Laura Smith, Eudora’s community navigator, has helped about 100 families this year. " />
Laura Smith, Eudora’s community navigator, has helped about 100 families this year.
This story has been updated with additional funding information.
Laura Smith estimates she’s helped about 100 families find resources in her past year as Eudora’s community navigator.
Smith works about 40-50 hours a week on a somewhat on-call basis, while also attending meetings with nonprofits and organizations across the county. Most days, Smith has at least two or three meetings with area stakeholders, making sure she can keep Eudora connected to Douglas County resources.
“This is my community, and I love it, but because we have limited resources, it’s important that I am the liaison between Douglas County and Eudora,” Smith said.
Every day is different for Smith, but it might consist of helping families find resources for housing, mental health, education, senior citizen care and everything in between.
A lot of her job is informing the public of what is available, and making sure the information she provides is accurate and researched.
She met with local county nonprofit heads, county employees and other stakeholders at a meeting Thursday on new ways to solve food insecurity in the area.
If a fire or storm affects families, Smith will go to the scene after first responders to help find resources to assist in whatever they may need, like the Red Cross.
“I just helped a family that lost their mobile home and a tree fell on it, and that was the hardest one I’ve done so far,” she said.
Fire Chief Mindy Andrasevits has partnered with Smith to make sure firefighters can help residents in need of resources when they are out on calls. Andrasevits said Smith is their first line of defense and a one-stop-shop for resources.
“It’s nice that I think they feel better responding to calls and being able to help people beyond just the initial response,” Andrasevits said. “They’re able to find help and know that when they pass the information along that they’re gonna get taken care of.”
Smith provides comfort to families and also the firefighters because they know that she can help even after an initial call.
“Whether they need school supplies for kids or they need help with utility bills or they need rent assistance or it’s an elderly person who needs help with med delivery or possibly getting into a nursing home or whatever the case is,” Andrasevits said.
Smith most commonly sees residents in need of utility and rent assistance in Eudora, but also sees need for more mental health resources within the community.
If people call 211 for United Way assistance within the area, it will be routed to Smith.
She started learning about the position from former navigator Mary Kirkendoll. During the beginning of the pandemic, Smith saw a need for more resources within the community, and she wanted to do what she could to contribute.
“Everyone’s world was kind of crashing down around them, and I just kept seeing all these horror stories about all these people that were affected and, you know, living out of their cars now because both parents lost their jobs or couldn’t put diapers on their children,” she said.
She reached out to Kirkendoll and asked how she could help. That’s when she got involved with the Giving Garden, Eudora Food Pantry and Feeding Eudora.
Smith continued to shadow Kirkendoll for about a year, and eventually Smith created the first iteration of her Eudora resource guide. The guide took her six months to create, and Smith tried to look at it from an equity lens to make sure every organization listed in the guide knew they would be included.
Being empathetic helps Smith be successful in this position, even if she’s too driven for her own good, she said.
“I try to step into their shoes and let them know that I’m meeting them where they are,” she said. “This is a no judgment zone. It could be anybody.”
Serving Eudora has shown her the community’s deep connection. While getting to help residents is rewarding, it’s also hard to not be able to provide everyone who needs resources with immediate solutions to their problems, Smith said.
The community has always been supportive of needs within the community when Smith puts calls out.
“It’s just the fact that I can put out a request and it’s a complete stranger to someone and then I start getting notifications of donations coming in,” she said. “It just kind of blows my mind because these people don’t know each other.”
Many people request mental health resources within the city, and Smith said more connectivity for people to go to Lawrence for resources are also needed, but partnerships with other local organizations have helped Smith network and find new options.
For the people she’s assisting, the hardest part can be coming to her in the first place, she said. Making sure she is communicative and making sure people know she is a judge-free-zone helps.
Be proactive, rather than reactive, and call Smith when you foresee needing assistance before it’s too late, she said.
Eudora Food Pantry Director Marsha Gordon works closely with Smith to get the word out on the pantry’s needs and when it is low, especially with the 30% increase in patrons in the last six months.
“I really think we need to hold onto this position, and we’ve had two excellent navigators who totally devote whatever time and effort into getting the task done, coordinating among agencies,” Gordon said.
Gordon said she hopes the position can become a permanent, stable role that doesn’t require Smith to look for funding each year. Gordon said this is especially important with growth coming to town.
“She has this love for serving the community and out of that naturally flows the desire to get things done. Her natural response, if you would ask her to do something, would be yes,” Gordon said.
Smith’s position is funded through AmeriCorps, but she hopes to move toward a position housed and mostly funded by United Way, with additional funding coming from the county and other local organizations. The position has also been funded by the Eudora Community Library.
Smith would like to continue as the navigator and make the position long term, she said. She is working on making a proposal to county commissioners for next year’s budget.
She hopes to continue serving a community that cares so deeply about its residents, schools and each other.
“It gives me energy and fuels my passion. It just makes me want to do what I do forever,” Smith said.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]