We're excited to announce that Kansas City nonprofit
PREP-KC has been selected as the 2023 Gerry Rauenhorst Building Community Award Winner!
PREP-KC helps students attending Kansas City's urban school districts succeed in college and their careers. Their partner schools have 61 to 100% low income students and 40 to 99% students of color.
Fueled by unwavering optimism, Gerry demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and a commitment to finding a better way to build a business, along with a community and values-centered life. With an enduring belief that business has a responsibility to strengthen society, Gerry ensured giving back was a cornerstone of his business, and it remains at the core of our organization today.
Each year, an office is randomly chosen, and the associates in that office get to select a winning nonprofit. In recognition of their impactful work, the nonprofit receives an Opus Foundation grant totaling $1,000 for each year since Gerry Rauenhorst founded the business that would become The Opus Group of today.
At the beginning of this year, our Kansas City office was randomly selected, and the Kansas City associates then chose PREP-KC for this year's award.Connecting with the Mission of PREP-KC
“I recommended PREP-KC for this year's Building Community Award based on my volunteer history with them," said Megan Garner, Senior Project Manager. “The rest of the team connected with their mission as much as I did and quickly got on board with naming them as the recipient."
Kansas City associates volunteered with PREP-KC in 2019 at their “Mad City Money" event, which was designed to increase students' financial literacy with a focus on budgeting.
“We staffed interactive booths with topics including mortgage, transportation and daycare, among others," Megan said. “We've long considered this our favorite group volunteer event to date!"
Megan began individually volunteering with PREP-KC last year at their speed-networking style Career Jumping events. Volunteers speak with small groups of students for eight minutes each about their career path and how school was relevant to their path.
“I have done two of these so far – one with high school sophomores and one with sixth graders. Both times have been great, and I have always found the students to be very engaged," Megan said. “I take the opportunity to educate the students about the construction industry. I like to show them that a woman can be successful on this career path, and I also like to talk about the construction trades. It's important that kids know that working in the construction trades is a great career path that can start earning them money right after high school."
PREP-KC works to prepare students for life after high school graduation, whether that be college or entering the workforce. We're proud to support their work with this year's Building Community Award!
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The Opus Foundation® is the corporate foundation for The Opus Group and is building community for a better tomorrow by supporting projects and programs that make our communities better places to live, work and raise families. The Foundation is committed to improving conditions that disproportionately affect historically underinvested individuals and communities by resourcing key focus areas of early childhood education, youth development, workforce development, community revitalization and pressing/emerging needs. Read more about the Foundation's work. The Opus Foundation is a separate entity from The Opus Group and is led by its own Board of Directors.
PREP-KC helps students attending Kansas City's urban school districts succeed in college and their careers. Their partner schools have 61 to 100% low income students and 40 to 99% students of color.
Honoring Our Founder with the Building Community Award
To honor our founder's legacy of giving, we launched the Gerry Rauenhorst Building Community Award in 2015 along with the Opus Foundation. Fueled by unwavering optimism, Gerry demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and a commitment to finding a better way to build a business, community and value-centered life. With an enduring belief that business has a responsibility to strengthen society, Gerry ensured giving back was a cornerstone of our organization.Fueled by unwavering optimism, Gerry demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and a commitment to finding a better way to build a business, along with a community and values-centered life. With an enduring belief that business has a responsibility to strengthen society, Gerry ensured giving back was a cornerstone of his business, and it remains at the core of our organization today.
Each year, an office is randomly chosen, and the associates in that office get to select a winning nonprofit. In recognition of their impactful work, the nonprofit receives an Opus Foundation grant totaling $1,000 for each year since Gerry Rauenhorst founded the business that would become The Opus Group of today.
At the beginning of this year, our Kansas City office was randomly selected, and the Kansas City associates then chose PREP-KC for this year's award.
Connecting with the Mission of PREP-KC
“I recommended PREP-KC for this year's Building Community Award based on my volunteer history with them," said Megan Garner, Senior Project Manager. “The rest of the team connected with their mission as much as I did and quickly got on board with naming them as the recipient."Kansas City associates volunteered with PREP-KC in 2019 at their “Mad City Money" event, which was designed to increase students' financial literacy with a focus on budgeting.
“We staffed interactive booths with topics including mortgage, transportation and daycare, among others," Megan said. “We've long considered this our favorite group volunteer event to date!"
Megan began individually volunteering with PREP-KC last year at their speed-networking style Career Jumping events. Volunteers speak with small groups of students for eight minutes each about their career path and how school was relevant to their path.
“I have done two of these so far – one with high school sophomores and one with sixth graders. Both times have been great, and I have always found the students to be very engaged," Megan said. “I take the opportunity to educate the students about the construction industry. I like to show them that a woman can be successful on this career path, and I also like to talk about the construction trades. It's important that kids know that working in the construction trades is a great career path that can start earning them money right after high school."
PREP-KC works to prepare students for life after high school graduation, whether that be college or entering the workforce. We're proud to support their work with this year's Building Community Award!
***
The Opus Foundation® is the corporate foundation for The Opus Group and is building community for a better tomorrow by supporting projects and programs that make our communities better places to live, work and raise families. The Foundation is committed to improving conditions that disproportionately affect historically underinvested individuals and communities by resourcing key focus areas of early childhood education, youth development, workforce development, community revitalization and pressing/emerging needs. Read more about the Foundation's work. The Opus Foundation is a separate entity from The Opus Group and is led by its own Board of Directors.