Buck loved baseball, but he loved his community more. While many of us are at home, many others are our still helping those in need across the metro area. We might not be able to honor them at a game in the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat, but for now, we’ll select an honoree to be recognized on Fridays across our social media platforms and below. When the season restarts with fans in the stands, we’ll resume honoring those in the actual Buck Seat. Until then, read about those who are continuing to serve your community.
September 13 - Doug Shelton
Doug Shelton has worked as a Parking and Traffic Supervisor for the Royals for 14 years. Doug is known by everyone in the Kansas City area and has worked in the non-profit sector around the city for most of his life. Recently, when a friend and co-worker needed help, he organized the group that came to his rescue, including locating and helping him when he had major car issues, and collecting funds to help him out when he needed lodging and food.
September 12 - Clara A. Reyes
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Clara A. Reyes moved to Kansas City in 1964 speaking primarily Spanish. She quickly discovered that tasks most U.S. residents consider simple can be monumental challenges in this culture and concluded the growing Spanish-speaking population needed a bilingual newspaper to educate Hispanics on handling the necessary tasks of American life. In 1981, Clara Reyes founded Dos Mundos (Two Worlds), the first Hispanic bilingual newspaper in the four-state region which continues to contribute to improving the community’s environment by serving as an innovative, important, and beneficial source of information and education. Today the newspaper is read internationally online as well as in print at dosmundos.com.
September 11 - Tony Emanuele
Tony grew up in Long Island, New York, and served with the New York Fire Patrol. He was off-duty on September 11, 2001, but he and two colleagues rushed to the scene and were standing 50 yards away from the North Tower when it collapsed. Tony got to a subway tunnel but the debris blast blew him in, possibly saving his life. His friends did not survive. Tony moved to the Kansas City area in 2006 and worked at the Gladstone Fire Department. He and his wife, Deborah, and their 19-year old son, Jake, in Oak Grove, Missouri. He's retired and spends his time restoring old fire trucks.
September 6 - Rashawnda Williams
Officer Rashawnda Williams became a police officer for Kansas City, Missouri 11 years ago. After five years in patrol, she transferred to the Police Athletic League as a coach for dance and cheerleading, and later coached softball. She began working with other coaches and the Urban Youth Academy, even taking a team to the 2018 Jennie Finch Classic. This year, as part of the 2020 Queens of the Diamond Fundraiser, Officer Williams was selected as the recipient for the 2020 Diamond Heart award in recognition and appreciation for exemplary leadership and distinguished service in furthering the mission of the Urban Youth Academy.
September 5 - Susan Bennett
Susan Bennett, or Mama Sue as she’s known with the charity, has been an integral part of Braden’s Hope for childhood cancer since its inception. Over the years, Mama Sue and her late husband have worked hard for the charity including shipping all of the gear, and even suggested partnering with local teams to create the calendars. This year she has been a tremendous asset in helping reorganize the Hope Gala into a virtual event, specifically helping with silent auction item organization.
September 4 - Terry Bassham
People First is more than a motto for President and CEO of Evergy Terry Bassham; it’s a way of life that shines through not only in his leadership, but also in his community service and daily interactions with people. Terry has been active in the Kansas City Community for years, serving organizations too numerous to list. His passion stands out with Evergy’s commitment and his personal service to organizations that support diverse and at-risk programming in our region, including Civil Council of Greater Kansas City, the Kansas City Symphony, Urban Neighborhood Initiative/Purpose Built Communities, Linda Hall Library, KC Scholars, Guadalupe Centers Inc., United Way of Greater Kansas City, Kansas Chamber and Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Recently, Terry announced he’ll retire soon as Evergy’s President and CEO, a well-deserved rest after many years of service.
September 3 - Rock Jackson
Rock Jackson is a staple at the Kansas Distribution Center. On Tuesdays he volunteers in the Volunteer Engagement Center, on Thursdays does barrel swaps and food drive pickups, and on Friday's he is on the Senior Mobile Produce Bus. Rock has served as an Ambassador and has supported Agency Partners with streamlining their mobile distributions. Rock has served at Harvesters since December of 2017, and in that time, he has provided over 872 hours of service with 248 of those having been during the pandemic.
September 2 - Chase McAnulty
Charlie Hustle creator and owner Chase McAnulty has long supported the Kansas City community with his philanthropic efforts, but started his own charity, Heart of KC, this year. The charity hosts three major events that support three local charities, and later this year will start a new campaign to help people in the city with rent assistance. Through his company, they have donated 60,000 heart masks to first responders, healthcare professionals, and service organizations, and this fall, will make a large contribution to Kansas City Public Schools.
September 1 - Colonel Tony Hofmann
Colonel Tony Hofmann, US Army retired in 2017 after 26 years of service on active duty. Since retiring, Tony, Overland Park’s Director of Public Works, has dedicated himself to the prevention of Veteran suicide and since 2014 has raised funds for Warrior’s Ascent through leading a team that every year conquers the challenging Leadville Trail, Colorado (10,150’ to 13,185’ elevation) Marathon. Tony insists that the team start and finish together. This year the race was canceled but the 13 runner Team Leadville, undaunted by the pandemic, completed the 26.2 miles together (virtually) across 3 time zones and 4 states on June 13 (the original race date). Tony’s motto for the team is Endurance, Teamwork and Grit.
August 31 - Dan Nenonen
Dan Nenonen has been a member of Rotary Club 13 since 2007. As a Rotarian, he enjoys giving back to the community in a number of ways but currently finds most of his time focused on the Rotary Youth Camp as Camp Board President. The camp provides an outdoor camping experience to disabled and disadvantaged youth free of charge. As an architect and partner at GastingerWalker, he is applying his skills in carrying out the camp’s master plan of improving the facilities and replacing well-used equipment in anticipation of its 100-year anniversary in 2024.
August 23 - Burt Madison
Burt Madison is a WWII veteran who served with actor Jimmy Stewart (his Operations Officer) and Walter Matthau was in his unit. He served in the 8th Air Force, 2nd Air Division, 453rd Bomb Group. He was a ball turret gunner on a B-24 and flew 30 Missions out of England over Germany. Burt has been a member and Past President of the International SERTOMA Club (Service to Mankind) in Kansas City, which is the Mother Club and one of the oldest service clubs in the United States. Burt celebrated his 97th birthday back on June 15th.
August 22 - Angel Pagel
At the age of 35, Angela Pagel had a severe left-sided hemorrhagic stroke. It happened just 6 days after giving birth to her third child. She spent 3 weeks in a medically induced coma and then 5 months at 2 excellent rehab centers. Angela had to relearn to eat and talk talk. She is a volunteer with the American Heart Association and has been sharing her story with the message that strokes do not discriminate. Angela is strong, determined and committed to her recovery. She has surpassed expectations every step of the way!
August 21 - Ashley Allen
Ashley Allen is the Director of Community Programs with Sporting Kansas City and The Victory Project. Taking over the Community Blood Center drives in 2019, Ashley’s support has saved hundreds of lives in our community. In only two years, Ashley, in coordination with Sporting Kansas City and The Victory Project, have hosted four successful blood drives for 220 units, including two during the pandemic, which can save up to 650 lives. With already four more drives scheduled for the remainder of this year, CBC and local patients have Ashley to thank for being an advocate and supporter of blood donations in our community.
August 19 - Jackie Gosney
Jackie Gosney spent 14 years in the classroom as an English Language Arts Teacher at Oak Park High School and will return to her alma mater as an Assistant Principal. Her skills as a teacher shows her versatility, leading a variety of classes including the most difficult English course at the college level. In fact, enrollment for the college course is at an all-time high because of the relationships she builds with students. She worked with struggling freshman to grow and make good decisions and she taught a sophomore English class for students with learning disabilities. Jackie goes above and beyond to help her students succeed and even helped one of her students who had a challenging home life by taking the child into her home to work through the issues.
August 9 – Danny and Angela Torres
Danny and Angela Torres exemplify the best of our community. Together with their three biological children, their passion to serve God and help people inspired them to take on the challenge of caring for kids in foster care who have suffered abuse and neglect. The Torres display their commitment by visiting the kids in the shelter before bringing them home, and by seeking out Behavioral Intervention support from FosterAdopt Connect when their child needs help. They also go out of their way to build connections with their children’s biological families so that when their foster children are reunified, the biological family knows they have friends in their corner ready to help.
August 8 – Jeremie Ballinger
Jeremie Ballinger has been involved with Special Olympics Missouri for 15 years. He began as a staff member, but after he changed jobs in 2011, Jeremie stayed highly involved as an event manager, coach, and Unified Partner. Most recently, he has been a unified partner in tennis and softball. Jeremie also went to the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games with local SOMO athlete, Bobby Williams. They received a gold medal in Unified Doubles. Jeremie always has a smile on his face, is willing to do anything he is asked, and upholds the integrity of the competition for the athletes.
August 7 – Emily Baker
After receiving her Masters in Library Science from Emporia State University in 1984, Emily Baker began her career as a reference librarian. During her time, she helped establish the Olathe Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Library program, which provides books to homeless students, as well as to the Johnson County Corrections Center, the Rehabilitation Center of Kansas city, and area senior living facilities. As director, the Library grew considerably, eventually drawing more than 500,000 visits annually. In December 2019, after 35 years of distinguished service, Emily retired as the Olathe Public Library Director.
August 6 – Brian Fry
Harvesters’ Director of Acquisitions Brian Fry leads the team who works to keep food coming into Harvesters, despite many food supply challenges. The team checks available inventory at all hours and makes sure that our agency partners have quality food to give to their clients. Brian, who started in the transportation department, has been at Harvesters since 2011. Harvesters has distributed more than 27 million pounds of food since March and this would not be possible without Brian and the Acquisitions team’s tireless effort to get food to the organization.
August 5 – Kevin Martin
Director of Operations Kevin Martin has worked for the Harvesters – The Community Food Network for 16 years, starting in the transportation department. Kevin has the huge job of managing all logistical operations at Harvesters. As soon as food arrives at the warehouse, he and his team work tirelessly to get it back out into the community and into the hands of those who need it. Since March, Harvesters has distributed over 27 million pounds of food, and this wouldn’t be possible without Kevin’s dedication and leadership.
August 2 – Dennis Curtin
As the very first franchisee in the RE/MAX international real estate franchise system, Dennis Curtin proved to be a visionary. That vision and his tremendous talent for inspiring others have been a mainstay of his success over 45 years. In June 2019, he founded Mimi’s Pantry. Named to honor his mother, Lillian or “Mimi” to family, Mimi’s Pantry is a state-of-the-art food pantry, located in Riverside, Missouri, serving the food insecurity of residents in Platte and Clay Counties. In its first year, Mimi’s Pantry served over 16,000 individuals, representing 5,300 Northland families, with guests continuing to be served via a Covid-19 modification, during the pandemic.
August 1 – Anne Miller
Anne Miller has been Don Bosco’s Senior Center Director for 26 years, leading a team who feeds and advocates for vulnerable seniors and adults with disabilities. Our temporary closure is a scary change for people who count on the Center’s staff to be their family and support network. Over the past 20 weeks, Anne has worked tirelessly with community supporters and partner sites to ensure we meet new and ongoing needs. Because of her creativity and dedication, nearly 500 clients are staying safe and healthy in their own homes, receiving meals along with groceries and cleaning supplies delivered by caring and trained drivers.
July 31 – Chris Evans
Chris Evans started his coaching journey with the RBI program. In 2011, Chris founded the I AM KING FOUNDATION to financially support the expensive sport, with a mission to educate, inspire, and empower young men to become community leaders. The foundation uses baseball as a tool to teach young Afican-American boys character, discipline, and integrity while developing them into positive community leaders. Since 2011, the I AM KING FOUNDATION has sponsored more than 30 baseball teams and hundreds of ball players.
July 24 - Dan Nenonen
Dan Nenonen has been a member of Rotary Club 13 since 2007. As a Rotarian, he enjoys giving back to the community in a number of ways but currently finds most of his time focused on the Rotary Youth Camp as Camp Board President. The camp provides an outdoor camping experience to disabled and disadvantaged youth free of charge. As an architect and partner at GastingerWalker, he is applying his skills in carrying out the camp’s master plan of improving the facilities and replacing well-used equipment in anticipation of its 100-year anniversary in 2024.
July 17 - Chase McAnulty
Charlie Hustle creator and owner Chase McAnulty has long supported the Kansas City community with his philanthropic efforts, but started his own charity, Heart of KC, this year. The charity hosts three major events that support three local charities, and later this year will start a new campaign to help people in the city with rent assistance. Through his company, they have donated 60,000 heart masks to first responders, healthcare professionals, and service organizations, and this fall, will make a large contribution to Kansas City Public Schools.
July 10 - Doug Shelton
Doug Shelton has worked as a Parking and Traffic Supervisor for the Royals for 14 years. Doug is known by everyone in the Kansas City area and has worked in the non-profit sector around the city for most of his life. Recently, when a friend and co-worker needed help, he organized the group that came to his rescue, including locating and helping him when he had major car issues, and collecting funds to help him out when he needed lodging and food.
July 2 - Ashley Allen
Ashley Allen is the Director of Community Programs with Sporting Kansas City and The Victory Project. Taking over the Community Blood Center drives in 2019, Ashley’s support has saved hundreds of lives in our community. In only two years, Ashley, in coordination with Sporting Kansas City and The Victory Project, have hosted four successful blood drives for 220 units, including two during the pandemic, which can save up to 650 lives. With already four more drives scheduled for the remainder of this year, CBC and local patients have Ashley to thank for being an advocate and supporter of blood donations in our community.
June 26 - Chris Evans
Chris Evans started his coaching journey with the RBI program. In 2011, Chris founded the I AM KING FOUNDATION to financially support the expensive sport, with a mission to educate, inspire, and empower young men to become community leaders. The foundation uses baseball as a tool to teach young Afican-American boys character, discipline, and integrity while developing them into positive community leaders. Since 2011, the I AM KING FOUNDATION has sponsored more than 30 baseball teams and hundreds of ball players.
June 19 - Jackie Gosney
Jackie Gosney spent 14 years in the classroom as an English Language Arts Teacher at Oak Park High School and will return to her alma mater as an Assistant Principal. Her skills as a teacher shows her versatility, leading a variety of classes including the most difficult English course at the college level. In fact, enrollment for the college course is at an all-time high because of the relationships she builds with students. She worked with struggling freshman to grow and make good decisions and She taught a sophomore English class for students with learning disabilities. Jackie goes above and beyond to help her students succeed and even helped one of her students who had a challenging home life by taking the child into her home to work through the issues.
June 12 - Danny and Angela Torres
Danny and Angela Torres exemplify the best of our community. Together with their three biological children, their passion to serve God and help people inspired them to take on the challenge of caring for kids in foster care who have suffered abuse and neglect. The Torres display their commitment to kids by visiting the kids in the shelter before bringing them home and by seeking out Behavioral Intervention support from FosterAdopt Connect when their child’s behaviors stemming from abuse and neglect would otherwise prevent them from staying in a family environment. They also go out of their way to build connections with their children’s biological families so that when their foster children are reunified, the biological family knows they have friends in their corner ready to help.
June 5 - Jeremie Ballinger
Jeremie Ballinger has been involved with Special Olympics Missouri for 15 years. He began as a staff member, but after he changed jobs in 2011, Jeremie stayed highly involved as an event manager, coach, and Unified Partner. Most recently, he has been a unified partner in tennis and softball. Jeremie also went to the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games with local SOMO athlete, Bobby Williams. They received a gold medal in Unified Doubles. Jeremie always has a smile on his face, is willing to do anything he is asked, and upholds the integrity of the competition for the athletes.
May 29 - Tony Hofmann
US Army Colonel Tony Hofmann retired in 2017 after 26 years of service on active duty. He served in combat tours in both Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, and culminated with the command of US Army Corps of Engineers' Kansas District. Colonel Hofmann's decorations include the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, five Meritorious Service Medals, and four Army Commendation Medals (including an award for Valor in combat). Since retiring, Tony, Overland Park's Director of Public Works, has dedicated himself to the prevention of Veteran suicide and since 2014 has raised funds for Warrior's Ascent through leading a team that every year conquers the challenging Leadville Trail, Colorado Marathon. Tony insists that the team start and finish together. This year the race has been canceled but the 13 runner Team Leadville, undaunted by the pandemic, will be completing the 26.2 miles together (virtually) across three time zones and four states on June 13 (the original race date). Tony's motto for the team is Endurance, Teamwork and Grit.
May 22 - Anne Miller
Anne Miller has been Don Bosco’s Senior Center Director for 26 years, leading a team who feeds and advocates for vulnerable seniors and adults with disabilities. The temporary closure is a scary change for people who count on the Center’s staff to be their family and support network, but, over the past 10 weeks, Anne has worked tirelessly with community supporters and partner sites to ensure we meet new and ongoing needs. Because of her creativity and dedication, 480 clients are staying safe and healthy in their own homes, receiving a daily hot lunch along with groceries and cleaning supplies delivered by caring and trained drivers.
May 15 - Brian Fry
Harvesters’ Director of Acquisitions Brian Fry leads the team who works to keep food coming into Harvesters, despite many food supply challenges. The team checks available inventory at all hours and makes sure that our agency partners have quality food to give to their clients. Brian, who started in the transportation department, has been at Harvesters since 2011. Harvesters has distributed more than 10 million pounds of food over the last seven weeks and this would not be possible without Brian and the Acquisitions team’s tireless effort to get food to the organization.
May 8 – Kevin Martin
Director of Operations Kevin Martin has worked for the Harvesters – The Community Food Network for 16 years, starting in the transportation department. Kevin has the huge job of managing all logistical operations at Harvesters. As soon as food arrives at the warehouse, he and his team work tirelessly to get it back out into the community and into the hands of those who need it. Over the last six weeks, Harvesters has distributed nearly nine million pounds of food, and this wouldn’t be possible without Kevin’s dedication and leadership.
