Reach Out and Read

We kicked off our 2010 season by teaming up with Spaces to help an organization called Reach Out and Read (ROR). ROR is a program that works with doctors to promote youth literacy. To learn more about this program, please visit http://www.reachoutandread.org/.

Our mission was to revitalize several ROR locations in Kansas City - Sam Rodgers Health Center, Swope Parkway Health Center, and Mercy and Truth Health Clinic. We came up with different ways to improve the children's waiting areas, which included building new bookshelves, installing new carpet, designing new ROR posters, and painting a once-blank wall.

By the end of the project, we had three brand new waiting areas. We are hoping that this helps the kids get excited about reading. And who knows.. maybe they'll look forward to going to the doctor's office!

Our Feed the Hungry Event!!

For our March event, Burns & McDonnell together with Spaces Inc. partnered with City Union Mission (CU Mission) – Family Center to provide breakfast for about 100 women, men and children living at the center. City Union Mission provides shelter, food, and spiritual guidance for those in need. The Family Center is a sub-organization of CU Mission which provides a home feel residence for the families who need assistance for a short period of time to get back on their feet.

The breakfast menu included: breakfast burritos made of tortillas, scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese, salsa, potatoes; donuts, bagels, sweet bread, and orange juice. The day began at 6:00 a.m. when the team met to begin cooking the burritos. With the help of 24 volunteers, we made over 120 burritos for the residents who came in for breakfast in the morning of March 28th. Along with the burritos, we served 20 dozen donuts, 14 gallons of orange juice, and a variety of rolls, breads, and bagels. As the people came in for breakfast, our team handed out an information card with details on Kansas City’s various organizations dedicated to helping those in need. Overall the day was a great success and we were able to meet all our goals!

Our team was able to get food for the event by working with local businesses to donate the items we had planned for our menu. Our event could not have been as great a success as it was without generous donations from Panera, Krispy Kreme, LaMar’s, Mendolias Sausage, Silva Foods, and Target. Thank You to the CU Mission, businesses and volunteers!!!

Here are a few pictures:

Frank, Dave and Laura cracking three of the 120 eggs we used!

Kevin, Dong-Hyeon, Laura & Maria getting the 15 lbs of sausage ready for cooking donated by Mendolia's!

Cooking all those eggs and all the meat for the burritos.

Cutting all the bagles and breads donated by Panera.

Some of the donuts (Krispy Kream and LaMar's) waiting for breakfast to begin.

Some of the CU Mission Family Center residents who came by for some great breakfast!

Mission accomplished! Burns & Mac Together with Spaces completed their second event.

For more pictures please visit: http://lauractorres.shutterfly.com/projectchange

March – Feed the Hungry Update

The day of the event is finally set in stone; we will be making and serving breakfast for the Family Center at City Union Mission on Saturday the 28th of March. We expect to have around 100 client and we are all very excited.

The menu includes:

• Breakfast Burritos
• Krispy Kreme Donuts
• La Mars Donuts
• Bagels
• Sweet Rolls
• Cheese Rolls
• Bread
• Orange Juice

We will be getting donations from:

1. Krispy Kreme - 10 dozen fresh donuts
2. LaMars -10 dozen fresh donuts
3. Panera – Bagels, sweet rolls, chesse rolls, bread
4. Mendolia Sausage – 15lbs of breakfast sausage\
5. Silva Foods – 2 gallons of salsa, 150 10” tortillas, 5lbs of chips
6. Target - $50 in gift cards
7. B&M – Cups
8. Spaces – Info cards

We are VERY excited to get these donations and there might be one or two more before the date of the event.
During the event as each client is getting their breakfast we will also be handing out an informational card, which will have the same information that the blankets did.

The important dates for the Feed the Hungry Project are as follows:

Thursday 3/19/09 – Tentative deadline to volunteer
Wednesday 3/25/09 – Volunteer meeting
Saturday 3/28/09 – Day of the event

On the 28th of March our day will begin at 6:30AM when we will meet in the kitchen of the Family Center located at: 13th and Wabash. From there we will separate into people who want to set –up and those who want to cook. Breakfast will be served at 8AM and they will have 30min. to eat. We should be able to be done by around 9:30AM.

We need a total of 22 volunteers to cook, serve, set-up and clean-up. So far we have a few volunteers (mainly from Spaces) so if you are interested on helping that day please contact me (Laura Torres) at ltorres@burnsmcd.com) or Dave Sharpe at dsharpe@burnsmcd.com by March 19th. In the e-mail please put Feed the Hungry as a subject and let us know if you can be there for the whole three hours or if you would like to be a back-up. We will be meeting the 25th of March for a meeting to go over details of the day of. The meeting will be at noon and hosted by Spaces Inc.

We hope to see a lot of you there!
Laura, Dave and the Feed the Hungry Team.

Blanket Distribution

The team gathered outside Hope Faith Ministries downtown

Organizing all 80 blankets by size!

Melissa McGee (Burns & McDonnell) handing out a blanket

Caitlin Boies and two new blanket owners!

Sewing Day Photos

Volunteers from two Olathe junior high schools helped our team complete almost 80 blankets!

It took several Saturdays...

...and lots of hard work!



Friends from Knoll turned out to help.

Amy Pierce (Spaces) and Melissa McGee (Burns & McDonnell)

Warming the Homeless Event

On a Saturday morning in February the Burns & McDonnell/Spaces team gathered downtown at Hope Faith Ministries, their mission underscored by the heavy snowstorm that had blanketed the ground and continued to fall. The team was here to distribute 80 handmade blankets, lovingly sewn by area school children and church groups from donated commercial fabrics. Bearing in mind the needs of those displaced by misfortune and fate, these blankets folded compactly into pillows that could be easily transported, and which bore a list of area homeless services and bus routes. Over a thousand needy Kansas Citians shuffled through the shelter that morning, looking for a hot meal, some warm clothes and a break from the cold. It is our hope that they found much more: a unique and beautiful item for them to own and cherish, stitched with the care of a community that surrounds and supports them.

Save the Planet Sub Committee Meeting and Update

The group has been working hard on brainstorming ideas for the Outdoor Classrooms. This past week, a design charrette was held at Operation Breakthrough which included nearly nine Operation Breakthrough staff members. The charrette covered the staff member’s vision of the outdoor classroom, areas of improvement, ideas, four top priorities, and sketches of the proposed site. Input from Operation Breakthrough staff was essential in moving forward with a design. The following are ideas that everyone has come up with for different activities for the children to engage in and bring the site together.

Fence – Vegetation – Native Plants – Focal Classroom Stage – Set Entrance - Rain Garden – Educational Displays – Sound Garden – Art Wall – Climbing Wall – Vegetable Garden – Composting / Recycling – Toddler Area – Bird House and Feeder Area – Rain Barrel – Willow Structures – Worm Farm – Yellow Brick Road – Tree House – Stumps – Benches – Fossil Area – Developing a Curriculum – Butterfly Garden – Naming Contest


There are so many great ideas that will give the children an amazing experience in their outdoor classroom. Although out group won’t be able to do all of them, we can sure begin to turn the space into an educational urban oasis. The Save the Planet Sub-Committee will be working on preparing three different designs of the Outdoor Classroom in the next couple weeks. We are looking for anyone and everyone to participate in our own design session from 12:00 - 1:00 PM Thursday February 12, 2009 in CR 298 of the 9400 Building at Burns & McDonnell. There will be a lot of trace paper and markers for everyone to help sketch how they envision the outdoor classroom.

Everyone is welcome to come and let their creativity run loose, so I hope to see many of you at 12:00 on February 12th in CR 298.