THE LANTZ WELCH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

I had occasion to lunch in the early 1980s with a pal of mine, G. Robert Fisher, our town's leading business attorney, at the Kansas City Club and Bob brought up the subject of my well-known charitable giving. He suggested that I let him help me get organized by creating a charitable foundation. I replied that this was only for rich people and I did not consider myself a candidate. He told me that charitable foundations were created by some persons for less than $50,000. He helped me create the Lantz Welch charitable foundation with assets of $3,000,000 in 1985.

 

The Lantz Welch Charitable Foundation contributed nearly $100,000 to establish the Lantz Welch Conference Room and the Lantz Welch Educational Center at the KCMBA headquarters.

 

 

Another side benefit was the fact that I was accustomed to giving talks around the country and turning down honorariums, as well as representing judges, lawyers, doctors and others on a gratuitous basis. After the foundation was formed I would present these grateful recipients with "Foundation Envelopes" and suggest they might show their gratitude with a donation. This helped to swell the bank balance.

 

I regularly ate lunch at the Italian Gardens, a restaurant across the street from my office building. A circular front table was always reserved for me.

 

The Kansas City Star Lawyer has own table at eatery. Italian Gardens keeps a place ready for Lantz Welch.
HEARNE CHRISTOPHER JR.

What do boxer Riddick Bowe, model Christie Brinkley, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, 1930s thugs Bonnie and Clyde and local lawyer Lantz Welch have in common? Would you believe - they've all eaten at the Italian Gardens restaurant? Welch's name concludes a list of those otherwise famous feasters in the eatery's radio spots for its Lasagna Awareness Month promotion.

Why Welch?

"See that table?"asks owner Carl DiCapo. "That's Lantz Welch's table. I won't let anybody else sit there. " Welch and his law partners and guests dine at the restaurant every day when Welch is in town, DiCapo says. Talk about a dream customer.

In return, the restaurant named a salad after him, has a "Reserved for Lantz Welch" sign and provides an enlarged table top "so he can spread his legal briefs on it," DiCapo notes.

"It's right across the street from City Center Square, where I office," Welch says. "I'll bet I've eaten there 30 years or more. " His fave, according to DiCapo, is chicken potpie.

You might even call the restaurant Welch's second boardroom.

"It's like a daily meeting we have," says Tim Brake, one of his law partners. "He hands out the work assignments and away we go. " But the garden party halts when Welch blasts off for a month of deep-sea diving or traveling. His staffers head for the salad bars and the weight-watcher specials elsewhere. "I do try and cut back then a little," Brake says.

One day in the early 90s Bill Grigsby (A Beauuutiful Life) sat down at my Italian Gardens table and brought to my attention the national fame of the Country Club Plaza and it's Christmas decorations. He said, "I think this is something we should do for Parkville, Mo." And I said, "Who is we grasshopper." To which he replied, "Of course I mean you." I asked him if he had any idea what the cost might be and he did not. I advised him that once again he had lost his mind. He assured me that he knew I could accomplish it and he would look into the details. The economics took the foundation a number of years, but "we" accomplished the goal and thus began "Christmas On The River" at Parkville, Mo.

 

My pal, and former trial lawyer, Landon Rowland, at that time was running the Kansas City Southern Railroad. He furnished a train where we hosted a cocktail party for the local luminaries and as the train backed into Parkville, Santa Claus, Bill Grigsby, my wife and kids and I would arrive standing in the back of the caboose. We would then step into the horse-drawn sleigh to be taken to the festivities. There were fireworks and a 1000 voice choir.

 

Another great idea was born at my lunch table and this time it was presented by the owner of the Italian Gardens, Carl DiCapo.

 

Carl asked me if I knew about all the youths being used as drug mules, caught and being sent to prison to become career criminals. I learned that the recidivism rate is over 95%. Carl told me that we had to do something about that. My usual response was, "Who is we grasshopper?" And the come back as usual was that he knew I could do something about the problem. I told Carl that the only criminal case I had handled was being appointed as a brand-new lawyer. Carl is very enthusiastic and very persuasive. He convinced me that I was highly respected and if anybody could do the job, I could. Since I share Carl's two attributes I met with the Juvenile Judge, the Prosecutor's Office and ultimately the Circuit Court en banc.

 

 

The Kansas City Star Scouts turn their backs on crime. County program aims to keep youths from being statistics. KIM BARKER Staff Writer

The Lantz Welch Charitable Foundation has increased funding for a Jackson County program that tries to get youths off the streets and into the Boy Scouts of America. The foundation will grant $19,000 this year to the Juvenile Varsity Team, a program developed by the Jackson County Juvenile Court, Black Men Together and the Heart of America Boy Scout Council. About $16,000 will be provided to the program next year, officials announced Tuesday afternoon at the Gregg Community Center in Kansas City.

"The Scouting program has seen what it needs to do, in terms of shifting gears to meet the needs of inner-city youth," said Alvin Brooks, president of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime. "If we don't deal with juveniles, take time to be with them, they will become statistics. " Lantz Welch, foundation president, replied to Brooks: "I'm going to put my money where your mouth is." The foundation provided $10,000 in late 1989 to start the team.

In its first 15 months, 60 juvenile offenders and youths with family problems participated in the program. None has committed additional criminal offenses.

"When a child is referred to the juvenile court, the community has failed," said Larry Myers, administrator of the Jackson County Juvenile Court, which refers youths to Juvenile Varsity Team. "Last year, the community failed 9,457 young people.

"In this program, we have combined action and vision and are changing the world, at least for those 60 people involved." This year, about 40 more youths have gone through the 90-day program. After the three months, they can enter a regular Scouting program, said Rick Bell, director of the Scouting Outreach program, which includes the team.

In the program, youths take trips and attend seminars on college and careers. They are introduced to Scouting and Scouting ideals, Bell said.

"A lot of these youths don't receive this type of training in their home environments or in the social environment they grow up in," he said. "This program is new, and anything new to them they'll take a serious look at.

"We'll take them on trips to penitentiaries. It kind of shows them where they're headed. "The additional funding will be used to expand the program to include tracking the progress of program graduates. Workers will be hired, and the program will be introduced in the McCune School for Boys in Independence. The program is looking for funding to expand into Clay County.

FAST FORWARD: With the help of the Boy Scouts of America we created special Boy Scout troops headed by young black men who were interested in the cause. That scout leader would visit the youngster about to be shipped off to Algoa to begin his sentence and would ask the youth how he would like to not have to go. He would then explain it to the youth that he could join the Boy Scouts, but if he missed a single meeting without proper excuse or did not otherwise participate in the program his parole would be revoked and he would serve his sentence.

 

The Boy Scouts filed written reports annually with my foundation in order to qualify for the next year's funding. After 300 or so experiments I learned that the recidivism rate was less than 5%.

 

In 1995 I received a phone call at my office from someone who identified himself as the leader of the scouting movement who told me The Boy Scouts of America wished to present me with the Silver Beaver Award. I immediately thought of the slang definition of the word "beaver" and figured it was a prank. So I told the caller to leave his name and number and I would get back to him. I called one of my local pals who was big in scouting and told him the story. After he got over his amazement he told me that caller was indeed the Head Fred and that it was the greatest honor the Boy Scouts could give, similar to the Presidential Medal so I called the man back and was awarded the Silver Beaver on November 15, 1995 along with the young Governor of the State of Kansas.

 

N.B. Of the thousands of people who visit Camelot Castle for our fund raisers, I am told that there are a great number who observe the plaque & the Silver Beaver on a red, white & blue ribbon with astonishment.

S.L.I.P.:

"The Kansas City Star New student intern program to move from class to court
TOM JACKMAN Staff Writer

For 19 students at Northeast Law and Public Service Magnet High School, reading about courts trials and lawyers is over. Being there is about to begin.

The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association announced Wednesday it has established a Summer Law Internship Program, providing paid jobs at law firms and legal agencies around Kansas City.

The interns were introduced at a noon press conference at the bar association headquarters. The students were selected based on their academic performance, school involvement and teacher recommendations.

Weekly reports on the students' performance and attendance will be submitted to the program's administrator.

Some of the biggest law firms in the city will be allowing the students to perform tasks around the office, though legal canons prohibit them from doing actual legal work.

A grant from the Lantz Welch Charitable Foundation financed the program.

The students are being outfitted with blazers, shirts and khaki slacks or skirts from the Jones Store courtesy of the Foundation."

 

 

AND NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY:

This was my brainchild. I called a meeting of the managing partners of 25 to 30 of the big law firms in town. We met in the conference room of one of the big firms across the street from my modest offices. I explained the concept as described in the news article above, told them that I would provide all of the funding and I wanted to see a show of hands of those firms that would participate by simply hiring one of these young people as runners, file clerks or other office workers with their firms. My concept was that these inner-city minority youths would be exposed to successful people and learn that those successes were founded upon obtaining an education.

 

I asked for a show of hands of those who would be willing to employ one of the students. There were no hands. I then told them that they were going forward with this program and that I was going to leave the room for 10 minutes so they could discuss it amongst themselves. I told them that if they did not volunteer as requested I would make them wish to God that they had never heard my name. That they should talk amongst themselves and determine if I was the kind of man who made idle threats and did not keep his word.

When I came back after 10 minutes and asked for volunteers, every hand went up and the program was off and running.

 

In a few years we went from 50% graduating from high school and almost no one going to college to 100% graduating from high school and 60-70% going on to college.

 

More on the foundation that became The Welch Family Foundation.

Laura is president and she has raised over $7,000,000 using Camelot Castle.

 

The Foundation is heavily involved in the Innocence Project at the present time.

 

Barry Scheck/Dean Powell/LW

 

Barry helped us found a 4 state Innocence Project in conjunction with the Law School.

LW/Rubin "Hurricane" Carter who came to K.C. to help us with our fund raising

LW/Laura/John Grisham Who wrote "The Innocent Man" and came to K.C. on his own dime to help us with our fund raising. He is a man with a big heart.

 

Most of the foundations' $ and energy goes into inner city projects and disenfranchised youths, e.g.:

 

Chris Waxter/Chuck Simpson

 

4-10-07

Lantz,

I would like to say first that you're the world's greatest dad. Lantz I'm so happy that I have a father like you who cares about me and also understands me like you do. Before meeting you, I was confused about men-hood and how can I be a great father to my children (when the time comes). But all that change when I meet you. You have taught me so much about life, happiness, and men-hood that I can't put into words. I learned how to be a better student, teacher, friend, brother, cousin, and leader because of the guidance you have provided me with. I have been thinking lately about my life. I always say to myself, if it wasn't for Lantz and Laura I would dead or in jail because the street life would've caught me like it caught Chuck. I remember when Chuck and I would come out to Aspen. That was the best times of my life and Chuck's life also. You taught us how to deal with pressure with are families and friends. Lantz you're a life saver in my eyes. You saved my life and I want to thank you for that. I'm in college, I finished high school, and I'm on the right path to be successful in life all because of your guidance and believing in me when nobody else did. Thanks for everything dad. I love my car and cant wait to show you. I love you more then anything. Lantz you're the best man I ever have come across. Your one of the reasons I wake up in the morning, because I know you have my back and you believe in me. Thanks for everything. Your time, love, well-being, and money you have invested in me.

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING AND I WANT LET YOU DOWN!!!

LOVE YOUR SON,

CHRIS "WAX-MAN" WAXTER

 

4-11-07

Chris:
Thank you for the heartfelt message.
You never disappoint me. You make me very proud of your achievements. You have been one of my best investments!!!!
I know you will keep up the good work and never regret your efforts.
Lantz

 

 

Dear Laura and Lantz                                     August 7, 2004

 

I just want to say "thank you" for showing me that you care enough to let me come again. I had fun, and I got to talk and say what was going on in my life and it made me feel better to get it out there. I loved all the positive feedback that everyone was giving and the support everyone was giving me too. I've made a lot of goals while I was out there, and I am accomplishing most of them. I have gotten out of the gang. I just told them I was cool and I didn't want to be in no more and just walked away. They called me weak, but it was just talking. Besides that, everything was cool. I was determined to do it. I promised people that I was going to do it. So, I did it. I'm kind of happy I did it.

I had fun while I was staying at your house. I enjoyed going to the personal trainer. I enjoyed going to the movies and all the parties.

Laura, you are the best. You are like another mother. You are great. You made my trip so special.

Lantz, thank you for being a good role model. I can see myself in you. I can see myself getting a good job and having a nice wife, like you.

I feel very special that you would fly me out to a different place and that you cared enough about me to actually spend some time with me. I will never forget my trip.

Love,

King Chuck

 

All of our foundation efforts do not have a happy ending. Chuck did get out of the gang and one day he was walking home with a report card full of good grades for the first time in his life and it was reported by witnesses that he stopped to talk to car full of youths and then he turned to walk up his front steps when he caught a back full of bullets and died.

 

An energetic life, cut tragically short at 15
 
Charles T. Simpson always brought a smile to the faces of those he cared about. At 15, he had his life ahead of him. But on Saturday afternoon, hundreds of his family, friends and community members filled the Lawrence A. Jones & Sons Funeral Chapel in Kansas City to pay their last respects.

On Feb. 10, he was shot several times as he walked about a block from his mother's house in the 5800 block of Indiana Avenue. He died later at a hospital.

Published on 2005-02-20, Page B4, Kansas City Star, The (MO)

Patterns of violence defy prevention
A ceremony took place outside of Chuck Simpson's house last week. It was the second gathering at 59th Street and Indiana Avenue since the evening of Feb. 11, when the 15-year-old was shot in the back as he walked toward his mother's house.

The first rendezvous was a vigil, where Simpson's many friends mourned his death. He was a popular kid who'd been trying to overcome a hard life.

Published on 2005-03-11, Page B7, Kansas City Star, The (MO)

Chris on the other hand had better luck and made the kind of grades he had promised us and as a reward Laura and I took Chris and our nephew Kent to Spain.

 

 

KENT/LAURA/CHRIS AT THE ROCK OF GIBRALTER

The locals thought Chris was Eddie Murphy

 

We later bought Chris a nice car and he is attending college. He has spent a lot of time with us in Aspen, CO working with Laura and the Aspen Youth Experience, AYE, projects.

CHRIS ON FAR RIGHT IN RED