Jewish Family Services is saluting one of its own, Kelly Loeb, older adult care manager, who was chosen as Ms. Juneteenth 2021 by a committee of organizers of the annual celebration in Kansas City.
Loeb was honored during the JuneteenthKC Parade on June 12, and will be formally introduced to the city at the JuneteenthKC Awards Ceremony during the Heritage Festival on June 19.
Since 2016, JuneteenthKC has taken nominations for its Mr. and Ms. JuneteenthKC campaign. These individuals are selected by their peers based on their commitment to the community, serving others, and the city of Kansas City in general.
“Kelly is an amazing colleague, advocate, and social worker,” said Sarah Chao, JFS Russian-speaking care manager who nominated Loeb. “She has always been my greatest work role model. She goes above and beyond to serve the community at large, specifically those in underserved and underrepresented communities. She visits aging clients in their homes, providing aging consultation and resources, compassionate care and support, expert Medicare counseling, benefit application assistance, and above all, advocacy.”
In nominating Loeb, Chao also outlined Loeb’s own negative encounters as a Black woman in the current political and cultural climate in our community and the nation.
“She bravely shared her experiences with other staff members, and her overall response to that adversity has been grace, advocacy, and a call to action,” Chao said. “Kelly makes the rest of us better at our own jobs, as we work to educate ourselves, and to be allies to our amazing Black community members.”
As an older adult care manager at JFS, Loeb provides education, resources and support for aging with dignity and the best quality of life for seniors and their families in English and Spanish.
Sharing her expertise in Medicare health insurance, dementia and caregiver support, Loeb works toward a world with health equity, in which we all have access to affordable, comprehensive, compassionate and quality health care and Alzheimer’s disease is no more.
Loeb has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Missouri.
In addition to her professional work at JFS, Loeb is active in the community through many philanthropic service organizations including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Upsilon Rho Omega Chapter; The Links, Inc., Greater Kansas City (MO) Chapter, Kansas City Association of Black Social Workers and United Methodist Women.
She also donates her time and voice to record People magazine weekly for visually- and print-impaired listeners through the Audio-Reader Network. She often chairs charity 5K walks and has raised more than $20,000 for students at historically black colleges and universities.
Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, slaves were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.
