Andrews McMeel Universal is an American corporation based in Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 1970 by Notre Dame alumni Jim Andrews and John McMeel as Universal Press Syndicate and was renamed in 1997 to AMU to reflect the diversification that had taken place since its founding.
One of our core values is that “we treat each other with dignity, honesty, and respect. We value and encourage each other’s abilities and creativity.”
We do not take this or any of our core values lightly. As John McMeel has stated, “Our products are in the minds of our creators and authors”. It takes every one of our associates working together to get that product out to each and every customer that we serve.
We work in a fun environment, one that is filled with deadlines, excitement, laughter, as well as high expectations for doing the right things and doing them well.
At Andrews McMeel Universal we have positions in editorial, writing, graphic design, technology, sales, sales administration, publishing, promotions and publicity, product development, production, web development, programming, network administration, accounting, and human resources.
All of these positions are dispersed throughout publishing, syndication, our internet company, and the corporate setting. All positions at AMU are bound together with the common thread of meeting our customer needs and treating everyone we contact with dignity, honesty, trust, and respect.
Andrews McMeel Universal Serves 501C3: Volunteer Area
The degree of success of AMU depends directly upon how we treat our customers, creators and our associates. We take pride in treating our associates and all customers with respect and dignity.
We are a family owned and operated business with core values that permeate our everyday lives. We work together as a team; all divisions sharing ideas and supporting one another in pursuit of common goals and common purpose. We entertain customers, we inform customers and most of all we make you laugh!
The owners of the company are genuinely concerned for and interested in their associates.
We are proud to be the recipient of the 2002 Kansas City Business Ethics Award
This Year’s event day is Saturday October 11th, 2014. On average, over 4,000 volunteers fan out into the community every year often working side-by-side with the homeowners to make a difference…to raise their standard of living and bring pride back to them and their neighborhood. Volunteers, including over 400 skilled union plumbers, pipe fitters, electricians and glazers, corporate and church teams, and others from across the metropolitan area contribute hundreds of man-hours helping to restore and renovate more than 500 homes every year. Exhausted yet exhilarated by the results of helping neighbors in need, everyone realizes the tangible impact that has been made.
The need is great; the emotional team-building and personal rewards are enormous. Why not help us make an even greater impact?
Service opportunities are available year around and any day you want to work that the homeowner is available. Groups consist of a House Captain (HC) that is the group leader and coordinator. A construction leader ( can be the HC) and a team of 5-20 volunteers. Many projects can be completed in one day and others may take several trips. Timing is dependent on the skills, number of volunteers and the size of the job you select.
CIO spends much of the year gathering applications from homeowners and qualifying them for the program. The HC can scan the database of applications for homeowners and work requests that meet their timing and skills. The HC then contacts the homeowner to arrange a meeting where they decide if they can do the work, what specific work will be done ( it does not need to be everything) and when they will do it.
