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Kansas City, Missouri was not necessarily known as a competitive market in the hospital and medical field. Once news broke out of the intentions of Menorah Medical Center, however, that all began to change. Menorah Medical Center was a 430 bed hospital that had found itself in a bit of a financial bind. In 1992, Mr. Grief was elected to serve as the Chairman of the Board in broad attempt to help, or sell, the hospital. In the five years previous to Mr. Grief’s service, the hospital had lost $10 million. This loss needed to be stopped; Mr. Grief, who has served on the Board of Directors for the Menorah Medical Center for 17 years, assumed the position in order to attempt to help the hospital.

The Menorah Medical Center was losing money at a rate of approximately $2 million a year. The hospital wanted to continue, as it was known in the community for being the Jewish hospital, for those who wanted a hospital in line with their faith.

Once the public and industry became aware of Menorah Medical Center’s willingness to seek a partner, the bids began to come in. The goal of the hospital was to approach other companies in the medical and hospital field to attempt to sell or merge the hospital. While they did go out and request some bids, there were some bids that came in from those companies who had not been contacted. Columbia, a known powerhouse in the medical field, lacking a stake in the Kansas City Market, was one of those companies. When Columbia made their unexpected and unprovoked bid, the bidding war began to take shape.

. Health Midwest, a company that already had a stake in the market, came in and captured the winning bid; while buying the hospital, they would merge with the Menorah Medical Center to open op a new Jewish center on the other Menorah Campus. This 200 bed hospital would be built as the old 430 bed hospital was slowly taken out of commission.

Through the sale of the Hospital, the Jewish Heritage Foundation was created. A portion of this money came from the sale, and Mr. Grief was the first chair men of the board. The board hands out grants to charities, and recently handed out over 100 grants to local charities in the last year. The foundation has been considered a success, helping the community in multiple ways. This was partially thanks to Mr. Grief’s volunteer work and his impressive work as Chairman of the board.