Christmas in October, Kansas City

CIO measures success based on the number of homes restored and lives impacted. At the same time achievement is gauged in terms of increasing volunteer participation.
Roof Program:
• Number of new roofers recruited and trained.
• Number of full roof replacement projects (compared 2019 and 2020).
• Number of roofs repaired (compared to 2019 and 2020).
Restoration/Renovation:
• Number of homes with priority renovations.
• Amount of new investment in the program.
• Add 25 new volunteer groups and teams.
• Increase funding by 20% for roof program.
• Add to list of vendors and suppliers.

Christmas in October assists homeowners in metropolitan Kansas City, including Jackson County in Kansas City Missouri and Wyandotte County in Kansas City Kansas. The average age is 70; average income $17,500; 58% are disabled; 83% reside in Missouri. All applicants must own their own home; must own only one home; and have incomes approximately 75% below the national poverty level. Priority is given to older adults and those with disabilities, as they have limited resources, live on a fixed income and cannot physically manage repairs. Over 85% of homeowners served are older women. The majority of homeowners are Black or African American. CIO selects neighborhoods where there is the opportunity for greatest impact. During the past three decades, Christmas in October has strengthened these urban neighborhoods: Ivanhoe, Blue Hills Blue Valley, Town Fork Creek, Scarritt/Old Northeast, Washington, Wheatley, and Wendell Phillips.

Christmas in October operates year round, providing emergency repairs. Special emphasis is placed on roofing, plumbing, ramp installation and other problems that may threaten the health and safety of the occupants. The Wheelchair Ramp Program provides ramps to older adults and adults with disabilities. The Roof Program is an ongoing effort to fix or replace as many roofs as possible for low-income families and older adults.

CIO is committed to sustaining the organization through strategic long-range planning, capacity building throughout the organization, collaborations with community partners to share resources and continuing to build fund development efforts, including diversifying contributed sources of revenue.

Christmas in October manages a budget of over $400,000 and volunteers exceeding 4,000 each year with a paid staff of only two individuals. 96% of CIO funding is allocated to direct services.

Steve Alley, CIO Executive Director, implements and supervises CIO’s projects and volunteers. Before coming to CIO, Steve worked at Microsoft, managing teams of technical presenters across the U.S. and Canada. Responsibilities included presenter’s content, budgets, logistics and customer experience for events ranging from five to five thousand attendees. Some key product launch events were coordinated in as many as twelve cities with three other groups simultaneously. Prior volunteer leadership includes Habitat for Humanity and United Way.

Randy Herr, Chair, CIO Board of Directors, provides oversight and leadership for CIO.
Randy is Controller at Andrews McMeel Universal, founded by CIO’s founder John McMeel. Andrews McMeel Universal is a global, independent and integrated media partner and home to some of the most unique and powerful voices of the 20th and 21st centuries.

None of the work CIO does could be done without the support of all the thousands of volunteers, unions, civic groups, corporations, businesses and other organizations who provide financial contributions and teams of volunteers. Although the bulk of the CIO projects take place in October, CIO works year-round to provide emergency assistance with the safety of the resident is at stake. In 2019 CIO repaired 307 homes with the help of 4,000+ volunteers from 70+ local organizations. Over 350 skilled union workers (plumbers, pipe fitters and electricians), corporate, nonprofit and faith-based teams, and others from across the metropolitan area—contribute thousands of hours annually.

Accomplishments:
• In 2019 CIO completed work on its 9,652nd home.
• Developed significant foundation partners, including Hall Family Foundation, W.T. Kemper Foundation and Sunderland Foundation. Major corporate support from Black & Veatch, locally and nationally, has totaled more than $450,000 in the last four years.
• Volunteers and house captains, many of them veterans of over 12 years, continue to provide experienced team work on homes each October.
• Strengthened relationship with unions.
• Increased funding from private sector and built broader awareness of CIO and programs.
• Built a board of directors from public and private sector.
• Expanded projects to include more complex renovations.

CIO is committed to expanding the Roof Program.
• Increase funding to meet the need and demand for roof repair and replacement.
• Interior van retrofit to facilitate increased numbers of homes selected for renovation/repair. (Van funded by Hall Family Foundation.)
• Recruitment strategies and technology to build volunteer support.