If you attended last month’s luncheon at Wornall Road Baptist Church, you might have wondered how Marti was going to eat all of the leftover fried chicken. Fortunately, the church’s administrator, Karl Roscoe, gave the chicken a higher calling. Roscoe and his team of dedicated volunteers provide healthy meals to Southwest High athletes for every basketball and football game. “Many of these kids have lunch at noontime, go to practice after school and go to games
without something to eat,” said Roscoe. Karl practices “the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach” as he seeks to reach the kids of Southwest High.
Roscoe serves more than 7,000 lbs of food annually and nearly 100 meals on game day. He underwent inspections and training to have the church’s lower level become a designated kitchen of the Harvesters Community Food Network in Kansas City. “Our pastor, John Mark Clifton, also serves as chaplain for the Southwest High football and basketball teams and believes that this building isn’t just a monument, it’s meant to be used,” stated Roscoe. He continued, “When it comes down to it, I am still a kid at heart and had a lot of people supporting me when I was growing up. Now it’s my turn to do my part and pay it forward.”