08/10/2025
Pretty awesome!
💚 Long before Lori Jones became executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Four States, she committed herself to Joplin. Her connection goes back goes back to when she chose Joplin as her home after college.
“I really picked Joplin, not for a job, but because that was a town that I wanted to live in,” says Jones, who was born in Joplin but grew up in southeast Kansas. “It felt like coming home.”
That decision — anchored by marriage and family — forms the foundation of a career of industries including trucking, retail and management. Those experiences led her to the Ronald McDonald House, which serves families whose children are receiving care at local hospitals.
These chapters have taught Jones that success comes through good leadership, transparency and efficiency.
“I try to be really open with communication and transparent,” Jones says, noting that she shares as much as possible with employees. “If I know and they can know, then they should. Just allowing all of our employees to feel like they have a voice and a seat at the table, and that their opinion matters and that their ideas are valid, helps them to take ownership.”
Jones serves her neighbors beyond the office. Examples include the Joplin Regional Community Foundation, where she is on the board, and Nonprofit Leadership Connect, a group of local leaders she organized that meets to stay informed about needs and opportunities.
The group emerged after seeing the effectiveness of change when figurative “silos” are gone, such as in the wake of crises like the 2011 Joplin tornado and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We come together and we talk about what's going good and what our challenges are,” Jones says of the group. “We collaborate and talk about shared opportunities.
“But more than anything, we have become friends. If I have a family staying here and they need clothing, I have a cell phone number, I can text a director, and we work together.”
