This year the Waldo-Brookside Rotary Club decided to partner with The Grooming Project, recently rebranded as Pawsperity, a local non for profit that makes a difference in the lives of women and children within the Kansas City metro. We learned about the organization through one of our meetings where they were welcomed as a guest speaker and then wanted to help assist their efforts. Pawsperity trains impoverished parents in pet grooming and salon management, a high-demand, family-flexible trade, that pays a living wage.
Collaborating together with multiple local organizations including WBRC, they can help lift impoverished families completely off welfare in under two years. By stablizing the parent and equipping them with parenting and budgeting skills, they can then create a better future for their children. Through the matching grants program we were able to purchase each new graduate this year a bag that carries their grooming tools, which are also donated by Pawsperity as they are expected to bring their own tools to their position. In addition to giving tool bags, our club also helped out with their biggest fundraiser, The Pet Gala. Our club set up the silent action items, prepared table settings, and greeted guests as they arrived. Later in the year our club also volunteered time with three different mailings to help bring awareness to their newly constructed grooming school, graduate salon, and additional doggy daycare center which doubles the amount of families they can now serve. We believe Pawsperity fights for so many of the core values and multiple pillars that Rotary stands for which was key in our choice of partnership. If you’d like to learn more about Pawsperity, or take your own pet there to get groomed, go to www.thegroomingproject.com.