Salute Our Heroes: Topeka woman devoted to helping unsheltered population

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Not only does Misty Bosch-Hastings help people at her job at the Topeka Rescue Mission, she also spends some of her free time volunteering.

“I run a volunteer group called Volunteers helping Topeka’s Homeless,” Misty said.

Her passion for helping others has inspired many people to join her group and follow her lead.

“There’s about almost 2,000 people in that group and basically anytime I have a need, it could be for a bed, or curtains, or anything. I just reach out to the individuals that belong to that group and I’ve never had a need that’s not been met,” Bosch-Hastings said.

Misty says she has always wanted to help unsheltered people because of her father.

“My father was somebody who was mentally ill and frequently homeless when I was younger and a young adult... and always staying at the Rescue Mission. When he passed away I decided I want to give back in his honor and work with the homeless.”

She said the empathy she feels for those who are struggling comes from her own life experiences.

“I’ve been given the opportunity to help so many people.. and move people out of homelessness and just give people a fresh start. You know I’ve been there myself where we’re all just one check away from possibly losing our housing and it’s happened to me.”

Misty said she has learned some valuable lessons along her journey.

“We’re all the same, we’re all the same. Nobody’s better than anybody else and we could be the person we’re helping on the street at any point in time, it’s just probably that those people that we see and that we help and that are mentally ill, they just didn’t have maybe the support that you and I had.”

Misty encourages those who are interesting in volunteering to contact her at the Rescue Mission or via her Facebook group.

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