Heinen Helps: KVC & Ball Conference Center
Heinen Landscape recently took on a two-day project installing brand new pavers for a beautiful and relaxing new outdoor patio area at the entrance to Ball Conference Center. The Conference Center is a sister organization of KVC Health Systems – an Olathe, Kansas based not-for-profit organization. When an event is booked at Ball Conference Center, a portion of the proceeds goes to assist KVC Health Systems – a national leader in adoption and child welfare education. Ball Conference Center specializes in elegant wedding receptions and corporate business meetings.
Back in September 2015, the Heinen Landscape team spent an entire day transforming the KVC health systems headquarters. Heinen Landscape and many of our great vendor partners donated the labor and plant material for the $20,000 project at no cost to KVC – and completed that project in just one day!
As part of the 2015 landscape project, crushed granite gathering areas were created as central “meeting zones” for Ball guests to assemble outdoors for wedding photos and the like. The crushed granite looked beautiful and functioned well – unless it rained. A plan for the second phase of the project included replacing the crushed granite with solid, decorative-yet-functional patios built with decorative pavers.
This past week the Phase II pavers were installed, completing the original vision for a beautiful and functional entrance plaza for Ball. The new patio is perfect for outdoor wedding photos and is a great place to relax during meeting breaks and enjoy some fresh air.
Heinen Landscape owner Dave Heinen said, “We really believe in KVC’s mission of finding ‘forever homes’ for children that have come from challenging environments and we’re quite supportive of all the good things Ball Conference Center is able to contribute to the success of KVC. The Ball Conference Center entry-patio was the one missing element from the work we began a year or two ago with Ball. We were glad to be able to bring Ball Conference Center guests a nice, new entryway that fits in with the original landscape project. We’re very pleased with how it all came together – functionally and aesthetically.”
Michael Nicoski, Manager of Events and Operations at Ball said, “The patio project really completes the vision we had for an entry plaza that would be really useful for Ball Conference Center guests – especially those wanting to take wedding reception photos outdoors to commemorate their special day. Heinen Landscape did a great job!”
Take a look at the Photo Gallery below!
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This summer, when a longtime Heinen customer reached out to see if Heinen might be able to help out with a bid for irrigating the Children’s Sensory Garden, the Heinen Landscape & Irrigation team knew this was a special place – and a special opportunity. The team thought, “Why not do the whole CCVI project at no charge?” The decision was unanimous: Heinen decided to do the entire project – pro bono!
“Our donors have been incredibly generous, we’ve been able to do so much. Because of the donations from Heinen and others, we’ve been able to add a multitude of plants, trees, and other urban materials,” says CCVI’s Executive Director, Nicola Heskett. Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired opened in 1952, and has since served over 10,000 children who are blind or visually impaired. Students can experience scents and textures of a multitude of Kansas City flowers and other plants. In addition to the variety of textured plantings, the Sensory Garden also includes a 180-foot-long wall with pieces of the KC Streetcar rails, various sizes and types of city pipes, and multiple other textured items from urban Kansas City. It’s a great way for kids with visual and other disabilities to get to really touch and feel the textures of Kansas City in a fun and safe urban oasis-like atmosphere.
