Gunter Pest & Lawn is very proud to have the following non-profit organizations as clients. We often offer free, at-cost and majorly discounted services – as well as monetary donations – too many Kansas City area non-profits. As a family owned and operated business since 1950, we feel very tied to our community and the people who live here. We wanted to spotlight a few of the non-profits we support and why we love them so much!
Happy Bottoms
“Life. Liberty. And Diapers for All”
The vision of Happy Bottoms: to positively impact the mental, physical and financial stability of a family in crisis and need through diaper assistance, education, and connection to services.
Happy Bottoms is a non-profit located in our Waldo neighborhood – just a few blocks away from our headquarters. We recently started treating their warehouse and office facility at a very discounted rate in the old Re-Store building – their new headquarters – at 303 W. 79th Street. We love partnering with local non-profits and do as much as we can to help save on pest control costs for non-profits — so their dollars can be saved for the causes they support!
To date – Happy Bottoms has donated over 10,000,000 diapers to families in need!
Click here to donate and learn more about volunteer opportunities.
Em’s Spotlight
“Bringing the joy of dance to those of limited opportunities in the urban core of Kansas City, in turn, providing a boost to self-worth, a creative way to exercise, exposure to the arts and a foundation for life and learning.”
We love supporting this Waldo non-profit, located right in our neighborhood!
Why Em’s Spotlight was founded:
Many children in the Kansas City metro area have the dream to be a Dancing STAR! Emily Silverman did and was able to take dance classes during her childhood. She realized that not all children could afford to dance. She had big plans to offer dance to children with limited opportunities. Emily was unable to follow through with her dream when a car accident cut her life short. Her family continued her dream with Em’s Spotlight.
The Silvermans are great friends of our Gunter staff – and Emily was even a friend of our office manager’s daughter, long ago. We have special ties to this family and love supporting this organization.
MADI Donations
“Empowering women through underwear donations, seamstress training opportunities, and contract employment.”
One of our employees and 4th generation in the Gunter line – Hayley Santell – is the president of this non-profit, so it’s a fun one for us to support! 501c3 non-profit subsidiary – MADI Donations – recently launched MADI Makes, a seamstress job-training program for at-risk women in Kansas City. The MADI Makes program will help empower individuals to break cycles of chronic homelessness + unemployment and create pathways to self-sufficiency through a learned vocational skill. The goal of the program is to help at-risk women with employment barriers attain and sustain jobs and build a better life. Working in partnership with Hope Faith Ministries, the program will teach women to sew the donations pairs of underwear on commercial machines.
Once the apprentice successfully graduates from the program, MADI Apparel (for-profit parent company) will hire the women to sew on a contract basis. Not only will apprentices learn commercial sewing skills, but also basic work skills, workplace interaction skills and other skills needed to build confidence and pave the way toward fulfilling employment in the community and the growing garment industry.
Click here to donate or learn more.
Amethyst Place
“Where families come to heal.”
2735 Troost Ave, #A, Kansas City, MO 64109
We love supporting organizations that are close to our employee’s hearts. Hayley – daughter of President Jay Besheer – is a mentor in the Encompass program of Amethyst Place.
About: Many of the women Amethyst Place serves were introduced to drugs and prostitution by their own mom—some as young as eight, most while still in grade school. Now, those same women are first-generation college students, working part-time, showing their children the value of work and school. Amethyst Place provides temporary housing for moms and their children, and works hard to provide the following strategies and impact for the families:
- Encouraging advanced education
- Remove barriers (such as the internet, bank accounts, eliminating outstanding fines and warrants, etc.)
- Stabilize family income
- Reunite and heal families
- Individualize services to the family/mom’s needs
Amethyst Place recently shared the above photo with their email subscribers. “Last week, five women walked across the stage to celebrate successfully passing their high school equivalency exam. A family member of one of our residents made candy leis to adorn their necks – a Polynesian cultural tradition that AP resident Tiare wanted to share with her fellow Amethyst Place sisters,”
“Traditionally, the leis include flowers, but the candy version is a simple way for us to honor this significant accomplishment,” Tiare explains.
100% of the women who take this exam will successfully pass it, thanks in large part to the volunteer tutors who support their journey. All five of the most recent graduates – Amanda, Mindy, Tiare, Clorissa, and Brittany – plan to attend college and join the 16 Amethyst Place women who are currently enrolled in college.
Watch this video to see a success story of one of the amazing moms:
Other non-profits (among more) we partner with to provide discounted treatment costs :
- Lazarus Ministries
- Saving Sight
- Boy Scouts of America
- Leawood Presbyterian
- Cathedral of Immaculate Conception
- St. James United Methodist
Click any of the above organizations to learn more!
