Celebrate community and business at the Chamber’s 95th Annual Dinner & Community Impact Awards, presented by Master’s Transportation – Moving People Forward, on Thursday, February 26 from 5-8 p.m. at the Armacost Car Museum at 4200 E. 135th Street, Grandview, MO 64030.
Enjoy a glamorous Rat Pack–inspired evening with a throwback to the days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr.
The night kicks off with lively Mouse Races, followed by dinner and a Chamber update, and concludes
with the Community Impact Awards honoring businesses and volunteers making a positive difference.
Funds raised support Chamber initiatives that make South KC the best place to live, work, learn, and play.
Promote your business with a sponsorship or purchase your ticket today!
Thank You To Our Generous 2026 Sponsors!
The South KC Chamber 95th Annual Dinner & Impact Awards are Presented By
GOLD SPONSORS
A.L. Huber
Cable Dahmer Automotive Group
Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City
GreenEarth Cleaning
Hawthorn Bank
Kansas City National Security Campus, managed by Honeywell FM&T
Martin City Community Improvement District
Metropolitan Community College
Port KC
St. Joseph Medical Center
A limited number of Gold Sponsorships are available
click here to sponsor
SILVER SPONSORS
Southeast Enterprises
Secure Passage
The Martin Event Space
Sponsorships Available
click here to sponsor
BRONZE SPONSORS
The Borough – Breakfast all Day & Anytime Lunch
Special Olympics – MO
Web Force KC
Sponsorships Available
click here to sponsor
Mouse Race Event Sponsor
Spartan Ram Jack
Foundation Repair & Waterproofing Solutions
Mouse Race Heat Sponsors
Five Sponsorships Available
One sponsorship for each of five mouse race heats.
Choose to sponsor one or more heats.
click here to sponsor
COCKTAIL HOUR SPONSOR
Sponsorship Available
click here to sponsor
ACTIVITY SPONSORS
Photo Booth
Judith Unruh, South KC Real Estate Specialist
with Lettiann & Associates Real Estate Services
Wine Pull
Rosehill Gardens & Rosehill Winery
Balloons
Pop Culture Sculptures
Signage
Signarama
The awards will be presented at the Chamber’s 95th Annual Dinner, “A Night with the Rat Pack” presented by Master’s – Moving People Forward on Thursday, February 26th at the Armacost Auto Museum.
Don’t miss this fun celebration of business and community. Visit the 95th Annual Dinner & Community Impact Awards page for details, tickets and remaining sponsorship packages.
2026 Community Impact Award Winners
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
Masters Transportation
In 2025, Masters Transportation, a manufacturer of custom vans and buses, consolidated their headquarters, production, and service facility to South Kansas City. The move brought over 300 new jobs to the region, working in a spectacular new facility at 150 Highway and Prospect Avenue.
Master’s Transportation® is one of the nation’s leading providers of commercial vehicles for rent, lease and purchase. They strive to make a significant impact in the transportation industry through a commitment to quality and safety. Their core values guide them in all that they do, inspiring them to “Move People Forward”. With over 30 years of experience, they are committed to safety, quality, innovation, and helping move people forward. They offer a full lineup of commercial buses and vans, including shuttle buses, school buses, motor coaches, and refurbished vehicles. A nationwide service network includes full-service and parts departments, supporting both routine maintenance and large-scale refurbishing.
At the heart of the company is a dedicated team that drives their mission forward. They prioritize employee growth, community involvement, and strong relationships with customers, earning lasting trust through exceptional service and support.
CORPORATE CITIZEN
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
Cable-Dahmer Automotive Group
Cable Dahmer Automotive Group demonstrates exemplary corporate responsibility through the following actions:
Cable Dahmer’s core initiative is the Million Meals Mission, in partnership with Harvesters – The Community Food Network. Recognizing that over 350,000 people in Kansas City and Topeka face food insecurity, this mission has successfully raised awareness and funded over 17 million meals for local families to date. The company provides consistent financial support and sponsorship to numerous vital organizations, including Sheffield Place, the South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Making Strides of Kansas City with the American Cancer Society, and Chevy Youth Baseball.
Cable Dahmer contributes time through hands-on volunteerism and ongoing donation drives, such as their “Stuff the Trunk” events, which collect canned and boxed food across their dealership locations.
The company actively invests its “talent” in the community’s future by partnering with the Olathe Advanced Technical Center and Fort Osage Career & Technology Center. This program provides students with opportunities to apprentice at the stores, gaining hands-on experience and preparing for careers in the automotive industry.
HEALTHCARE
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
Swope Health
Swope Health was born in 1969, the product of a visionary leader, E. Frank Ellis, who capitalized on the federal government’s willingness to fund community health centers as part of the multi-pronged war on poverty. Ellis saw access to healthcare, for mind, body, and spirit, as a basic human right. He also envisioned how a community health center could empower and give voice to the people of the community, while also serving as an engine of growth.
Swope Health Services is now the largest health center in the metro area, serving more than 42,000 patients a year. They routinely receive national accreditation and quality awards. They continue to expand services in clinics, schools, daycare and community centers to ease access to care. Throughout their 50-plus year history, they have embraced the community and served its complex healthcare needs with compassion. Their South KC location on 87th Street in the Hickman Mills area provides Family Care, Women’s Health, Dental, and Behavioral Health services in an area with few other service providers.
NON-PROFIT
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
KC Shepherd’s Center
KC Shepherd’s Center, Kansas City’s senior center without walls, is the only nonprofit organization that has exclusively been serving older adults in Kansas City for the past 53 years. Every day in Kansas City – OUR city – we show up for older adults. We live two truths every day. We know that many seniors are active and engaged while others, the most vulnerable of the 3,000 seniors we serve each year, need our care and support to live safely and independently.
KC Shepherd’s Center brought Meals on Wheels to Kansas City in 1972 and remains the largest nonprofit provider of Meals on Wheels in Kansas City. Every day our dedicated volunteers and staff drivers provide a daily well-check and a nutritious meal to home bound older adults. Our impact is so much more than a meal and is vital to creating a community where all older adults are included, valued and respected. We offer lifelong learning, essential social connections, enrichment programs and integrated care management; our programs are designed to meet the holistic needs of older adults as they age, provide seniors with endless opportunities to share wisdom and talent as volunteers and to have fun!
Our community has faced many challenges and 2025 was a perfect storm of ongoing crises that disproportionately affected the older adults we serve. Yet, KC Shepherd’s Center has never wavered, always showing resolve, stepping up for those in need and rising to meet the moment over and over again. We are tested, trusted and proven.
The work we do happens face to face and we won’t look away. In spite of – or because of – global crises, economic shifts, fads and popular trends, our mission does not yield. The opportunity to honor our elders by celebrating, empowering and serving ALL older adults is our treasured privilege. Every day.
SMALL BUSINESS
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
The Borough, A Neighborhood Food Hall & Gathering Space
The Borough, a Neighborhood Food Hall & Gathering Space located at 8026 Paseo, was created by long-time Marlborough residents Rodger Kube and Diane Hershberger in response to the need for reasonably priced, quality food items to be eaten in a welcoming gathering space on par with eateries and coffee shops in the Crossroads and Brookside.
In addition to great food, The Borough also supports the community by hosting no-cost art and education programming for all ages such as poetry workshops, terrarium building, Little Free Library/ Food Pantry projects, Veteran’s Day Concert, Woman’s History Month re-enactments, Read To Lead Free Book Station, Black History Month Kansas City Photo Exhibit, and the 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Program.
Perhaps the most significant contribution to the business community is the pioneering investment in a business. Since its opening 3 years ago, The Borough has inspired new businesses in the Historic Marlborough Business District such as Each One, Teach One (childcare), Groove Station (a niche business in the vinyl records industry), a new coffee shop in a formerly abandoned gas station, along with two new businesses planned in 2026. Future plans include renovating an arts center next door to The Borough.
SMALL BUSINESS
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
Alexa Barkley State Farm Insurance
Alexa Barkley State Farm, recently relocated to Martin City, provides excellent service to their policyholders and their community.
The company actively participates in local organizations, including the South KC Rotary Club, the Martin City Improvement District, and the South KC Chamber of Commerce member activities. They are a Caring for Kids Network partner at Martin CIty Elementary. They regularly volunteer for a wide range of community services including Meals on Wheels, Salvation Army and the Grandview Assistance Program.
Their insurance business has earned consistent local and national recognition from State Farm and the local KC Favorites awards. The agency is committed to employee development with generous investments in education and awards for outstanding efforts from their staff. The Agent Aspirant Program actively invests in employee growth, providing a structured path for aspiring agents to develop their careers within the industry and the community.
SUSTAINABILITY
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
The Kansas City Zoo
The Kansas City Zoo and Aquarium takes a great deal of pride in being a leader in the field of sustainability. We have developed a plan that will lead us towards being carbon neutrality by 2050 and took further steps towards that goal in 2025. Improvements include:
- Reducing energy consumption in buildings with an automated system.
- Reducing use of fossil fuels in their fleet with the replacement of gas vehicles and equipment with electric alternatives including the trains and trams used by visitors and equipment and vehicles used by staff. We have also added thirty solar charging units to our electric golf carts to further diminish our demands on the power grid. While we have only supplied this to 47% of our carts, we are well on our way to our retrofitting goal of 95% by the end of 2026.
- In addition to our energy reductions, we have also focused on reduction from our twenty-two waste streams. Though we have had some composting procedures in place for years, 2025 was the first time we attempted to bring in public composting. Our largest restaurant, Tuxedo Grill, is now included in this program.
The following numbers reveal the overall impact of our efforts:
- 3,206 pounds of electronic materials were recycled
- 29.24 tons of metal was recycled.
- 4,425 pounds of glass was recycled from our events.
- 29,765 pounds of food was diverted from the waste stream and composted.
- Our composting of food as well as animal waste helped us to produce 58,000 pounds of useable composted materials in 2025, alone.
Lastly, we also continue to be committed to the cleanliness of the environment surrounding the zoo. In 2025, the Kansas City Zoo and Aquarium Stream Team collected trash around the Blue River and Swope Park. A total of 6,673 pounds of trash was collected and helped to preserve the beauty of the environment around us.
SUSTAINABILITY
COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD
GreenEarth Cleaning
GreenEarth Cleaning, headquartered in Martin City, has created a solution that truly makes a difference — eco-friendly dry cleaning technology in an industry traditionally associated with significant environmental harm. Conventional dry cleaning has long relied on toxic chemical solvents such as perchloroethylene (perc), a known hazardous pollutant that can contaminate air, soil, and groundwater. GreenEarth replaces that model with a non-toxic, silicone-based cleaning system combined with activated clay filtration, eliminating hazardous waste while remaining effective and fabric-safe. With more than 25 years of proven use and adoption in thousands of locations worldwide, GreenEarth demonstrates how innovative technology can dramatically reduce environmental impact while maintaining high standards of quality and performance—making it a deserving candidate for the Chamber’s Sustainability Award.