Ten years ago, if you had told Randy Fikki he would one day become a minister, there’s a good chance he would have laughed at you. At that point, he had spent the better part of a decade traveling the United States as a professional poker player, running full-tilt and caught up in the adventure of it all. But all of that would change after coming face-to-face with the needs of a young family.
“I hear people say that ministry is a calling, and I always thought that was hogwash until I got called into it. It really blossomed from an interaction I had with this family. In that moment, as I was questioning why nobody was doing anything, it hit me. That why am I questioning why no one’s doing anything? Why am I not questioning why I’m not doing anything?”
Randy’s decision to help that that one family blossomed into helping a handful of other families and eventually led to him dedicating his life to serving people full-time, whether through direct assistance on a one-on-one level or organizing Black Lives Matter and Women’s Rights marches.
This newfound purpose eventually led him into the doors of Unity Southeast, a church located, as the name suggests, in Southeast Kansas City. At the time he arrived, there were only about 10-15 attendees on any given Sunday. Randy gives a little context as to how that ended up being the case.
“Most people don’t realize, but Unity as an organization was segregated until the late 60s. There are six Unity churches in Kansas City, but until about 1968 or 69, this was the only one that people of color could attend. And in 1970-71, they were allowed to attend all the different churches. So, a unique thing happened in that a lot of individuals who were going to church here decided to go to the Temple, or to the Village or to some of the bigger churches. It lost a lot of people.”
Though small in number, the congregation at Unity Southeast decided to recenter its efforts not on the Sunday worship experience, but on serving their neighbors. And, coincidentally or not, their numbers began to grow.
“We decided that our focus was feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick and sheltering the unhoused. That became our mission statement. We are still a church by definition, but I would probably consider us more a healing center. Sunday morning is probably fourth or fifth on our priority list for being a church.”
Unity Southeast operates a food/necessities pantry at its location at 3421 E. Meyer Blvd in Kansas City, MO, on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. -Noon and Fridays from 1-3:30 p.m. They also offer a monthly mobile distribution every fourth Friday of the month, where they routinely provide food for more than 400 people. Harvesters is proud to partner with them in these endeavors by providing a wide variety of perishable and nonperishable goods for those who come through their doors or drive through their distribution line.
“I think in 2023 we gave away almost 300,000 pounds of food just from Harvesters alone!” Randy says.
In addition to the pantry, Unity Southeast runs an overnight shelter for those experiencing housing insecurity from December 1 through March 1. Seven days a week, they allow both men and women to come for a nice meal and a safe place to sleep and stay out of the cold, regardless of rain, snow or ice.
“Our mission statement is to be radically inclusive, socially responsive and spiritually progressive. The one beautiful thing about that, especially being a church, and the one thing I’m proud of, is people can walk through the doors here and I don’t care if you believe, or how you believe or what you believe in. What we care about is that you walk through the door. And so, how can we help you?”
Randy says the key to this hospitality is recognizing the commonality between everyone in the room, whether they are serving or being served. But that takes setting aside the preconceived notions of what it means to need help.
“The majority of people are imagining something that represents 10 to 15 percent of the population. The other 85 percent looks just like you, just like me. Let’s change the way that we see houselessness. Let’s change the way that we see poverty. Let’s change the way we see food insecurity. Because it might be your brother. It might be your aunt. It might be your grandma. And it might be you. One experience or life setback would put the majority of Kansas Citians in this situation.”
Unity Southeast’s transformation from a small group of worshipers to a prominent service organization in the city is something that hundreds are grateful for every week. But, it’s something that Randy and his congregation don’t take for granted.
“I’m so proud of this community, and I’m proud of the work we do. But it took a small step before we were able to take the big ones. And so, if you’re thinking about what you can do, stop waiting! There’s a lot of people online talking about what they’re going to do, but there are few people talking about what they’re actually doing.”
