
Giving Back To The KC Community Is The Best Part
Of Being A Successful Remodeling Contractor
The Act Of Giving Was Part Of Our
Business Plan From The Start
When we first opened our doors to serve the Kansas City community back in 2009, one of our top goals was to gain enough success to give back through charitable activities, but that’s not what we did.
We didn’t wait for success to come, and started creating relationships with charitable efforts almost from day one. This drive came partly from our faith and partly because good works are simply part of our DNA.
Now that we are a truly successful kitchen and bath remodeling contractor, we’ve zeroed in on three charities that we feel do the most to help the less fortunate of the world.
We wanted to help fund efforts that don’t just throw money at a problem but rather dive deep into the communities they serve to find long-term solutions that improve the lives of everyone there.
We also wanted to work with charities that weren’t top-heavy with administrative costs and were willing to change as circumstances changed.
Global Orphan Project
The Global Orphan Project was founded by Matt Fox, a successful businessman who sold his company to devote all his resources to helping others in need. But instead of simply handing out food, the Global Orphan Project is housing orphans in Haiti, and paying for their education.
Part of this effort is the Mama Project. This program is so wonderful that we decided to make it our main focus and now fund it 100%. Mamas are women that agree to take care of ten orphans, preparing their food, keeping them dressed, and making sure they get to school.
We currently fund 39 Mamas and, through them, serve 390 orphaned children.
A newer effort of the Global Orphan project is the Education For Everyone program. Once it was realized that parents were purposefully abandoning their children so that they could get the superior education offered to orphans by the Global Orphan Project, Mike Fox acted quickly.
He created the Education For Everyone fund to allow all children to participate in these well-run schools without having to leave their parents behind. We now educate 1,200 children in four villages through the new schools we built.
It’s a rare charity that is willing to expand their reach to solve new problems, and we’re only too happy to be a small part of what they do.
Living Water International
Water is essential for all life, yet over 600,000,000 people around the world live without easy access to safe water.
The decision to work with Living Water International was an easy one. It’s run by a group of individuals dedicated to helping villages worldwide create their own safe water supplies.
With over 16,000 safe water projects completed, they are an incredibly effective charity. And as with the Global Orphan Project, Living Water International is a lean organization with very little of its donations going toward administrative costs.
Habitat For Humanity
We are Kansas City’s largest donor to our local Habitat For Humanity projects. Through the construction or renovation of low-cost homes, Habitat For Humanity helps get families off the street and into a safe environment.
The future owners of each home must put in their own time and effort to complete the project and take on a low-payment-based mortgage for their new home. These requirements give the owners a sense of pride and ownership, which leads to pride in themselves and ownership of the second chance they are getting at living the American dream.
We give Habitat For Humanity our materials, time, and effort toward completing each new home. Many of our employees will donate their own labor to the cause, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.
It Goes Beyond Charity
The founders of our company, John Bartrom and Dave Cummings, are both driven to do what they can to help those who can’t yet help themselves. They are careful to only work with organizations that want to create solutions that could eventually make their charities unneeded.
They are careful about whom they select, insisting that any charity they work with has creating independence in those they serve as a primary goal. Too many charities exist solely to find reasons for their continued existence rather than to fix the world’s problems.
Each charity we work with must be one that will celebrate the day that their services are no longer needed in the world – and we think we’ve found three of the best out there.
If you like what you’ve learned today, please take a moment to visit the Global Orphan Project, Living Water International, and the local Habitat For Humanity here in Kansas City. They are always happy to receive whatever help you can offer.
If you have a kitchen or bath in your Kansas City area home that looks the worse for wear and want only the best people to work on your remodeling project, contact us at Jericho Home Improvements for a free quote.