How Personal is Veterans Day to You?

By Jim Stuelke, CEO of Extreme Coating Solutions

For many of the approximate 17.5 million Veterans (7% of the total population) in the U.S., along with their families and friends, “Veterans Day” can be very personal. For the rest of the population, it can be more difficult to relate to the meaning of the day.

Every year at 3:11 P.M. Atlantic standard time each November 11th, Americans are asked to pay tribute to all of our Veterans; past, present, and future with 2-minutes of silence in their honor. In fact, in 2016 this was made into a Public Law.

If you have never offered this 2-minutes of respect and honor to our Veterans, please consider watching the rolling slide shots in the video below. This video is a compilation of pictures the loved ones left behind after their Veteran has paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. These pictures and the soothing melody of bag pipes playing the timeless “Amazing Grace” will touch your soul.

By the time you finish the video, you will not only have a greater appreciation of Veterans Day, but you will have observed 3-minutes of silence of honor for the service and sacrifices of Veterans. God Bless, and God Bless America.

 

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The Magic at Arrowhead Stadium isn’t over. Spay & Neuter Gala will be there February 28th.

Arrowhead Stadium saw its share of magic this past season as the Chiefs saw a lot of hard work come to fruition when they won the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years. During the play-off run leading to the Super Bowl; Travis Kelce, tight-end for the Chiefs re-purposed the title of the hit song by the Beastie Boys; “You have to Fight for the Right to Party(!)” to rally the team (and Fans) with each win.

Spay and Neuter Kansas City (SNKC)Like the Chiefs, the team at Spay Neuter Kansas City (SNKC); a not-for-profit organization has also put in countless hours of work resulting in incredible, life-changing “wins” for citizens and animals of Kansas City. So, our “party” is the Spay Neuter Gala which coincidentally for the first time ever is being hosted at Arrowhead Stadium on February 28th.

The Gala is sold out, but if you have a heart for animals and the SNKC Mission, here is a link to make donations.

Part of what makes SNKC so special is their smart approach to reducing homeless dogs and cats.

SNKC Gala is February 28th. 2020SNKC’s root cause approach starts with focusing on the 12 zip codes in the Kansas City, Missouri Urban Core and 2 in Kansas City, Kansas. Root cause in the sense that these zip codes are responsible for nearly 80% of animal control calls. Michelle Rivera, founder of SNKC has done an incredible job of leading an equally incredible team which has produced meaningful results:

  • Nearly 120,000 spay and neuter surgeries have been performed since 2002.
  • Over 25,000 pets are served by our organization each year.
  • An average of 11,000 spay neuter surgeries and around 12,000 pet vaccinations annually through their wellness clinics each year for low income pet owners.

Jim Stuelke, CEO of Extreme Coating Solutions, and his wife, Gina have supported SNKC for years. Gina, who owns Kenton Brothers, a commercial security systems company is a sponsor for this year’s Gala. Gina shares her feelings for SNKC in the video below..

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Our Partnership with Buddy and Other Local Feral Cats

Buddy the Cat

Our 16,000 sq. ft. facility is in a fairly anonymous inner-Kansas City business park named after a small, but pivotal Civil War Battle; called the Battle of Byram’s Ford which occurred 154 years ago in 1864. In fact, when our building was built, they found cannon balls still in the ground during excavation. Behind our property is the Little Blue River and a lot of green space that is home to some wildlife… including a lot of mice. Or so we’ve heard…

Buddy

You see, we don’t have the mice problem our neighbors talk about. We don’t because we have Buddy. Buddy is the white and grey cat in the picture. And Buddy has lots of other buddies too. Being a feral cat isn’t an easy life. Most don’t live past 4-5 years, and as you can see, Buddy has had a couple of tussles himself.

We supplement Buddy’s “live” food with cat food as you see in the picture. In return, Buddy and his cat colony keep our building “mouse-free” year-round. It’s been a great partnership, and a win-win deal for both sides.

Buddy the Cat and his FriendsWe entered into a partnership of sorts with Buddy. We want him to stay around our building as long as he brings his friends along. And the reason is simple. It’s important to spay and neuter feral cats (and dogs). Left alone, they will multiply quickly with a high mortality rate. When we first moved into our building, there were about 20 cats roaming around. We love animals and one of the ways to treat them humanely is to help control the population.

Spay Neuter Kansas City

Spay Neuter Kansas City Logo

One of our favorite organizations is Spay Neuter Kansas City, who agreed to live trap all of Buddy’s friends, spay or neuter them, give them their shots, and then release them. Buddy didn’t participate in this part however, as he was too smart to fall for that Can of Tuna in the traps. We support SNKC annually because we believe in their mission and the good work they are doing for animals in Kansas City.

For more stories about businesses adopting feral cats for rodent duty:

These Feral Cats Aren’t Put Down, They are Put to Work, on USA Today

To Solve a Rat Problem, Send in the Feral Cats, on Chicago Business

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Extreme Coating Solutions is proud to support Brothers in Blue Reentry (BIBR)

Brothers in Blue Reentry

Brothers in Blue Reentry is one of those programs more of us need to know about.

Brothers in Blue Reentry, also known as BIBR is a Christian-based program that mentors prison inmates along with structured experienced-based programs. Most of these men grew up in a distressed economic environment, with little to no financial resources. And they had no family structure to learn from as they developed their sense of values growing up. As a result, their lives spiraled into crime and drug usage; and ultimately prison.

PrisonFor many in society, the thinking is they will “learn their lesson” by serving time. Unfortunately, the fallacy of this is the assumption that forced incarceration, with others there for similar reasons, and living in a very structured environment; will lead these men to having break-through moments with a profound revelation on how they will change for the better.

If you’re all about “stats”, the industry average for the number of released inmates who commit another crime and return to prison is 35%. The percentage of inmates who go through the BIBR program is 12%. BIBR wants to continue to expand this program and help more men (and women) in the inmate populations all over the country.

Kansas Department of Corrections

Kansas Department of CorrectionsBIBR’s privately-funded program is making a difference, but none of this could succeed without the active support of the forward-thinking leadership of the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The Kansas Department of Corrections is ranked #1 in the country in terms of inmate job skills training; which is really impressive since Kansas maintains less than 1% of the United States prison population (16,600 of the 2.1 million total in the United States). These programs train inmates on a number of skills ranging from welding to information technology. And now that they’ve been trained in these skills, inmates released from prison back into society are equipped with the ability to find jobs that pay good hourly rates. In turn, they become self-confident, tax-paying citizens and less apt to resort to crime to make enough money to provide for themselves and their families.

For more information on BIBR – www.BrothersInBlueReentry.org

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