 Select the news month you'd like to read, by clicking on that month's bar, below... |
Mary Lou Honored as one of Kansas City's Most Influential Women
by Shon Hall
 It was a wonderful evening celebrating some amazing women, not least of whom, our very own Mary Lou Jacoby! Always the modest and humble leader, Mary Lou was uncomfortable with all of the attention. But, everyone at warehouse1 knows she's most deserving of this honor!
Mary Lou is quick to say that she's "nothing without all of her team." But, her team knows, we're nothing without her! She's a phenomenal leader, mentor, and friend. And, most worthy of the limelight for a change.
Our most heartfelt congratulations go out to Mary Lou!! We all knew you were inspirational. Now, everyone knows it!
KC Business honors city’s most ‘Influential Women’
by Mark Clegg
NBC Action News
KANSAS CITY, Missouri - The World War I Museum honors our nation’s veterans. Thursday night, the museum was the setting as the city honored the 2011 class of "Influential Women."
34 women made this year's list. They were selected for their hard work, dedication to their organizations and contributions to the community.
Rose Brooks Center CEO Susan Miller told NBC Action News she was honored to be included in such an amazing group. She was also quick to give the credit to the women her organization serves.
"I feel proud of the work we have accomplished over the last 15 years that I've been at Rose Brooks Center," Miller said. "But it's really the women and children that we are applauding and the work they have to go through in order to become free of domestic violence."
This marks the fifth year for the event.
Click to go to NBCActionNews.com
Click here to go to the KCB Journal website.
| November 10th, 2010 |
Ozarks Town Gets Help From Missouri Communities To Open Its First Public Library
Clever, MO, will cut ribbon on new facility with support from Springfield, Nixa, Republic, Kansas City
Clever, MO —
Clever, MO, will cut the ribbon on its brand new library on Saturday that will house more than 3,000 volumes and high speed internet access.
And if you're a resident of the Christian County town, the closest library had been a good fifteen miles away - and it's in Greene County, and a library card would cost you a out-of-county fee.
But perhaps the most unique part of the library is its composition of multiple resources - a Springfield company donated and installed the outdoor sign, the circulation desk was a gift from Nixa, and shelves and furniture won in a contest from Warehouse 1 store in Kansas City.
It's also mutual effort between Clever and the Christian County Library in Ozark, who will provide the staff, collection, internet service and network.
Clever, though, will sustain the building thanks to a generous $180,000 donation from a Clever family. And what a difference compared with what used to be - just a small reading room in town.
"If you had five or six people in there it was claustraphobic," laments Melissa Lockhart, a Clever real estate agent and Clever Library supporter. "We had only one computer, standing room only some nights with five people waiting for computer access. Here we have three, there's no standing room. They have room to sit down and read, time to go through the paper."
The new library is also a moral victory for Clever residents, whose proposal for more county funding to build the library was struck down by voters in two previous elections.
The greater Missouri effort to build the library saved Clever some $10,000 - half of the entire project budget.
The library will be open Mondays through Saturdays.
The Clever Public Library grand opening is tomorrow morning at 10 at the new building on Highway 14.
It's open to everyone and the first 100 folks get a free book.
Copyright © 2010, KSPR-TV |
| November, 2010 |
Library's transformation in progress
renovations add new technology and study space
by ERICK R. SCHMIDT
reprinted from: Perspectives News Magazine of the University of Missouri-Kansas City
~ Below is an article about UMKC's Library renovation and expansion, which provided the shelving we dismantled and offered FREE to several Non-Profits that our Customers, co-workers, and friends recommended. Click here to read more about that exciting donation drive!
All of us at warehouse1 would like to send our congratulations to UMKC's Library Faculty and Students for this exciting renovation and expansion! |
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This artist's rendering shows how the expanded Miller Nichols Library will accommodate not only comfortable quiet study spaces, state-of-the-art technology and wireless Internet access, but also a robotic retrieval system that houses materials in about one-seventh the floor space used by conventional open-stacked shelving. |
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When the Miller Nichols Library unveils its latest renovations this fall following a $20 million update, the robotic retrieval system will surely pluck as many headlines as it does books. After all, it's a four-story system that helps library patrons pinpoint exactly the resources they need and effortlessly delivers them to the circulation desk for pickup. But there's much more to this redesign than the robot.
"Even though the robot is the cool, new, visible part, the most significant changes happening here will be after the robot," says Mark Mattison, advancement officer for UMKC Libraries.
The robot and current renovations are considered to be Phase One of the library overhaul. Another key aspect to the renovation is the amount of room that will be repurposed into flexible space for library patrons. Mattison says that as the collections have grown the past 40 years, room for library patrons has been pushed out. The robot will eventually store as much as 800,000 of the library's more than 1 million items in its bins and shelving, allowing those materials to be stored on-location hut also out of the way of patrons.
"The level of excitement here is pretty high."
-Sharon Bostick |
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Along with the robot comes enhanced browsability of the online catalog. The ultimate goal is a search function similar to Amazon.com, including looks at the insides of hooks.
"By the end of this academic year," he says, "you won't recognize the first floor of the library."
Dean of Libraries Sharon Bostick said she understands the fascination with the robot. In fact, she's as excited for its debut as anyone on campus. But Bostick says she is most excited to share with the UMKC community years of hard work, planning and progress as the entire library system returns with substantial upgrades throughout, including everything from more user space to increased research database access to, yes, the robot.
"The level of excitement here is pretty high," Bostick says. "The ideas are really flowing."
Bostick says the project has been made possible in large part through the partnership and support of the Miller Nichols Charitable Foundation.
"When the economic realities set in, the Foundation helped us re-envision the overall project, which we've now broken into phases," Bostick says. "It was a priority for everyone to keep this moving - the chancellor has deemed it the University's top capital project because it's so integral to UMKC's enrollment goals."
The future phases of the project will include further renovations to the other floors, Bostick says.
Of course, the ultimate goal of the library is making research easier and more effective. Bostick says she wants the area to be a destination for students. To make that a reality, there are plans for group study rooms, which Bostick says have skyrocketed in popularity. By April 2011, there will be a full-service cafe. For the more traditional library patrons, there will also be a quiet floor for studying. The goal is to incorporate every learning style into one library.
"We're spending a lot of money on our technology and on more databases and more items that you don't have to come in and use," Bostick says. "That's a big deal."
As the library grows into more of a living thing, accessible from long distance, it becomes even more reliant on one key ingredient: librarians.
"For the past 30 years, librarianship has changed so quickly that if you stayed in the profession, you had to learn to change, and they're doing that."
Bostick says that today's librarians are responsible for fully immersing themselves and becoming experts in 21st century technology. Librarians now spend time scanning literature and discussion hoards to look for buzz on new tools, and when they hear of new tools or databases, they test them to see if they will be a viable option for any of the University's libraries, Bostick says.
UMKC Librarian Laura Gayle Green says her natural curiosity helps her integrate new technology into the library before she helps adjust students to upgraded resources as they become available.
As head of the Music/Media Library, located within Miller Nichols Library, Green is responsible for identifying the latest technology, instituting it into the library system and then helping students get acclimated to the newfound resources.
Green says in the ever-changing field of library technology, it is vital that she and other librarians stay ahead of the curve by making sure the renovations work for the library's staff and its patrons.
"The library can offer a customized, personal experience," Green says. "And we can help with that."
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The robot can retrieve occasionally or little used materials from racks to the check-out desk within minutes.
This robotic storage also provides more floor space for study areas. |
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| June 15th, 2010 |
As seen on the MHEDA Journal Online... |
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How We Did It
July 14th, 2010
Award-winning distributors share their secrets to success in a down year.
It’s been well-documented that 2009 was a dismal year for much of the material handling industry. Sales were a struggle, employees were let go, credit terms were tightened, and customers were shutting down. Few distributors even saw light at the end of the tunnel. But the news wasn’t all bad. It was also a year where a few strategy tweaks and a concentration on customer service made a big difference.
The MHEDA distributor members profiled here were able to make lemonade out of the lemons they were given by last year’s economy. Each was named to at least one manufacturer’s list of 2009’s Top Dealers. Some distributors were named by multiple manufacturers. While the consensus was that sales were down in 2009, the distributors in these stories remained profitable and can look back on the year with pride.
What were their secrets? Keep reading to unlock their mysteries and learn firsthand how they were able to do it.
Revamping the Sales Team
"We had booked enough orders in 2008 that warehouse1 didn’t really start to see the effects of the downturn until after the First Quarter of 2009. Sales training is what helped us weather the storm; we held regular product sales meetings along with our manufacturers, who came into our facility to offer face-to-face education on many of our product lines. That really helped our sales force become more skilled and professional on what they were selling.
"We dissolved the sales, marketing and purchasing departments and combined them into what we’re calling our business development group. All three of those entities supported each other, but they weren’t working together as well as they should have. Now when everyone in the business development group comes to meetings for product training, they all understand the customer and the equipment better. We can focus our branding and marketing materials toward the customer instead of doing it just for the sake of doing it. Purchasing tells marketing what we have to sell, and marketing promotes it to make it easier for the sales department to sell. Everyone is together now in their focus, which has been a big help.
"Part of that initiative was to improve our e-mail marketing. We created a planned, systematic and routine e-mail newsletter as a marketing tool. Our efforts previously hadn’t been systematic and orderly. We concentrated on developing a plan and delivering an enhanced newsletter in 2009.
"We also diversified our product offerings into high-efficiency lighting, rack repair and equipment reconditioning. This gave us more avenues to talk to customers and sell new products into new and existing accounts."
★ Mary Lou Jacoby, Owner warehouse1 (Kansas City, MO)
Click here to visit their site to read the entire article, and for a GREAT and TRUSTED source of information about the Material Handling Industry! |
| June 15th, 2010 |
As seen on the MHEDA Journal Online... |
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Another Reason For Material Handling Recession
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
As I have mentioned before in this space, the next issue of The MHEDA Journal (set to publish on July 15) recognizes Top MHEDA Dealers—those distributors who were honored by their manufacturers as a top-performing partner.
Earlier this week, I spoke with Mary Lou Jacoby, owner of warehouse1 (Kansas City, MO), a distributor of storage & handling products who earned Top Dealer honors from Tri-Boro Shelving & Partition Corp. Mary Lou had an interesting thing to say about how the poor economy impacted the market for allied products.
"Everything that we sell is made out of steel. As the market went down, so did the price of steel and, in turn, the price of new products. Therefore, revenue went down. If the price of new product was off 20%, then you could certainly expect sales volume to go down 20%. That was something about the year before that most people don’t take into account. In 2008, the steel market increased in price, so our equipment increased in cost. When you say your sales volume in 2008 was up 20%, really you were just breaking even because steel was up 20%. So for us, 2009 was down, but a part of that difference in revenue is based on the cost of the material."
Most people, myself included, have thought about the economy in terms of a lack of customers with capital to spend and that’s why sales are down. Or, prices have been reduced by the seller in an attempt to spur sales. I hadn’t given too much thought to the actual cost of the item itself. Obviously, if that goes down, the retial price goes down, which impacts a distributor’s revenue.
Thanks, Mary Lou, for the perspective!
Please visit their site at www.themhedajournal.org for a GREAT and TRUSTED source of information about the Material Handling Industry! |
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please join us for an irreverent,
loving toast to Tom Doty, a friend extraordinaire.
date: |
January 23, 2010 |
time: |
4:00p - 7:00p |
place: |
Rockhill Tennis Club
4520 Kenwood Avenue
Kansas City, MO
64110-1537
816.931.1316 |
Tentative Agenda:
- 5:00p - Toast to Tom - Various Speakers
- 5:30p - Presentation of Plaque by Hope Care Center
- 5:45p - Memorable Times with Tom - Anyone
- Then, Eat, Drink and Visit and Share
Complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be served, along with wine, beer and soft drinks.
There will be a Memory Box available, too. Please feel free to leave a fond memory of Tom.
Contributions in memory of Tom may be made to Hope Care Center. Tom served Hope in numerous ways for many years, including serving on its Board of Directors, fundraising and volunteering to lead many projects. Hope is a non-profit nursing home exclusively for people with HIV\AIDS and was truly one of Tom’s passions.
Background Information
Hope Care Center, Inc. (Hope) is the only skilled nursing facility
exclusively for people living with HIV/AIDS in Missouri or Kansas and is
one of only a very few in the country. Hope is a non-pro t corporation
incorporated in the state of Missouri. Hope has been fortunate to
receive significant support from the community in many forms,
including many volunteers and substantial nancial support. All
support is greatly appreciated.
Hope is located in a residential neighborhood at 83rd and Main
Streets in Kansas City, Missouri. The environment at Hope is more like "home" than an institution with individualized treatment and support.
Hope serves residents who in many cases have no resources and who
have no one to turn to for support. Since opening in the fall of 1996,
Hope has operated continuously, seven days per week and
twenty-four hours per day, and has served nearly 300 residents.
With a staff of approximately thirty full-time employees, Hope
provides care for its residents including housing, meals and skilled
nursing services. The residents at Hope represent a wide spectrum of
those with HIV/AIDS. We serve many residents who come to Hope or
a short stay and are able to improve and return to independent living. We also serve residents who come to hope for long-term stays and
who can become stable and live a full life at Hope. In addition, we
serve residents who come to us in the nal time of their lives, many times on Hospice, and they are able to live their last days with dignity.
Unfortunately, this is still a reality for many people with HIV/AIDS. |
warehouse1 provides the warehouse racking for Hasty Awards Expansion, Ottawa, KS
warehouse1 was pleased to provide the warehouse racking and conveyor systems for Hasty Awards new warehouse expansion in Ottawa, KS. Despite many struggling through the recession, Hasty Awards expanded and added new employees!
Hasty Awards is a family owned business headed by Steve Hasty, with great people, great products, and a great company!
Read the Ottawa Herald's article about the expansion, below.
Hasty Awards expands despite recession
By Linda Brown, The Ottawa Herald, Kan.
Re-Printed from Publication: The Ottawa Herald (Kansas)
Date: Friday, October 16 2009
 Steve Hasty never intended to take over his family's business.
"My parents started the business in 1986," Hasty said, referring to his parents, Jim and Judy Hasty. "Everything was made by hand back then. I'd come in and help on a regular basis."
Hasty said he joined the business in 1989. "I didn't plan to stay long, just long enough to install a computer and get some of their records on it," he remembered.
In 1999, Hasty and his wife, Anne, took over ownership of Hasty Awards and in 10 years have grown the business into one of the top 10 in the industry.
That growth had the company bursting at the seams of its original 15,000-square-foot Jackson Road location, and Hasty had to make a decision.
"We were poised for some very big growth," Hasty said. "We had to have more space."
That space is the company's newly constructed 30,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and warehouse facility at 1015 Enterprise St. in Ottawa's Industrial Park.
"We broke ground in September of 2008 when the economy was at its absolute worst," Hasty said, "but we never slowed down. We've spent the past 18 months getting ready for 2010 when we'll introduce some new marketing plans and new products."
While almost every industry has seen some slow-down during the tough economic climate, Hasty Awards has not.
"The biggest reason we're fine is because our client base is youth oriented," Hasty said. "We work with YMCAs, recreation commissions and schools. The recession hasn't hit the youth market yet."
Hasty Awards supplies internationally to military bases in Japan, Singapore, Mexico and the Middle East as well as nationwide.
As the official award supplier for the USA Wrestling, Swimming, Diving and Track and Field Olympic trials, Hasty Awards employees know their work will worn by some of the finest athletes in the world.
Michael Phelps, frequently cited as the world's greatest swimmer and one of the greatest Olympians of all time, has 17 Hasty Awards medals.
Hasty said that while that's all well and good, they don't let it go to their heads.
"It doesn't matter if it's a printed ribbon for a school relay race or an Olympic trial medal, they all get the same treatment," Hasty said. "We're very thankful. We don't take our situation lightly and neither do our people. Our phones are still ringing, but we know without great customer service and quality products they could stop."
Along with a new building, Hasty Awards added all new software, a conveyor belt and some new laser engravers. But the best thing it got was a warehouse, Hasty said.
"This seems like a little piece of heaven to us," Hasty said. "We always knew where everything was before; it just wasn't always easy to get to it."
The warehouse plays an important role in the company's future.
"Part of our success has always been quick turnaround on orders," Hasty said. "The stuff in our catalogue is in inventory in our warehouse. The more warehouse space we have, the more inventory we can carry, the more customers we can keep happy."
Another feature that keeps customers happy is no-peanut-packing with Hasty Exclusive items.
"You know those Styrofoam peanuts everybody loves to hate? We don't use them when shipping our exclusive lines," Hasty said. "The awards have custom designed Styrofoam containers. Everything inside has its own little cut-out space, top and bottom. It ships safely, it stores neatly and no one has to pick-up the peanuts."
Hasty chose to use all local sub contractors to build the company's new facility.
"The only thing we had to go outside of Franklin County for was the sprinkler system," Hasty said. "There just wasn't anybody who could do that for us.
"People just don't realize the amount of talent and craftsmanship that's right here in Ottawa. We need to be more aware of it and spread the word. We're proof that it can be done and done well."
Hasty Awards employs 65 people, including a three-person design team for the Hasty Exclusive line.
To see more of The Ottawa Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ottawaherald.com Copyright (c) 2009, The Ottawa Herald, Kan. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com , call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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Tribute:
Tom Doty of warehouse1 also was active with
Hope Care Center and Landmark Education
By MATT CAMPBELL
The Kansas City Star
Who: Thomas W. Doty, 61, of Kansas City.
When and how he died: Dec. 3 of a heart attack.
This says it all: Eight of Doty's co-workers at warehouse1 in Kansas City traveled on icy roads the day after a snowstorm to Beatrice, Neb., for his funeral, which his family preferred to think of as a celebration of Tom's life.
"They were so nice and said such beautiful things," said his mother, Norma Doty, of Beatrice. "I had not met these people before."
Tom Doty was a manager at warehouse1, a designer of custom storage systems for manufacturers and distributors. He was the kind of person who would take younger people under his wing and help them learn the business, said Steve Schulte, the company's chief financial officer.
"He was always fair in his dealings with people, and I think people respected that about Tom," Schulte said.
Dennis Delantonas, the company controller, said Doty hated titles and preferred to think of everyone as part of the team.
"He helped me grow in the company and we became peers," Delantonas said. "He is going to leave a very large hole."
The "rock of the family:" Norma Doty recalled that her son was inquisitive as a child and was a member of the National Honor Society in high school in Clarinda, Iowa, where he graduated in 1966. He later graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
He played the cornet in school, and that contributed to a lifelong love of music, from classical to jazz and even some country.
Tom was close to his only sibling, Deborah, and was with her when she died eight years ago. Having never married and with no children of his own, he poured affection on his nieces, Jennifer and Sandra.
"All of their lives he made them feel very important," Norma Doty said. "When they were in high school he would help them with clothes and gifts and cash. He never missed important events."
Tom also traveled to California to help an aunt, Irene Diener, move to Nebraska after her husband died.
Working with his hands: Tom's late father, LaVere Doty, worked in construction, and Tom worked with him for many years. He grew to love refinishing and collecting antiques. He had a lumberyard in Tecumseh, Neb.
After moving to Kansas City, Doty worked for about a dozen years for Sutherland Lumber Co. When those stores were sold, Tom went to work for warehouse1.
An inspiration to others: Doty was a local leader in the Landmark Education organization, a program that encourages people to make the most of their lives. Through that connection he met Devon Plumberg, who became a trusted friend.
"He really loved people and it was very important that his life made a difference for people around him," Plumberg said, adding that Doty also was humble and private.
Doty was vice president of the board of the Hope Care Center, a residential facility in Kansas City for people with HIV.
"He was probably the most dynamic, giving, caring soul I have met in a long time," said Jan Russell, president of the Hope Care Center board. "We always have a waiting list. We've been trying really hard to grow, and he (Doty) has been in the forefront of that vision."
Russell added that Doty frequently dropped in to visit with center residents.
"They all knew him really well," she said.
Survivors include: His mother, nieces and their families.
His legacy: "His legacy is one of caring," said Norma Doty. "That's why we called it a celebration of life because his life touched so many people."
Kansas City memorial: "A Toast to Tom" is set for 4-8 p.m. Jan. 23 at Rockhill Tennis Club, 4520 Kenwood Ave. |
As exerpted from the Kansas City Star Newspaper:
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