Nonprofit leader makes a career from helping the unsheltered in Riley County

TOPEKA (KSNT) – 27 News is beginning its third year of 'Everything Woman' - and our June 2024 honoree has worked her entire career at the same charitable organization in Manhattan. Her dedication to helping the unsheltered makes her a shining light in Riley County.

Emily Wagner was born and raised in Burlington, Kansas. She grew up in a very "outdoorsy" family, and developed a passion for social justice by high school.

"For me, growing up in a small town…I just wanted to leave. I wanted to get my degree in Psychology and then go to law school, but that didn't happen."

During her time at K-State, a social work class required that she volunteer at a nonprofit. After procrastinating, she discovered the "Manhattan Emergency Shelter" where she started as an administrative assistant. Just a few months later - she became the Client Services Director.

"That is basically the case manager for all of the clients in the shelter. I graduated K-State in 2003, so I was already working at the shelter in that position. I did that for 10 years, and took on the Executive Director's position in 2010."

The shelter started as a grassroots effort in 1985 when a few college students, and some communitiy members, were camping out at City Park.

"It was kind of run almost as a boarding house initially. There were house parents that lived here and they kind of managed the shelter at night. Things have definitely evolved and progressed since then."

The old parish home for First Luthern Church served as the shelter for a couple of decades before the new facility was built in 2008.
As Executive Director, Emily knew the only way to move people into permanant housing was to create more programming and obtain additional money.

"We have two programs that we started in 2009 that were permanent housing programs and a transitional housing program where we place people in apartments to provide a case management until they can move on and then take over the leases on their own."

Those programs ended a short time ago, and now the goal is to alleveiate the burden on other agencies in Manhattan.

"I believe that people aren't a number and we need to get to know our clients…we need to know their needs…their wants…and how can we truly help them. This is not a drop in shelter. This is a program. Clients check in and they agree to case management and agree to housing plans."

The shelter can house 47 people at a time, and they are often at 40-plus. There are two dorm rooms for single men, plus one dorm-style room for single females. The facility also offers five family rooms and two rooms on the main floor for anyone that may have mobility issues. The average length of stay is 37 nights.

"That is very skewed because we are one of the few shelters in Kansas that will house transient clients, and that that is basically people that are not from our community. What we do though is we only house them for 48 hours to provide some case management to help them get to wherever they were wanting to go."

Funding is Emily's biggest issue. The State of Kansas does not fund homeless shelters, so everything comes from federal grants, community grants and donations. More agencies also popped up during COVID, and that makes the fight for dollars even more difficult.

"I feel like for homelessness is just harder for people to understand and empathize with those situations and see sometimes those individuals as citizens that are contributing to our community, and that are humans that deserve housing and all of those things that everyone else has."

And about being chosen as "Everything Woman?"

"I'm really honored. I'm not here to be on stage and ask for people to give me applause. I just want to come to work and make sure that I'm making a difference."

If you know a woman we should highlight in this segment, please go to ksnt.com and nominate them there. We feature these honorees - during 27 news - on the last Tuesday of each month.