COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
RMMI owners Roger and Shirley Gudenkauf have a legacy of giving back to their community, a dedication which traces to the first days of their marriage in eastern Kansas. From the beginning, they have been active in their church since faith is and always will be an important part of their lives. In addition, for over 30 years, Roger (with Shirley’s support) has volunteered his time and energy by coaching multiple youth sports teams, achieving success in softball, baseball, and soccer in Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.
In 1993, this commitment increased significantly with the formation of the Neighborhood Action Group (NAG). Founded by Roger and Shirley and focused primarily in southwestern Adams County (Colorado), NAG came about as the immediate result of a serious crime in their neighborhood. They saw this as a call to action to speak out in support of the idea that it is the community’s duty to create a safe environment for its citizens.
Aligned to a great degree with Adams County School District 50 (from which each of the seven Gudenkauf children graduated), NAG is entirely focused on helping everyone – kids as well as adults – who may be at risk. NAG’s goal is to make this close-knit community a safer and more positive and productive place for everyone. Its slogan is Unity Through Responsible Individual Action. Its mission is simple:
“To develop awareness, involvement, responsibility, and a sense of community for the purpose of making Adams County School District 50 a safer place to live. We do this by bringing neighbors together to share concerns, to support parents and families with information, to provide communication, and to develop and promote programs and gatherings.”
Over the years, NAG has also worked hand-in-hand with community leaders and civic entities, including the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Westminster and the Hyland Hills Recreation District. These and other valued partners have been instrumental in NAG’s success. As a result, NAG has grown to be synonymous with “action” as it has devised, sponsored, presented or encouraged many activities in the community. Among these are the following programs:
Parenting: NAG created and conducts a 4-week course to teach valuable ‘life’ skills to parents within the community. There are over 40 different personal developmental categories covered, all of which are key to building strong family ties. NAG also conducts Las Madres and Los Padres, each a 12-week program taught in both English and Spanish. These two programs also focus on parenting, with particular emphasis on how to get more actively involved in youth activities.
Since its founding, NAG has had over 4,000 parents go through its various parenting courses.
Link and WEB: These two ‘welcoming and mentoring’ programs are aimed at new District 50 middle and high school students, respectively. The key word is getting ‘every body’ involved and a part of the school.
40 Developmental Assets: The experience of NAG is that communities find particular power when they engage young people as leaders, allies and partners in asset building. NAG offers presentations and training in the asset model for community groups, schools, parents, PTO’s, business, congregations, student councils and other student organizations.
Connecting the Dots and Breaking Down the Walls: This professionally produced presentation has been adopted by and is sponsored by NAG, and has been adapted to be relevant to middle and high school kids. It is given annually in every District 50 secondary school to help break down barriers among both students and staff.
A long-time member of the Westminster 7:10 Rotary, Roger co-chairs Computers for Kids, a program that seeks to provide put a working computer in the home of every District 50 student. This Rotary club collects old computers from business and homes, repairs them to good working order, and distributes them to students. There is a great need as over 75% of students are in homes that would be unable to have a computer any other way. This program has been expanded in a unique way – 200 to 300 computers are sent to Mexico each year. In total, Computers for Kids annually provides over 1,000 computers to grateful youngsters and their parents.
The ability to support the community in these and other ways gives Roger and Shirley a reward that they cherish each and every day. They will always be committed to helping to bring about a better world in whatever way they can.