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BEST PRACTICES | Weyforth-Haas Marketing
Weyforth-Haas marks its 25th year
with community service work
By RUTH BAUM BIGUS, 9/26/06
Special to The Star
Courtesy of Weyforth-Haas Marketing
Working on foster homes for abused and neglected children was the idea of
Weyforth-Haas Marketing employees.
“Kansas City has been part of our success with the staff we hired and their work
ethic, so we wanted to give back.”
Kelley Haas
Company: Weyforth-Haas Marketing is a full-service marketing communications
company. Seventy percent of the company’s clientele is outside of the Kansas
City area.
Telephone: (913) 648-8333
Address: 10561 Barkley, Overland Park.
Employees: 80.
Ownership/top management: An employee stock ownership plan holds 67 percent of
the company stock, with executive management owning the remaining shares. Frank
Weyforth is chairman of the board, Kelley Haas is president, and Rick Skaggs is
executive vice president/chief financial officer.
Web site: www.weyforth-haas.com
Challenge: How to mark the company’s anniversary in a meaningful way.
Background: When the company opened as Marketing Resources Inc. in 1981, it
consisted of Frank Weyforth, a desk and a pool table.
Twenty-five years later, management wanted to celebrate the firm’s silver
anniversary in May of this year.
Because most of the company’s clients are outside of Kansas City, management
decided it wouldn’t be a client-centered event.
“Kansas City has been part of our success with the staff we hired and their work
ethic, so we wanted to give back,” Haas said.
Action steps: Haas and Skaggs met with employees to brainstorm ideas. The two
requirements were that it had to be something that gave back to the community
and it had to involve employees.
One idea was working on a Habitat for Humanity house, something the company had
done before.
“It’s always fun as a group to build something,” Skaggs said. “But we wanted to
do it around the actual date of the anniversary and we couldn’t do that with
Habitat.”
Through his church, Skaggs learned about Bridge Home, an organization with two
foster homes for abused and neglected children at 60th Street and Swope Parkway
in Kansas City. Since 1991, Bridge Home has helped 300 children become
productive adults.
Skaggs contacted Jesse Watson, founder of Bridge Home. They came up with two
projects for the homes — interior painting and landscape work — that could be
done in one day by a group of employees.
Watson came out to Weyforth-Haas’ offices to promote the projects during one of
the company’s regular business update meetings. After sharing the Bridge Home
story, employees were asked to sign up for a project. For those who couldn’t
make the one-day event, monetary donations were accepted.
From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 5, some 45 Weyforth-Haas employees and family
members painted and landscaped at the two homes. The children in the homes also
helped. Bridge Home provided lunch for the volunteers who ate with the children.
Results: Skaggs said the community service project with Bridge Home allowed the
company to mark its anniversary in the manner desired. He estimated that the
employees contributed about 200 hours of labor.
“We also were able to raise about $2,000, which we used to pay for the landscape
materials and furniture,” he said.
Haas said the company benefited from the community service project, too.
“A lot of folks who work here got to know each other better,” she said. “It was
actually fun to spend four to eight hours together and meet their children and
spouses.”
Skaggs said the project sent another message as well.
“The employees quickly recognized the importance of doing things for the
community,” he said. “A number of them asked when we plan to do it again. I can
see this type of project evolving into an annual event for us.”
 
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