Boomer – A Day in the Life of an Office Dog

By Erik Andress, Sales Management Professional at Kenton Brothers

Hello everyone! This week, we wanted to share what a day in the life of an office dog looks like. So we hooked up Boomer, Neal Bellamy’s dog, with a harness and GoPro and filmed him around the office. Boomer is our VP of Fun, by the way. Some of our favorite moments? Happy shakes,  ball chasing and curiosity for days.

We hope that you will enjoy this video walkthrough of the Kenton Brothers office from 16 inches up from floor level. You will get to see our show room, our pickle ball court, take a coffee break, watch Boomer get back scratches from Gina Stuelke, our CEO, and more.

 

#KBGivings: Meal Prep Saturday for Ronald McDonald House Charities

By Alana Hanly, Security Consultant at Kenton Brothers

Our Kenton Brothers family runs and operates on a dynamic series of schedules as we install, maintain and consult our customers on the ever changing needs to keep their people, properties and possession safe. Recently we took a moment to pause, deliberate as a team, and thanks to the efforts of our Kenton Brothers Kulture Club, organize a team give back Saturday.

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Ronald McDonald House Charities

Giving back to our customers is important, especially those who are constantly supporting our local community. This is why it made perfect sense to give some time and effort to our partner, Ronald McDonald House Charities. This organization is always looking for an extra volunteer or two to help with their many initiatives. We decided that providing meals to one of their family areas was the best choice.

If you aren’t aware, Ronald McDonald House Charities has family rooms inside both of the Children’s Mercy Hospitals in the KC Metro. These family rooms are for the parents and siblings of patients to rest and grab a bite to eat while their children receive care. We went to one of these locations to make quick lunchboxes for anyone that visited. The room itself has an entire kitchen that can be used to prep food. Thanks, to the generous donations of our employees and local grocery chain, our group of five adults and three kids were able to put together about 50 lunchboxes in record time!

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. One of our participants affectionately described it as, “Soul Food.”

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Get Involved!

If you’re ever looking for a way to volunteer for an organization doing a lot of good, reaching out to Ronald McDonald House Charities is a great first step. We’re so lucky to be partners with an organization like Ronald McDonald House Charities and look forward to serving them and our community again soon!

The Kenton Brothers 2022 MacGyver Award goes to…

2022 MacGyver AwardBy Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers

We relived part of our history recently in thinking of Bill Kenton–some of you had the privilege of knowing him—he was the 2nd generation founding Kenton involved in the company from the time he was 12 until he passed away at 91 in 2010. In the early years of KB, he ran our service team and became known for his response when a tech would call in to the office to express frustration on a job–he would say “Well, IT DIDN’T GROW THERE – figure it out!

In his honor, in 2015 we created an award to pay tribute to the KB security professional who has the tenacity and creative problem solving aptitude to get the job done while overcoming any adversity they may encounter. I liken this ability to the famous TV show and character from the 1980’s called MacGyver. MacGyver could pretty much solve any predicament with some ingenuity and the use of a paper clip or multi-tool Swiss Army knife! The definition of ‘to MacGyver’ something at KB is to fix something in a resourceful and improvisational way.

Congratulations Ryan McCourt!

This year’s prestigious ‘MacGyver award’ as voted by his peers went to Ryan McCourt!

Ryan is a hardworking professional who is proud of his craft. He has a beautiful wife and new baby girl who motivate him to be hard working and successful.

Ryan, you’ve earned the title! Thank you for being a great human and for making KB look so good!

Kenton Brothers Chili Cook-Off Results!

By Courtney Emra, Lead Customer Service/Sales Assistant at Kenton Brothers

2022 Chili Cookoff ResultsEvery Halloween at Kenton Brothers, we get together for a chili cook-off. Our team brings the best to the table, from family recipes to just “winging it”.

The Wooden Spoon Award

This year, we had 11 staff members enter the competition for the Wooden Spoon award. This spoon marks previous winners and will be passed along in the coming years. We all went through and tried each of the chilis and were surprised with the variety. Some were spicy while others were sweet. One was made with turkey and another made with Italian sausage!

And the winner is…

2022 Chili Cookoff ResultsAfter our stomachs were full and the votes were in, the winner was announced: David Strickland!

I spoke with David regarding what was in his chili (and what made it so good.) He was inspired by a friend’s recipe who has won the Lenexa Chili Cookoff four times. (Of course, David switched it up a bit to make it his own.) The key ingredient is BACON. He stated you cook the chopped-up bacon for the chili, but you don’t throw out the bacon grease. You use that leftover grease to sauté your vegetables (peppers, onions, etc.) Another key ingredient is Ancho Chiles. He dehydrated them and then grounded them down to add to the chili. David mentioned that in his friends recipe, they said to use beef stock ; he decided to cut that out and use Sam Adams OctoberFest Beer instead. :)

We also can’t forget to shoutout to our 2nd place winner: John Bushey and our tied 3rd places winners: Danielle Hoover & Gene Ross.

Congratulations to everyone! It was a delightful afternoon and a great way to spend time together as a team.

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Milestone Hosts Kenton Brothers at Powder Creek Shooting Park

Milestone Hosts Kenton Brothers at Powder Creek Shooting Park“SPICED ICE” – Partnerships

SPICED ICE is the acronym for our core values. The acronym stands for Service, Quality, Partnerships, Integrity, Continuous Learning, Ethics, Dependability, Innovation, Customer Focus, and Employee Focus.

As part of the SPICED ICE we practice daily here at Kenton Brothers, we recently had an opportunity to focus on “partnerships”. Milestone’s Channel Business Manager for the southern region, Tyler Green, and National Sales Manager, Armand Steffens, graciously invited our Kenton Brothers field staff to blast off some steam at Powder Creek Shooting Park.

Powder Creek Shooting Park

Milestone Hosts Kenton Brothers at Powder Creek Shooting ParkPowder Creek Shooting Park is located at 8601 Monticello Rd, Lenexa, KS 66227. It is Kansas City’s premier shotgun shooting park that was established in 1949, originally known as “Kansas Field and Gun Dog Association”. They currently are a member-owned and operated facility with shooting options of trap, skeet, 5-stand, sporting clays, and archery.

Our team was happy to get together outside of working hours. Some of the participants had experience shooting shotguns, but for some this was a new experience. That created plenty of opportunities for teamwork and coaching. There was a little competition between some of the technicians, Austin Daniel and Jeremy Shinneman.

“It started out pretty chill, but then became more competitive near the end. Austin ALMOST beat Jeremy on the scorecard” – Paul Bennett

We’re proud to be a team-oriented workplace and love opportunities to spend quality time with our partners. We appreciate the Milestone team for offering this thrilling chance to build on our relationship!