The Kansas City community is rich with individuals, families and companies that want to give back. Our focus at the Archer Foundation is to connect you with opportunities to volunteer or donate that match your interests, passions and skills.
We make it easy to get involved with local non-profits that are effective and well led. The organizations we support share our basic belief in creating opportunities that empower people to reach new levels of achievement for themselves and their families.
With each organization listed below, the Archer team dedicates our time, talent and entrepreneurial know-how to “pay it forward” in the Kansas City community. Please join us in supporting these organizations, and provide a hand-up for people who are ready to change their lives.
Learn How You Can Get Involved
Click each logo to explore volunteer opportunities
Cristo Rey Kansas City
Cristo Rey is a local high school that provides students in need with college preparatory educations, real-world work experiences and life-stabilizing values. Students spend four days each week in the classroom, earning a total of 34 high school credits at graduation (10 more than their public school counterparts).
Student internships complement Cristo Rey’s academic program with one day of real-world, hands-on work experience per week. With the support of corporate partners, each student is able to offset 45-50% of the cost of their education. The remaining funds are provided by the generosity of Kansas City donors and sponsors.
Quick Facts:
Cristo Rey Kansas City is proud to boast that 100% of their graduates have been accepted to college!
More than 100 Kansas City area businesses employ Cristo Rey students. This partnership introduces the students to future possibilities and makes it possible for families of limited economic means to give their children excellent educations.
At this time, 97% of Cristo Rey families qualify for the federal free/reduced lunch program, so there is tremendous need for financial assistance.
How You Can Get Involved:
Attend the Dancing with the Kansas City Stars competition on March 9. This exciting event is a major fundraiser for Cristo Rey, providing life-changing opportunities for students in need. The Archer Foundation’s own Tara Darbyshire will be performing!
Sponsor a student through a financial contribution. For $1,900, you can provide a full tuition scholarship. For only $50, you can provide a student’s school supplies for an entire year.
Contact Information:
211 West Linwood Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64111
(816)-457-6044 www.cristoreykc.org
The HALO Foundation
The HALO Foundation serves children in great need across the Kansas City community and around the globe. Whether these children are orphaned, homeless, in foster care or facing other challenging circumstances, the HALO Foundation is there to help them express their dreams and become contributing members of society.
At the HALO Learning Center in the Kansas City West Bottoms, volunteers host hundreds of workshops every year reaching at-risk youth of all ages. These workshops provide a safe haven where kids can learn valuable life skills in a caring environment. Diverse workshop topics include personal finance, hygiene, resume writing, creative arts, computer design and production, sewing, clothing design, merchandising, woodworking and much more.
Quick Facts:
The HALO Foundation served 360 Kansas City youth and more than 1,000 children worldwide in 2012.
HALO currently works in 6 countries, including Mexico, Nicaragua, India, Kenya, Uganda and the United States.
HALO proudly operates with only 2 full-time employees, multiple interns and hundreds of volunteers. 80% of all HALO funding goes directly to helping children through the Foundation’s programs.
How You Can Get Involved:
Volunteer your time and skills. HALO is seeking assistance in the following areas: graphic design, copywriting, photography, art curation, IT, Salesforce, Quickbooks and Google Adwords.
Be a leader for ClubHALO. Organize school-age children in your area to demonstrate their compassionate hearts and become active volunteers for the HALO Foundation.
Make a donation. For only $84, you can provide milk for 19 Kenyan orphans for an entire month.
Contact Information:
1600 Genessee #528
Kansas City, MO 64102
(816)-472-4256 www.haloworldwide.org
KC Community Kitchen
Each weekday, hundreds of hungry people in downtown Kansas City line up and wait for the clock to strike noon. For the next two hours, the doors will be open, and the Kansas City Community Kitchen will serve about 600 hot, nutritious meals. Some of these hungry people are homeless. Many others have jobs but do not have enough to eat. They are known as the “working poor,” and their population is growing.
In addition to providing noontime meals for the hungry, Episcopal Community Services offers the Culinary Cornerstones program to train people for jobs in the foodservice industry. Community Kitchen staff members recruit students from among their regular kitchen guests. Following graduation from the 10-week course, students have the skills to succeed as cooks and other foodservice positions.
Directed by Cara Myers and Anthony Ladesich
Quick Facts:
The Community Kitchen has served nutritious noontime meals to the hungry for 25 years.
Local merchants and individuals donate a large percentage of the Community Kitchen’s food, including fresh produce.
Every day, dozens of volunteers help with food preparation, serving and cleanup.
How You Can Get Involved:
Volunteer to prepare meals. Community Kitchen is seeking prep groups of 4-12 people. These groups work together for 2 hours to prepare fruits and vegetables for the next day's lunch.
Make an online donation. For only $50, you can feed one person every day for a month. You will find additional levels of giving on the website’s donor page.
The Women’s Employment Network (WEN) empowers women and families across the Kansas City community, helping them achieve economic independence through sustained employment. WEN specializes in turning dreams into reality, heartbreak into hope and despair into determination. As part of OneKC for Women, WEN offers resume and interview counseling, professional clothing, job-search resources and professional case management.
Quick Facts:
The Women’s Employment Network serves more than 500 clients in the Kansas City area each year.
75% of WEN clients live below the federal poverty level. They are unemployed, underemployed or re-entering the job market.
WEN clients are not seeking charity, asking for a handout or looking for sympathy. They simply want the opportunity to find stable employment that will allow them to provide for themselves and their families.
How You Can Get Involved:
Attend the WEN Luncheon on April 10 to hear from recent graduates and learn more about WEN’s services. This is a great time to consider becoming a volunteer or donor.
Volunteer for WEN as a resume writing coach or job search assistant. You don’t need any experience! All you need is a passion for helping women succeed.
Donate professional clothing (newer styles, freshly laundered) or department store gift cards for the WEN clothing bank.
Make an online donation at kcwen.org. For $50, you can purchase a bus pass that enables one women to attend the WEN training program.
Employ a WEN graduate at your business. Become a WEN business partner to gain access to qualified, pre-screened job candidates.
Contact Information:
920 Main, Suite 100
Kansas City, MO 64105
(816)-822-8083 www.kcwen.org
Youth Friends
YouthFriends is a school-based mentoring network involving more than 70 school districts in Missouri and Kansas. YouthFriends connects students, teachers and schools with inspiring mentors and real-world learning experiences to promote success, healthy behaviors and stronger communities.
YouthFriends volunteers range from college students to senior citizens, and they typically spend an hour a week with one or more students in the school environment. This organization is a fantastic starting place for adults who want to volunteer with young people but don’t know where to begin.
Quick Facts:
YouthFriends recently celebrated 1 million hours of volunteer service for school-age children!
In 2011, 3,268 YouthFriends volunteers impacted the lives of 22,114 students in Greater Kansas City.
Volunteers are linked to students with shared interests, like music, reading, sports or computers. Volunteers also work with students who need extra help in specific educational areas.
Through the Learning Across Languages program, YouthFriends proudly supports English Language Learning (ELL) students, helping them learn a new language while adjusting to their school and community.
How You Can Get Involved:
Become an in-school mentor. With a commitment of just one hour per week, you can read with a first grader, share lunch with a new friend, help a seventh grader with a special project or offer career guidance to a high school senior.
Volunteer as an e-Mentor. Help students substantially improve reading, writing and computer skills online, under the guidance of classroom teachers. It takes only 30 minutes a week!
Make an online donation. Because gifts to the YouthFriends endowment generate earnings each year, they play a critical role in the organization’s long-term financial stability.
Contact Information:
1740 Main Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
(816)-842-7082 www.youthfriends.org
