A Mission to Give Back
For Molly Kunst, devoting a portion of her life to giving to those with less was never a question. She grew up in a family of six children and watched her parents take in anyone who needed help getting by and lend a hand whenever possible.
“I’ve always believed the philosophy that no one gets by in life alone,” said Molly, a Kohler associate who works in the company’s internal employee service program. “I just feel it’s my duty to give back whenever I can.”
When Molly learned of an opportunity to join a group traveling to Honduras on a mission trip, she jumped at the chance. The group from Kohler, Wisconsin, planned to travel to an orphanage in Honduras and spend time teaching children how to sew, training groups in first aid and delivering necessary goods.
Prior to the trip, Molly learned of a program at Kohler in which associates who were traveling to areas of the world lacking access to safe water were encouraged to take donations of KOHLER Clarity water filters with them.
“I emailed immediately to see how many filters I could take along,” Molly said.
Molly was able to take 10 filters to Honduras though transportation was challenging. “I had filters in my lap on the airplane, in the overhead compartment, under the seat; the flight attendant even held on to one for me.”
Molly was determined to get those filters to the children in the orphanage who needed them and the surrounding community.
“When we dropped off the first filter, the woman who received it cried,” Molly said, choked up. “She buys water to use for drinking, washing food and cooking. It takes almost all of her income just to purchase clean water.”
As she talked about her experience, she lit up, remembering a day in which she played an impromptu game of soccer with the young boys at the orphanage or rocked an infant suffering from an ear infection with no antibiotics in sight.
Back in Kohler, Molly uses her bachelor’s degree in communications and master’s certificate in human resources to help associates with questions about benefits, compensation or getting involved with Kohler Stewardship.
“The best part about working in human resources for me is getting to help people enjoy their jobs every day,” she said. “I want to help people get the most out of working for Kohler that they can.”
