Congratulations to our 2024 SKCC Community Impact Award Winners!

CORPORATE CITIZEN COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

Kansas City National Security Campus managed by Honeywell FM&T

The NNSA and the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), managed by Honeywell FM&T have a 75-year history partnership. Since 1949, both organizations have worked together to provide excellent jobs supporting a great mission in addition to serving as a strong community partner in Kansas City.  While much has changed around the world in over seven decades, their mission to ensure the United States nuclear deterrent is safe, secure and reliable remains the same.

The KCNSC is devoted to the community and committed to being an engaged and active philanthropic organization with both their giving and volunteering. Every salaried employee is given the volunteer hour benefit of a staggering 40 paid hours that can be used at any qualifying nonprofit organization in Kansas City. Every week, their staff can be found at organizations such as JA BizTown, Harvesters, Operation Breakthrough, Grandview School District, Veteran’s Community Project and so many others. In the last fiscal year, staff members volunteered over 15,000 hours in the community.

The KCNSC also invests over 1 million annually in the local non-profit community. They focus their financial investment on three corporate social responsibility pillars: Education, Society, and Environment, while embedding inclusion, diversity, equity, and acceptance throughout all their initiatives. That amount, plus the value of hours volunteered, adds up to a gift of time and treasure of $1.9 million to their communities every year.  Not only is their salaried staff all-in on volunteering, but their senior leadership is equally invested in the community. They get involved with corporate-backed events, but also make a personal commitment to donate time and money to volunteer and lead.  Their team of senior leaders and next level directors sit on over 76 boards and committees. You can find at all levels of the KCNSC are dedicated to making a difference in their community.

FIRST RESPONDER COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

Kansas City Fire Department Station 36

Station 36 is the Battalion Headquarters for KCFD Battalion 107.  Battalion 107 is the largest Battalion in KCFD by square miles and the third busiest by call volume.  It covers from State Line to Lee’s Summit and Belton to 75^th Street.  Station 36 is quarters Pumper 36, Medic 36 and Truck 15.  They provide fire, rescue and emergency medical services to South Kansas City and in 2023 they ran more than 4,000 medical calls and over 2800 non-medical calls.  Station 36 is home to 12 firefighters everyday with three shifts for a total of 36 firefighters.

The firefighters of Station 36 always respond  promptly to numerous emergency situations and must make critical determinations that make a difference in the outcome of each situation. They have outstanding care and compassion for each situation and individual they come across and strive to serve the residents of South Kansas City to the best of their ability.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

UMB Bank

State Line & I-435 Redevelopment

UMB Financial Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. UMB was founded in 1913 and offers commercial banking, personal banking, and institutional banking, UMB operates branches throughout Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona and Texas.

For more than 40 years, UMB has maintained a strong presence on four acres near the intersection of State Line and 435. The building used to house a UMB branch and the iconic EBT restaurant. The previous 4-story UMB bank and office building is now updated to be a single-story UMB branch and Roasterie Coffee shop. The two entities share the space within the building and provide the ability to easily move between both. UMB’s new financial center concentrates more capabilities into this branch to serve a wide variety of customers.

UMB’s new financial center continues to provide a wide range financial services to the South Kansas City community. With the addition of the Roasterie into the space, a new local coffee shop experience is also available to customers. Lastly, the potential new office building will provide the opportunity for business expansion into South Kansas City.

HEALTH CARE COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

St. Joseph’s Medical Center

St. Joseph Medical Center was founded in 1874 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and has had a long tradition of providing high quality, compassionate care. In 2015, Prime Healthcare, a system of 45 community hospitals in 14 states, purchased the licensed 310-bed facility. Since then, they have continued to provide exceptional care and live up to the Sisters’ commitment to taking great care of all who seek us, the poor, the vulnerable, the homeless,” and the mission of our founding Sisters of caring for the community.

St. Joseph Medical Center is committed to providing exceptional care and deliver patient-centered healthcare with compassion, dignity and respect for every patient and family.  They are honored to be trusted partners who serve, give back and grow with their community.

As an acute healthcare system in South Kanas City, they focus on quality measures and certifications to ensure the community has access to elite care. In 2023, St. Joseph Medical Center received accreditation as a Chest Pain Center through the American College of Cardiology, the Platinum Performance Achievement Award through the American College of Cardiology, achieved numerous accolades for clinical excellence by Healthgrades, the leading resource consumers use to find a hospital or doctor, earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from the Leadfrog Group, a national non-profit watchdog that sets standards for excellence in patient care, and achieved the top Five Star Quality rating for Overall Hospital with CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. These accreditations, certifications and awards denotes the highest level of commitment to consistent, optimal care and a testament to all the hard work and dedication by everyone at St. Joseph Medical Center.

The hospital is home to innovative healthcare, quality physicians and compassionate staff. They are proud to serve our community by offering an extensive variety of services to help keep the South Kansas City community healthy.

NON PROFIT COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

Flourish: A Furniture Bank

Flourish began in 2008 as a church ministry called My Father’s House.  In 2018, the organization moved to Grandview and in 2019 Flourish became a 501c3   nonprofit organization separate from the church, serving families that have nothing in their living spaces by providing them with an entire home of furniture and essentials.  In 2022, Flourish served 882 families and in 2023 ended the year by serving 1,069 families.  Through the support of more than 600 volunteers and 27,000 volunteer hours, Flourish is truly “Where Compassion Meets Sustainability”.

Flourish is the only nonprofit furniture bank in Kansas City and partners with 79 social service agencies who refer their clients to them. Through these partnerships, they are building the capacity of each agency.  By saving their partner’s case managers the time they normally would have spent to procure just a portion of these items, their staff can serve more people.  Through small partnership fees, Flourish’s clients can get a whole home of furnishings for less than what they would spend to provide the family with one mattress.  The services provided by Flourish are a win for their guests, partners, and for the Kansas City community.

NON PROFIT COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

Pawsperity

Prior to founding Pawsperity, Natasha Herdman worked in a local nonprofit helping single mothers find employment. She noticed her clients were often locked into a cycle of constant struggle, because even when they managed to find a job, the pay was minimum wage and offered little advancement opportunity. The frustration for Natasha and her clients was immense—either the mother was living in poverty on public assistance, or she was living in poverty on a minimum wage job that made her ineligible for public assistance.

The lightbulb moment occurred when Natasha received a call from her mom, a grooming salon owner, who was having trouble finding employees and was willing to train any warm body. Because Natasha had managed the books and marketing for the family business, she knew dog groomers made decent money, had flexible schedules, and could be trained in under a year.

Pawsperity, formerly known as The Grooming Project, was soon founded in 2016 and remains the only nonprofit grooming school in the United States.  The organization offers a real solution to ending generational poverty through training some of the community’s most vulnerable. Pawsperity shows leadership, innovation, and commitment through the nonprofit school’s “all in” approach and dedication to the mission of ending generational poverty. Besides the extensive grooming school, case management and employment specialists are onsite.

Many other factors have led to the impact of the program. For instance, when additional housing was needed for students, Pawsperity had a capital campaign and built a 6-unit apartment residence a couple blocks away from the school to safely house 6 students and their families at a time. When it was noticed some students were not learning because they were hungry, a food pantry was implemented so all students would have daily breakfast and lunch, plus the ability to take home food to their families in the evening.

Pawsperity’s students are typically single moms coming from very vulnerable situations such as   domestic violence, past incarceration, drug addiction, and homelessness. They leave with a career that is in-demand and sustainable, and a life that looks drastically different. To date, more than 125 adults have graduated the program with the organization’s demonstrated success by placing 100% of its graduates into jobs within 60 days of graduation, Pawsperity can wholeheartedly say it is helping families end the cycle of poverty.

SMALL BUSINESS COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

Volleyball Beach

Volleyball Beach is a bar and grill located in the northern end of the Martin City area of Kansas City, which has 14 outdoor volleyball courts for leagues and tournaments, and serves food and drinks to its players and guests. Volleyball Beach opened in 1989 and operated seasonally in spring, summer and fall, until 2015, when it inflated a  heated air dome over the courts, which enabled it to stay open year-round.

In 2023 Genesis Health Clubs bought Volleyball Beach as the initial step for Genesis to bring beach volleyball to various locations in the Midwest.

Both prior to and during Genesis’ ownership, Volleyball Beach exemplifies business and civic   leadership in the Martin City area. Manager Howard Barewin has served on the Martin City Community Improvement District Board for 12 years, and recently served on the boards for Sherwood Autism Center and New Reform Temple. Highlights of his volunteer work in South KC include pouring beers at Sherwood’s Blues & BBQ event and driving mayoral candidate Scott Taylor in the Martin City St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Volleyball Beach donates thousands of dollars     annually to charities and hosts over 25 charity volleyball tournaments each year helping them raise tens of thousands of dollars collectively. Those charities include ALS, MS, Ronald McDonald House, Hope House, Avila College Sports, and the South Kansas City Chamber. On a smaller level but meaningfully, Volleyball Beach gives nearly 100 veterans and first responders free volleyball leagues annually as recognition for their service. Finally, Volleyball Beach hosts team-building events for many Kansas City companies including JE Dunn, Cerner, Compass Minerals, Aspen Dental, and Sunlighten Saunas. During its brief period of ownership, Genesis has continued to support these efforts.

SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD

Suburban Lawn and Garden

Suburban Lawn &  Garden was started by Bill Stueck in the early 1950’s as a lawn mowing business while he was in grade school. In the seventy plus years since, Suburban has grown into a multi-faceted retail, wholesale and service organization dedicated to the principles of making superior lawn and garden products and providing excellent customer service.  Suburban has three Garden Center locations in the Kansas City metro area, and two production farms that supply        approximately 75% of the trees, shrubs and flowering plants sold at their stores.

Suburban also maintains a yard-waste recycling center which accepts yard-waste for recycling into mulch and soil products. Since 1989, Suburban has been processing and recycling Kansas City’s organic plant waste, keeping millions of tons of waste out of landfills, and turning it into compost and mulch instead.  Regulated by the USDA, OMRI, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, this facility is open to both residential and commercial customers.

Every year, Suburban’s yard waste recycling center processes over 180,000 cubic yards of yard waste material. Sustainability and environmental stewardship are two of Suburban’s core values. All business planning decisions consider the environmental impact they will have; from building state-of the-art storm water detention and retention at their stores, to re-using and recycling customer’s plastic containers at the production farms.

As a local company, that runs its own fleet of CDL trucks, Kansas Citians who choose to purchase their plants and other landscaping materials from Suburban rather than from a chain store, are getting products made locally, and with significantly less fuel to transport.

In the near future, Suburban will be converting to using fully-compostable plastic pots for the flowers they grow, and packaging the soils and mulches the manufacture into compostable plastic bags.