomes more than volunteerism. It becomes a doorway. People begin to understand not only where help is needed, but why the need exists and what sustained support can make possible.
That is the kind of community engagement we believe in at Uncover KC.
We have always known Kansas City is full of people who want to help. The opportunity in front of us is to keep building meaningful pathways that connect that goodwill to real community needs. We want to create experiences that help volunteers understand the organizations they are serving, the issues those organizations are addressing and the role each of us can play in building a stronger, more connected city.
Atlanta gave me a glimpse of what that can look like at scale.
And I believe Kansas City can do it too.
We have the companies. We have the nonprofits. We have the civic pride, the creativity and the heart. What we need is continued collaboration, bold imagination and a shared belief that service can be both deeply human and incredibly strategic.
At UKC, that is where we are headed. We want to help make volunteering feel more accessible, more impactful and more connected to the future of our city. We want to bring people closer to the work already happening in our neighborhoods and help more organizations receive the support they need to keep going.
I left Atlanta inspired by what they built.
I came home excited about what is possible here.
Kansas City has never been short on heart. Now, let’s keep building the kind of service movement that gives all that heart somewhere powerful to go.
Brent Lager
President & Founder
Uncover KC