PPB April 2015

INNOVATE

10 •

PPB

• APRIL 2015

INNOVATE

PROFILE

BREAKING THE

CYCLE

KANSAS-BASED DISTRIBUTOR GRAPEVINE DESIGNS OFFERS JOBS AND

HOPE TO HIGH-RISK, SINGLE MOMS.

BY TAMA UNDERWOOD

HE INDUSTRY IS FULL OF creative go-getters striving to develop innovative solutions to every-

day problems, but just how far will you go to change the world?

Janie Gaunce, owner of Lenexa, Kansas-based distributor Grapevine Designs (UPIC:

Grape238), joined the promotional products industry in 1996 in part because it offered creativity and flexibility.

Now running her own distributorship, Gaunce is taking that freedom and using it to offer employment oppor-

tunities to single mothers with histories of substance abuse, criminal convictions, limited education and other

challenges employers generally eschew.

In 2013, Gaunce founded Sister Berta’s 100 Jobs For 100 Moms to provide meaningful employment to

single mothers trapped in generational poverty. After taking Sister Berta’s tour of Kansas City’s “dark side”

and seeing the struggles these women face, Gaunce worked for six months to develop the program. Soon

after, she hired two single mothers to work at Grapevine Designs and is speaking out now to encourage other

companies to do the same.

The program aims to help women overcome employment

barriers and develop skills that will lead to sustainable employ-

ment and economic self-sufficiency. In less than two years, the

program has expanded to four participating companies and 10

employed mothers, with plans for expansion under way.

Of the first two mothers Gaunce hired, one has transi-

tioned into a full-time position with another company, and

the other is now a valued Grapevine team member who was

promoted to oversee the warehouse operations. She currently

has three of the program’s moms on staff.

Janie Gaunce (center), owner of Grapevine Designs, packages

an order with moms Libby Carter (left) and Tina Benz (right).

Gaunce hired the women as part of a program she founded

called Sister Berta’s 100 Jobs For 100 Moms. Tiffany Brown, a

third mom working for Grapevine Designs, is not pictured.