Fontana's Kunes helps those who help others
Photo
Gregg Kunes
Gregg Kunes
Community: Fontana
Job: Owner of Kunes Country Auto Group, which includes three dealerships in Delavan and Lake Geneva and two in Illinois.
Family: Wife, Debbie. Six children and two grandchildren.
How he keeps his business successful: "We give. We're givers. We give back … If you're keeping it all for yourself and you're worried about yourself, usually you should be."
How he "escapes": Kunes is a pilot and a boater. He also likes to read. Along with Christian-themed reading, Kunes enjoys suspense novels and dramas. "I like to get deep into a book and forget about what's going on so I can recharge."
An international calling: Kunes works with a group that supports a school for disabled children in Nakuru, Kenya. So far, the group has worked to provide the school with running water and a medical professional. Volunteers also have started a garden, are building a greenhouse, are teaching students to raise chickens and are building connections between students and the community so graduates can find jobs.
"It seems like we can't get anything done fast enough. Everything's so slow to get accomplished. They don't have enough teachers, and the teachers don't have enough knowledge, but they have great hearts."
DELAVAN — Gregg Kunes is good at selling cars.
His comfort zone is among the shiny beauties on the showroom floor or in his wood-paneled office surrounded by photos of family and friends.
So five years ago, when God "pulled him over" and gave him a mission, Kunes was taken aback.
"You want me to do what?" Kunes asked while he scribbled notes on a paper bag during his epiphany.
What God wanted was for Kunes to form a support group for Walworth County pastors.
"I'm trying to unite the churches, unite the body of Christ," Kunes said. "Pastors are overwhelmed right now, especially with this economy. There is more depression, more financial need and more marital problems. They can't do anything progressive. They can't even reach the lost because they're absorbed by their daily work."
The informal group is a "think tank" that brainstorms to meet the needs of Walworth County residents, said the Rev. Doug Anderson of Calvary Community Church in Williams Bay. In Anderson's 20 years of ministry in three states, Kunes is the first businessman he has met who has led such an effort.
"I have no doubt that Gregg has earned his reputation of being most generous, humble and successful," Anderson said. "He is a very, very unusual businessman. He is constantly looking for ways he can use his business and leadership skills to benefit the community."
Kunes also holds a regular Bible study meeting for local business people, Anderson said.
"I know at least a dozen successful business people in every realm of business who meet together with him for the purpose of not only studying the Bible but learning how to do business in a God-honoring, ethical manner," Anderson said. "Gregg is determined to make Walworth County a great place for the people who live here, and he's doing a great job of it."
Kunes' generosity goes beyond the religious community, said Lisa Furseth, executive director of Community Action of Rock and Walworth Counties.
Community Action's Working Wheels program is one example, Furseth said. The nonprofit provides small loans with no interest for low-income working families to buy cars.
But sometimes, a $4,000 car isn't a good value, Furseth said.
Kunes gathered his staff to think of ways to improve the program, Furseth said. The professionals came up with maintenance incentive programs and keep their collective eyes open for cars that are suited for the program, she said.
"In my interactions with him and others, it's become apparent the number of other places he gets involved with and tries to influence and touch with his involvement and investments," Furseth said. "He's incredibly generous with his spirit, his wisdom and his resources."
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