I am currently a first year Daisy Troop Leader. My stepdaughter wanted to join, and I remember…read morehaving a great time as a kid. Well, no one volunteered to be leader for her age's troop, so I stepped up to give them the opportunity! It has been quite the journey so far. But the Girl Scouts of Mid-Continent Council Store has EVERYTHING that a leader or a girl would/could need to have a successful journey throughout their year. They have every age levels uniform pieces, adult volunteer garb, planning tools, the books and tools you'd need to follow the lesson plans, a million patches and badges, and innumerable goodies and incentives to either reward or gift your girls with. I know that we are doing some Christmas Shopping for our daughter there. My only advice is NEVER TAKE YOUR DAUGHTER WITH YOU!!! She will want EVERYTHING! haha. Also, The store has weird hours, so be safe and call ahead to make sure that they are open.

Let's all be honest with ourselves: Red Racks is a terrible thrift store. Consistently dirty,…read morehigher prices than any other thrift in the city, poor selection of everything except clothes, and usually pretty bad customer service. There are some gems if you know how to look and hit on sale days, but don't expect awesome hauls here if you aren't ready to drop a couple hundred dollars. They've recently changed their dollar rack to be two dollars instead. Special shoutout to the "Vintage Shop." Anything that looks old, worn, and useless gets chucked over in that corner for a special 100-500% markup of the price that item would normally be. Half of the stuff in that section isn't even vintage. If every price in the store was cut in half, it might be worth it. I'm a huge thrifter and this is our least frequent thrifting stop, if that tells you anything.

I recently completed some community service hours at Red Racks, and the experience was extremely…read moredisappointing--especially because of one manager named David. This man should not be in any type of management position. Calling him unhelpful is honestly being generous. When I first arrived to sign in so they could log my hours, my file was missing. I told the woman who was supervising at the time, and she couldn't find it either, so she just scribbled her initials. I only worked two hours that day, but when I went back to get credit for them, David told me I'd have to talk to the person who signed me out. I described her to him, and he claimed he "couldn't recall" who I was talking about and said I'd need to track her down myself. I don't have a vehicle, so I can't just drive up there every day hoping to find her. I called again later and unfortunately got David a second time. I explained again that I needed my hours credited--hours I actually worked--and he still refused to help. Throughout my time volunteering there, none of the managers acted like leaders. They barely acknowledged me. They'd just tell me to straighten clothes or fix hangers. Since I've worked retail before, I asked for a rag to wipe down the shelves because they were filthy, and they didn't even seem to know where anything was. While I was there, I overheard multiple customers complaining--one about being charged for items they didn't buy, another about the prices being way too high for a thrift store. I agreed with them and made it clear I was just a volunteer. When I looked around myself, I was shocked at how overpriced everything was, especially considering the store gets all its merchandise donated for free and relies heavily on unpaid volunteers. If you're looking for a place to complete community service hours, I strongly recommend going somewhere else. And honestly, if you're just looking to shop at a thrift store, you might want to choose a different one too. I'm clearly not the only person who's had a bad experience here.

I took my two grandkids to this nature center, and we all really enjoyed it! We did not do the…read moretrails outside because it was cold, but we still really enjoyed the whole indoor experience. The kids enjoyed learning about the various reptiles and birds and other creatures. It's a nice spacious building and it was not crowded at all. We were able to have a leisurely walk throughout the facility and engage with the displays, reading them and talking about them. It's free, which is a wonderful value for the community. The staff and service at the facility was friendly and I believe they have nature story hours different times of the month. The animals looked wealth cared for, and all the displays were clean. I also really enjoyed the reading nook with nature books that overlooked an area of birdfeeders. They also have a couch for parents to sit on to watch the kids play with puzzles, coloring, pages, a kitchen set and some nature themed displays. We especially enjoyed watching the bald eagle! We will definitely go back when it is sunnier and try out the trails. We did not request any service so I can't comment on classes or hikes.

Our experience. My daughter reached out to Lakeside Nature Center after we found rabbits in our…read morebackyard. We were seeking education and guidance. She drove 35 minutes from Liberty to bring them in, and within 5 minutes, the rabbits were euthanized. The staff member told her afterward that they were emaciated, but no one explained beforehand that this would be the outcome. This left my daughter heartbroken, as she was not prepared for such an immediate decision. Even if euthanasia was the only option, there should have been clearer communication and compassion in explaining the process. At the very least, an opportunity to understand why this step was necessary before it happened. I later spoke with a manager who was kind enough to discuss the situation with me. However, the conversation also included some deflection and left me feeling that more training is needed for staff in handling sensitive situations like this. She kept speaking that we needed a permit, I guess that tells me since we didn't have a permit, it was their right to put them down. I hope Lakeside can improve communication and compassion when dealing with the public, especially with young people who are trying to do the right thing by bringing in wildlife.

I've been volunteering at this organization since 2009. I can honestly say that the staff does an…read moreamazing job at mobilizing the community of Raytown to address the needs of less fortunate members of the community. They are all warm and professional. They do everything they can to give their clients a helping hand.

Located in a relatively safe section of town, Frugal's Family Thrift store is available to service…read moreall of your second-hand market needs. I found the parking lot to be depressing as if I was in the middle of no-where with civilization being hundreds of miles away. I'm just adding this point as it was the way I felt. That said, the staff friendly and most of the patrons were very nice. Please note Thrift stores are very hit or miss so going from week to week can result in a highly different experience. I'll be the first to admit, all thrift stores have a funky smell to them and I found Frugal's to be especially smelly; nothing to the point of unbearable but it lingers for the duration of the visit. Now in terms of being what do they offer, well pretty much everything and anything. Furniture, clothing, toys, books, CDs/DVDs, cookware, you name it. I found the kitchen section in terms of pots, pans, mixers and things of that nature to be very sparse while their main attraction was clothing. Off in the back right, one can find a small furniture section with some decent to horrible offerings. I liked some of the books they had and was extremely tempted to pick something up since I found many that perked my interest. Their music selection had me laughing as I noticed a couple odd bands from the 80s, 90s and beyond which I don't think anyone would buy. Color Me Bad anyone? I don't recall seeing much for motorized lawn equipment but I was in and out relatively quickly. Overall, thrift stores have a very particular clientele and subculture. I'm pretty sure if you're reading this you know how things go, so I'm not going to try and upsell you, rather give you the thumbs up to come on by and see what they got. It's safe and the people are nice while have a very large floorspace open to many different reasonably priced objects.

Great store with super reasonable prices. Wide selection and the cashier was nice, too! I'll be…read moreback for sure. I do want to note that there was a very strange and unpleasant smell in the building but it didn't deter me from shopping!

This is a lovely place founded by Comedian Gilda Radner's husband and friends to provide support…read morefor cancer patients. 'No one should face cancer alone.'

Last summer, I worked with Voices for Vaccines, the Task Force for Global Health and the IREHR…read more(Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights) on a cross-country trip to Seattle, Minneapolis and Atlanta. It was in Seattle where I got to meet with Devin Burghart, the current president of the IREHR. The trip was to raise vaccine rates along with fighting misinformation that was hampering raising vaccine rates. Devin was very down-to-Earth when I finally met him in person. His secretary, Linda, was also very nice, chatting with me as Devin was finishing up a call right before I was going to meet with him. The lobby area was really clean, filled with some really cool framed art. It was one of the most modern office suites I've seen in recent times. I eventually made it to his office to sit down with him. Devin was really helpful while I was in town, giving me a tour of the downtown office but also some of the nearby areas. Before we walked around the block on N. Howard St, I got to sit in his comfy guest chair, where he spoke to me about some of the work they've been doing since 1983, when the organization was founded by Leonard Zeskind, long before he became president a few years ago. Afterwards, we walked & talked for about three blocks, where he showed me the Spokane River. After chatting for another 15 minutes, we then went to the nearby Red Robin, which was next door, for lunch. Mr. Burghart was very generous in paying for my lunch. The IREHR has been doing very important work, especially during the pandemic. I was glad to be able to stop by last July. I'm currently planning to stop by again later this summer, in August, to meet with Devin & the rest of the IREHR staff once more.

Joining Junior League has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I highly encourage any…read morewoman to consider joining if they are community oriented and interested in unique trainings, volunteerism, and building up our local KC community. I am entering into my third year of Junior League and have received a ton of value from my membership. Every year, you receive a new placement and can commit to working with a community partner (roughly 40 hours/year) or can commit to planning and supporting a league fundraiser, or supporting other internal efforts to help the League run smoothly. I highly recommend Junior League and am proud to be a part of the organization.