By JAMES BELL 
Hays Post

Following the Dec. 15 Four-County Wildfire, the Kansas Livestock
Foundation quickly organized to support area ag producers, including the
creation of a special fund that assisted in recovery efforts.

Through the efforts of the Kansas Livestock Association more
than $1.6 million was raised for the foundation, as of Jan. 20, through the
contributions of over 1,400 individuals and companies.

And while they continue their efforts, applications for
relief are due by the end of the month.

“If you've received significant damage… and you're an
agricultural producer, you can apply to possibly get some help with your with
your damages through the Kansas Livestock Association,” said Cottonwood
Extension District agent Stacy Campbell. “And that application forum is due the
31st.”

The application is available on their website, KLA.org.

“It's form fillable,” Campbell said. “It's not a complicated
deal. They don't ask too many questions. They do kind of want to know what kind
of damages you had if you've gotten any estimates on what it's going to cost to
fix that damage and so forth, (you) kind of submit those things, but it's pretty
simplified and straightforward.”

Along with the KLA efforts, he said countless others worked
to assist those affected.

“The ag community is just wow, they are awesome and have really
stepped up to help these folks impacted,” Campbell said. 

But while one source of potential funds ends, he said
support will continue.

“Of course, as our folks in agriculture know, they're going
to need more hay to get through the winter. So, if you're needing some
assistance on that, or if you would like to donate, one of the places you could
go on Facebook, it's called Ashes to Ashes. And there are some folks that are
really doing a tremendous job in coordinating hay deliveries, people needing
hay.”

He said the district can also help guide producers to
available resources.

“If you're a need, you can give us a call and we can try to
get you connected as well,” Campbell said.

For more information about the KLA, including a link to the wildfire
relief form, visit their website <a href="https://www.kla.org/">kla.org.</a>

For more about the Cottonwood Extension District, visit their
website <a href="https://cottonwood.k-state.edu/">cottonwood.k-state.edu.</a>

<div><iframe title="Upcoming Extension District events to assist ag producers" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=eh6s4-118d203-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL 
Hays PostFollowing the Dec. 15 Four-County Wildfire, the Kansas Livestock
Foundation quickly organized to support area ag producers, including the
creation of a special fund that assisted in recovery efforts.Through the efforts of the Kansas Livestock Association more
than $1.6 million was raised for the foundation, as of Jan. 20, through the
contributions of over 1,400 individuals and companies.And while they continue their efforts, applications for
relief are due by the end of the month.“If you've received significant damage… and you're an
agricultural producer, you can apply to possibly get some help with your with
your damages through the Kansas Livestock Association,” said Cottonwood
Extension District agent Stacy Campbell. “And that application forum is due the
31st.”The application is available on their website, KLA.org.“It's form fillable,” Campbell said. “It's not a complicated
deal. They don't ask too many questions. They do kind of want to know what kind
of damages you had if you've gotten any estimates on what it's going to cost to
fix that damage and so forth, (you) kind of submit those things, but it's pretty
simplified and straightforward.”Along with the KLA efforts, he said countless others worked
to assist those affected.“The ag community is just wow, they are awesome and have really
stepped up to help these folks impacted,” Campbell said. But while one source of potential funds ends, he said
support will continue.“Of course, as our folks in agriculture know, they're going
to need more hay to get through the winter. So, if you're needing some
assistance on that, or if you would like to donate, one of the places you could
go on Facebook, it's called Ashes to Ashes. And there are some folks that are
really doing a tremendous job in coordinating hay deliveries, people needing
hay.”He said the district can also help guide producers to
available resources.“If you're a need, you can give us a call and we can try to
get you connected as well,” Campbell said.For more information about the KLA, including a link to the wildfire
relief form, visit their website <a href="https://www.kla.org/">kla.org.</a>For more about the Cottonwood Extension District, visit their
website <a href="https://cottonwood.k-state.edu/">cottonwood.k-state.edu.</a>

🎙 Kansas Livestock Foundation wildfire relief deadline approaching

Starting next week, donations given to the Heartland
Community Foundation will have an even larger impact in the area through the support of another area foundation.

During the month of February, the Dane G. Hansen Foundation
will once again match donations, which will further go on to help support nonprofit
organizations.

“We are tasked by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation to raise
money for our county funds,” said executive director Sarah Meitner. “Those
county legacy funds ... are the ones that we make grants
out of. So when you hear Heartland granted to the library or to First Call
for Help or to First Care Clinic or to yada yada school district, it a lot
of the time is either coming from pass-through money from Hanson, or it's
coming out of these legacy funds.”

With that in mind, she said, it is critical that every dollar
possible is captured and doubling that money has a tangible positive impact she hopes area residents will take advantage of.

“And that means that for every dollar that we raise
during the month of February, they will match dollar for dollar.”

An even higher amount of matched funds will be given if the
foundation can reach its fundraising goal during the month.

“If we hit our goal,
they will give us a bonus,” Meitner said. “So it really amounts to about $1.50 for every dollar raised.”

The goal is $150,000 across the three counties serviced by
the foundation — Ellis, Rooks and Trego. 

“We have the month to do it. We have to raise $50,000 in each of the three counties,” Meitner said. “Counting all of the match money that we can get back, it's such a big investment for our
area into these funds.

“So, if you have been a past donor, or maybe you have never
been a donor, but you're interested in and trying to see how you can help to make an impact in your community, consider making a donation to Heartland
Community Foundation — but during the month of February, so that we can count it
toward match month.”

Those who give, she said, will be responsible for helping the
community in a number of ways.

“We make grants that impact the lives of babies,
children, teens, young adults, seniors, people with disabilities, you name it,”
Meitner said. “You have likely been impacted by a grant that Heartland has made,
whether you even realize it or not. So, yeah, so definitely consider making a
gift in the month of February, but not the day before.”

For more information about the Heartland Community
Foundation, visit their website, <a href="https://heartlandcommunityfoundation.org/">heartlandcommunityfoundation.org.</a>

For more information about the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, visit their website, <a href="https://danehansenfoundation.org/">danehansenfoundation.org.</a>

<div><iframe title="Heartland Community Foundation funds assisting Dec. 15 victims" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=u5pbw-1183592-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL 
Hays PostStarting next week, donations given to the Heartland
Community Foundation will have an even larger impact in the area through the support of another area foundation.During the month of February, the Dane G. Hansen Foundation
will once again match donations, which will further go on to help support nonprofit
organizations.“We are tasked by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation to raise
money for our county funds,” said executive director Sarah Meitner. “Those
county legacy funds ... are the ones that we make grants
out of. So when you hear Heartland granted to the library or to First Call
for Help or to First Care Clinic or to yada yada school district, it a lot
of the time is either coming from pass-through money from Hanson, or it's
coming out of these legacy funds.”With that in mind, she said, it is critical that every dollar
possible is captured and doubling that money has a tangible positive impact she hopes area residents will take advantage of.“And that means that for every dollar that we raise
during the month of February, they will match dollar for dollar.”An even higher amount of matched funds will be given if the
foundation can reach its fundraising goal during the month.“If we hit our goal,
they will give us a bonus,” Meitner said. “So it really amounts to about $1.50 for every dollar raised.”The goal is $150,000 across the three counties serviced by
the foundation — Ellis, Rooks and Trego. “We have the month to do it. We have to raise $50,000 in each of the three counties,” Meitner said. “Counting all of the match money that we can get back, it's such a big investment for our
area into these funds.“So, if you have been a past donor, or maybe you have never
been a donor, but you're interested in and trying to see how you can help to make an impact in your community, consider making a donation to Heartland
Community Foundation — but during the month of February, so that we can count it
toward match month.”Those who give, she said, will be responsible for helping the
community in a number of ways.“We make grants that impact the lives of babies,
children, teens, young adults, seniors, people with disabilities, you name it,”
Meitner said. “You have likely been impacted by a grant that Heartland has made,
whether you even realize it or not. So, yeah, so definitely consider making a
gift in the month of February, but not the day before.”For more information about the Heartland Community
Foundation, visit their website, <a href="https://heartlandcommunityfoundation.org/">heartlandcommunityfoundation.org.</a>For more information about the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, visit their website, <a href="https://danehansenfoundation.org/">danehansenfoundation.org.</a>Cover photo courtesy Pixabay

🎙Hansen Foundation to match donations to Heartland Foundation during Feb.

In an ongoing effort to assist ag producers in the area,
the Cottonwood Extension District is set to offer a number of events in the
coming weeks.

On Monday, the Crop Talk Webinar series is set to begin
online, following the same format from last year.

“We did (online) last year because of COVID, and it went
over well,” said district agent Stacy Campbell.

The series will feature agents from across the region,
presenting a variety of topics during each weekly session.

“It's just a one-hour webinar on each Monday,” Campbell
said. “And they're going to be from 12 to one. So hopefully, that's a
convenient time for farmers and ranchers, they can, you know, come in while
they're having lunch and listen if they'd like to these crop talk webinar
series.” 

The series is set to run through March 7.

“It's really easy to register,” Campbell said, with registration
available now via a weblink or QR code.

Attendees are welcome to participate in as many of the
sessions as desired.

On Feb. 8, the district will host the 2022 K-State Winter
Ranch Management Program, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Ag Research Center in Hays.

“It was actually supposed to be over in Russell, but because
of the wildfire, it's been moved to Hays,” Campbell said. “If folks are
interested in that, they do need to get signed up by February 1 and to do that
you would actually call either Extension office here in Hays at (785) 628-9439 or
over in Great Bend at (620) 793-1910.”

“These are programs that they kind of do every year around
the state, they move them around each year. Some of the topics they're going to
be talking about are bull management, historical cattle feeding trends, calfhood
implants, and then there's going to be just kind of a Q and A session with our
Extension specialist.”

On Feb. 15 and 16, four sessions will be offered across the region to share information about controlling weeds while herbicide availability is questionable.

Attendees will learn about residual herbicide in corn, non-chemical approaches to weed control and the latest in application technology research.&nbsp;

Locations include Colby, Osborne, Hill City and Claflin.

Registration is due by Feb. 8 and can be completed by contacting the local Extension district office.

For more information about upcoming events from the
Cottonwood Extension District, visit their Facebook page, <a href="ksrecottonwood,%20">ksrecottonwood, </a>or their website, <a href="https://cottonwood.k-state.edu/">cottonwood.k-state.edu.</a>

<div><iframe title="Upcoming Extension District events to assist ag producers" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=eh6s4-118d203-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL 
Hays PostIn an ongoing effort to assist ag producers in the area,
the Cottonwood Extension District is set to offer a number of events in the
coming weeks.<h2>CropTalk Webinar Series</h2>On Monday, the Crop Talk Webinar series is set to begin
online, following the same format from last year.“We did (online) last year because of COVID, and it went
over well,” said district agent Stacy Campbell.The series will feature agents from across the region,
presenting a variety of topics during each weekly session.“It's just a one-hour webinar on each Monday,” Campbell
said. “And they're going to be from 12 to one. So hopefully, that's a
convenient time for farmers and ranchers, they can, you know, come in while
they're having lunch and listen if they'd like to these crop talk webinar
series.” The series is set to run through March 7.“It's really easy to register,” Campbell said, with registration
available now via a weblink or QR code.Attendees are welcome to participate in as many of the
sessions as desired.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1643226721434.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Winter Ranch Management seminar</h2>On Feb. 8, the district will host the 2022 K-State Winter
Ranch Management Program, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Ag Research Center in Hays.“It was actually supposed to be over in Russell, but because
of the wildfire, it's been moved to Hays,” Campbell said. “If folks are
interested in that, they do need to get signed up by February 1 and to do that
you would actually call either Extension office here in Hays at (785) 628-9439 or
over in Great Bend at (620) 793-1910.”“These are programs that they kind of do every year around
the state, they move them around each year. Some of the topics they're going to
be talking about are bull management, historical cattle feeding trends, calfhood
implants, and then there's going to be just kind of a Q and A session with our
Extension specialist.”<h2>Weed Management Schools</h2>On Feb. 15 and 16, four sessions will be offered across the region to share information about controlling weeds while herbicide availability is questionable.Attendees will learn about residual herbicide in corn, non-chemical approaches to weed control and the latest in application technology research.&nbsp;Locations include Colby, Osborne, Hill City and Claflin.Registration is due by Feb. 8 and can be completed by contacting the local Extension district office.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1643227849092.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>For more information about upcoming events from the
Cottonwood Extension District, visit their Facebook page, <a href="ksrecottonwood,%20">ksrecottonwood, </a>or their website, <a href="https://cottonwood.k-state.edu/">cottonwood.k-state.edu.</a>

🎙 Upcoming Extension District events planned to assist ag producers

By JAMES BELL 
Hays Post

As the Imagine Ellis County Committee continues to strategize
the future of the area, a town hall meeting has been set in order to solicit feedback
from community members as to the direction of the county moving into the future.

The town hall is scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m., Feb. 7, at
the Hilton Garden Inn, 221 W. 43rd. A free meal for attendees is planned.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/e264fbc7-ab51-427a-9b26-e420d611ad4f">The Imagine
Ellis County committee has recently become active again, after efforts were
derailed by the ongoing pandemic</a>. Originally a Strategic Doing project, the committee is made
up of a diverse group of community members.

“This is
the committee that was put together a large group of cross-section of the
community,” said Grow Hays Executive Director Doug Williams. “Very diverse in
terms of age group in terms of occupations and backgrounds, to try and take a
look at where we want to be in Ellis County five, 10, 25 years from now. And we're
in the input-gathering stage where we're trying to get feedback from the
community. And that's what this town hall meeting is, in part, about is to get
people from the community to ... tell us what they'd like to
see what they think Ellis County should be."

“Really our mission is to imagine, develop and implement
a collaborative strategic vision for our community and region,” said Hays
Chamber President and CEO Sarah Wasinger. 

The town hall will help create that vision.

“What we're
trying to do is kind of more or less solicit the ideas and the needs of the
community,” said committee member Ryan Benton. “We want to ask them, basic
questions of what do you think the strengths of Ellis County are? What do you
think, we could do better.”

While some community needs are well known, such as housing, childcare
and staffing shortages, others might be slipping under the radar of groups like the
chamber and Grow Hays.

“Part of me almost wants to hear something that our group
hasn't even considered yet,” Benton said. “You can put 30 people in a room and
come up with some of the greatest ideas. But there has to be something out in the community that somebody knows and needs to be
said that hasn't been said yet. And, in all reality, I think I think that is
what we're hoping to find is that there's few things that the members of Imagine Ellis County haven't thought about yet.”

For the problems and solutions already known, Williams said
the meeting will help solidify ideas.

“Just
what would you like to see? Do you think Ellis County or Rooks County or
wherever they're (located) needs a theme park, something like that? Just to let
your imagination run wild. We're kind of honing in on some things right now and
trying to be a little bit more specific. OK, what can we do in our community that's going to make it a better place to live? And yes, it's going to be broad
in some senses that it may include retail, it may include housing, it may
include lots of different things, but we want to make sure that we're
addressing those things and come up with what might be some great ideas.”

“This is everyone's chance to come to that evening and
really just give feedback,” Wasinger said. “And it's not intended to be a gripe
session. It's really intended to stimulate creativity and just genuine
conversation as to what does Ellis County looks like and how do we get there.”

In order to garner the most ideas, attendees will initially be
placed into small groups.

“We're going to
ask about five to seven questions,” Benton said. “But we are going to break up
into smaller groups, depending on&nbsp; ... how many people we
end up getting, getting more conversation, getting people talking, getting the
creative juices flowing that way, so that people aren't maybe timid about
speaking in front of an entire room.”

And to keep the meeting moving forward, a professional facilitator
from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation will run the town hall.

Alongside the town hall, the committee also has been developing
online tools that will be used to share the story of Hays and
Ellis County across the region.

“One of those was our leadership transformation grant for
leadership training and spots through the Kansas Leadership Center,” Wasinger
said. “And we also have a $10,000 grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, a
$50,000 grant from the Robert E. And Patricia A. Schmidt Foundation, and then a
$5,000 grant from the Heartland Community Foundation. We are using that to help
not only create our website, (but) there's been a series of videos that expressed how
the quality of life is a very attractive place for people to live here in Ellis
County.”

Using the grant funds, a survey is also planned for later on in the year to gather
even more feedback from the community, and the marketing
efforts are also designed to capture those that are currently looking to leave
urban settings.

“There are 20 million people in the next 10 years who will migrate
away from these urban areas,” Williams said. “They're looking for places to go.

“We hope it makes an impact on that,” he said. “We believe
that we have an amazing community and a great place to live. We have a lot to
offer, whether it be companies that might move here, whether it be the local
companies that want to expand, people that want to retire here, or people that
want to relocate here because they work remotely. But we have to identify the
type of things that people want and see what we can do about delivering those
types of things if we want to be successful in those efforts — attracting
people and keeping people in our community.”

Registration is requested in order for the committee to
have an accurate meal count but is not required.

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ImagineEllisCounty">For
more information about the town hall or the Imagine Ellis County Committee,
visit the Imagine Ellis County Facebook page, by clicking here.</a>

<div><iframe title="Hays group seeks community feedback about future of Ellis Co." allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=x2j24-1189ff0-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL 
Hays PostAs the Imagine Ellis County Committee continues to strategize
the future of the area, a town hall meeting has been set in order to solicit feedback
from community members as to the direction of the county moving into the future.The town hall is scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m., Feb. 7, at
the Hilton Garden Inn, 221 W. 43rd. A free meal for attendees is planned.<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/e264fbc7-ab51-427a-9b26-e420d611ad4f">The Imagine
Ellis County committee has recently become active again, after efforts were
derailed by the ongoing pandemic</a>. Originally a Strategic Doing project, the committee is made
up of a diverse group of community members.“This is
the committee that was put together a large group of cross-section of the
community,” said Grow Hays Executive Director Doug Williams. “Very diverse in
terms of age group in terms of occupations and backgrounds, to try and take a
look at where we want to be in Ellis County five, 10, 25 years from now. And we're
in the input-gathering stage where we're trying to get feedback from the
community. And that's what this town hall meeting is, in part, about is to get
people from the community to ... tell us what they'd like to
see what they think Ellis County should be."“Really our mission is to imagine, develop and implement
a collaborative strategic vision for our community and region,” said Hays
Chamber President and CEO Sarah Wasinger. The town hall will help create that vision.“What we're
trying to do is kind of more or less solicit the ideas and the needs of the
community,” said committee member Ryan Benton. “We want to ask them, basic
questions of what do you think the strengths of Ellis County are? What do you
think, we could do better.”While some community needs are well known, such as housing, childcare
and staffing shortages, others might be slipping under the radar of groups like the
chamber and Grow Hays.“Part of me almost wants to hear something that our group
hasn't even considered yet,” Benton said. “You can put 30 people in a room and
come up with some of the greatest ideas. But there has to be something out in the community that somebody knows and needs to be
said that hasn't been said yet. And, in all reality, I think I think that is
what we're hoping to find is that there's few things that the members of Imagine Ellis County haven't thought about yet.”<div><iframe title="Upcoming Imagine Ellis County town hall seeks to inform the future to the county" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=kmmbc-118654e-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>For the problems and solutions already known, Williams said
the meeting will help solidify ideas.“Just
what would you like to see? Do you think Ellis County or Rooks County or
wherever they're (located) needs a theme park, something like that? Just to let
your imagination run wild. We're kind of honing in on some things right now and
trying to be a little bit more specific. OK, what can we do in our community that's going to make it a better place to live? And yes, it's going to be broad
in some senses that it may include retail, it may include housing, it may
include lots of different things, but we want to make sure that we're
addressing those things and come up with what might be some great ideas.”“This is everyone's chance to come to that evening and
really just give feedback,” Wasinger said. “And it's not intended to be a gripe
session. It's really intended to stimulate creativity and just genuine
conversation as to what does Ellis County looks like and how do we get there.”In order to garner the most ideas, attendees will initially be
placed into small groups.“We're going to
ask about five to seven questions,” Benton said. “But we are going to break up
into smaller groups, depending on&nbsp; ... how many people we
end up getting, getting more conversation, getting people talking, getting the
creative juices flowing that way, so that people aren't maybe timid about
speaking in front of an entire room.”And to keep the meeting moving forward, a professional facilitator
from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation will run the town hall.Alongside the town hall, the committee also has been developing
online tools that will be used to share the story of Hays and
Ellis County across the region.“One of those was our leadership transformation grant for
leadership training and spots through the Kansas Leadership Center,” Wasinger
said. “And we also have a $10,000 grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, a
$50,000 grant from the Robert E. And Patricia A. Schmidt Foundation, and then a
$5,000 grant from the Heartland Community Foundation. We are using that to help
not only create our website, (but) there's been a series of videos that expressed how
the quality of life is a very attractive place for people to live here in Ellis
County.”Using the grant funds, a survey is also planned for later on in the year to gather
even more feedback from the community, and the marketing
efforts are also designed to capture those that are currently looking to leave
urban settings.“There are 20 million people in the next 10 years who will migrate
away from these urban areas,” Williams said. “They're looking for places to go.“We hope it makes an impact on that,” he said. “We believe
that we have an amazing community and a great place to live. We have a lot to
offer, whether it be companies that might move here, whether it be the local
companies that want to expand, people that want to retire here, or people that
want to relocate here because they work remotely. But we have to identify the
type of things that people want and see what we can do about delivering those
types of things if we want to be successful in those efforts — attracting
people and keeping people in our community.”Registration is requested in order for the committee to
have an accurate meal count but is not required.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ImagineEllisCounty">For
more information about the town hall or the Imagine Ellis County Committee,
visit the Imagine Ellis County Facebook page, by clicking here.</a>Cover image courtesy Pixabay

🎙Hays group seeks community feedback about future of Ellis Co.

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney speaks with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) about a variety of situations facing Kansas and the nation.

With the US Senate on break this week Senator Jerry Moran is
back in the area. He stops by to speak with his Post reporter Cristina Janney
to share some updates on this episode of the Post Podcast.

Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; 

What is brought you back home to the northwest part of the
state. 

This week well, it is great to be back home. Senate is out
of session this week, we worked through Martin Luther King, what was traditionally
a recess a time away from Washington DC because of the holiday. And instead
because of work that took place last week, we're away from Washington, DC this
week, gives me the opportunity to be out and about among Kansans. In western
Kansas, certainly paying attention to what's going on here. And one of the ways
I do that is today, yesterday was a visit with the with the Ness City Rotary
Club, getting their perspective on what's going on in NES County, a visit to
lacrosse High School to visit with a young student who's been chosen to be the
Senate youth program opportunity to go to Washington D.C. Oh, I think he has
the misfortune of it being a zoom program this year, and see what's going on in
lacrosse and rush county as well. And mostly just trying to make certain that
Kansans have the opportunity to tell me what's on their mind.

I know you also mentioned you're trying to put out a plea
for blood donation that that was a personal request from your own doctor there
in Plainville to, to put in people's minds that the Red Cross really needs
blood right now.

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with Dr. Sanchez,
one of the physicians in my hometown of Plainville. And the request was, could
I do anything to help encourage people to donate blood and I'm intending to do
so myself today. And just the the point he was making is that surgeries are
being denied because of lack of blood, and just again, encourage Kansans to be
the kind of people that we always are, and rise to the occasion when there's a
need in our community. I know that there's opportunities to do the blood drives
are taking place on certain days across western Kansas. But in Hayes, I think
it's an arc and it occurs most weekdays here in this community. So on behalf of
Dr. Sanchez, and, and his patients, and really all all of us here encouraged
people to donate blood.

Yes, that's so important. I'm planning on doing that myself.
I won't be eligible here for another week. But I do plan on doing that myself.
Let's turn a little bit to the job back in Washington. There's a lot of
interest going around on what is happening in the Ukraine right now. What is
your perspective on that?

You know, we have no choice me as a senator and all of us
really, as citizens of this country wish we could just deal with the local
issues to deal with the things that affect Kansans directly. But we have no
choice but to deal with the huge national international issues. And we are in a
significant circumstance with, with Putin and his desire to retake at least
portions of the Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union, but became an
independent state when the Soviet Union fell apart. And this is a test of
American resolve. And I certainly not interested to be discouraged if we had to
put American troops into another battle. But how we handle this is important.
And this really is a mission for NATO. And the challenges that it seems that
particularly Germany is not aligned with other NATO countries in the response.
And over time, I think European countries have become dependent upon Russian
energy, oil and natural gas, and it changes the way that they are willing to
take on Putin and Russia. My view is that we've got to make certain
particularly in light, I'm still angry about the way we came out of
Afghanistan. We were we were poorly prepared, we left people behind, we send a
message to the world that we're not reliable. And it's important for us to work
with our NATO allies to demonstrate to the world not only to protect the
freedoms and liberties as as they are, as we hope they become in Ukraine. But
to make certain that the rest of the world knows that the United States is a
reliable partner.

Also, you said that you were concerned about some legislation
that was being considered in terms of fossil fuel funding?

Absolutely. This is a this is not a piece of legislation.
It's the Biden administration and their policies. And here in oil producing
country. I'm not sure this has become a topic but it is an important one,
because there are not the votes in Congress to to outlaw energy companies to do
away with fossil fuels. This administration, the Biden administration is
looking for every opportunity to undermine the ability of an energy company to
exist. And one of the ways they're doing that is appointing people to the
regulatory organizations, the Federal Reserve Board the Office of Comptroller
of currency, the FDIC, the entities that regulate our banks and credit unions
and financial institutions. And the goal was to put people in place that will
insist that no, no loans would be against their regulations for loans to be
made to energy companies. It's a roundabout way of trying to diminish or
eliminate the role of that kind of energy in our country's economy. And while
we ought to do everything we can to make sure we have the cleanest environment
possible, how we do that, how practical we are, when we do it, and what the
economic consequences are. Look we're facing I would say that Americans,
perhaps greatest domestic concern, is inflation. And here we have an
administration that is doing things to reduce the availability of oil and
natural gas, increasing the price, as we've seen, at the pump, and natural gas,
ask a farmer about the cost of fertilizer, which is components of making
fertilizer or natural gas, these expensive increases are going to be very
damaging to the economy. And it's also so so hypocritical, so odd for President
Biden to call on Russia to increase its oil production, while he and his administration
do everything they can to reduce hours.

Yes, that could be very devastating to our local economy, if
oil companies were not able to take out loans. Do you have any comments about
the election legislation that has been considered in Congress?

Absolutely. That was why the Senate was in session last week
is because of that issue that legislation. First of all, I would say that the
there were not sufficient votes, it takes 60 votes to pass a piece of
legislation, including this election, this voting bill that was crafted solely
by Democrats. And in my view, the rules of the Senate which require 60 votes,
protect us protect, particularly as rural people, but protect the minority, not
necessarily Republicans or Democrats, but people who have different points of
view. And generally, that's those of us who come from rural places like Kansas.
And so the Democrats because they couldn't get 60 votes attempted to change the
rules. Unfortunately, two Democratic senators, Senator Manchin and Senator
cinema refused to go along. And so the Senate rules stay in place. And that is
a good thing for protecting us from a heavy handed urban and suburban Congress.
And really just protecting people who have ideas that are different than
perhaps the majority. So that was part of the debate last week. But the
underlying bill wants to nationalize the process by which people the rules
about how you vote become a national thing. The Constitution says the manner of
voting will be determined for congressional elections will be determined by
states. So constitutionally, this is a Kansas issue, not a Washington issue.
And when people can't get their way in Washington, DC, because states may be
doing something different. They want to change the law, change the rules,
ignore the Constitution and take over this this role. Every almost in every
circumstance, when Washington DC tries to solve a problem. It does so in a
heavy handed, broad based way that is often damaging to Kansas, we know how to
run our elections in Kansas, and we don't need some election board and in the
nation's capital determining how we do that.

Do you think that there's any concern nationwide about voter
suppression, though, coming from it and from individual states here,

Here's what I would say, is that I would never want to
support would never support the very much more straightforward would would
never support or would not encourage, in fact, would discourage any state from
trying to figure out ways to keep people from voting. If they're legally
entitled to vote, whatever their views are, whatever their political party is,
we want people to vote. And so we need to make certain that mean, people need
to make certain that in their own states, there's nothing going on that's designed
to discourage discriminate against people who may have a different idea may
belong to a different political party. We ought to be encouraging people to
vote as long as they're legally entitled to vote.

Okay. We've seen searches in COVID. Do you think that the
federal government is doing enough to address the latest surges in COVID, in
terms of testing and vaccination?

I am certainly encouraged people to be vaccinated and to and
I guess maybe I say this is talk to their physician, talk to the person who
took out their appendix deliver their baby and find out if vaccination is good
for them. Make that decision. I'm opposed to the mandate that comes from
Washington DC telling us we have to be vaccinated, but people ought to take responsibility.
If it's an appropriate opportunity for them then then personally, the federal
government has been provided Congress's provided millions and billions of
dollars to respond to COVID. And my view is that we are still woefully short of
meeting the things that need to happen in this country. Particular The
manufacturing and supply of pharmaceuticals and gas, gas masks gowns and
gloves, the things back at the beginning of the COVID of COVID, in which we
said, we're going to bring this stuff home, we're not going to wait on China,
their suppliers, and they're not dependable and they're our adversary. So my
view is that there's a lot of money that's out there to be spent. And we still
don't have the necessary domestic supply to fight COVID or any other pandemic
and is certainly there's a shortage and a long waiting line for people to be
tested which there many people are now interested in doing.

Do you think that the rollout of the new home tests that you
think that's going to be?

Christina I'm anxious to see what we’re gonna wait to have
to wait and see. I mean, it. It sounds good that you go to your computer and
you can get a test, but we've not seen it work yet.

<div><iframe title="Sen. Moran says situation in Ukraine ’a test of American resolve’" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=d2v3r-118d06f-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney speaks with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) about a variety of situations facing Kansas and the nation.<h2>Transcript</h2>James Bell&nbsp; With the US Senate on break this week Senator Jerry Moran is
back in the area. He stops by to speak with his Post reporter Cristina Janney
to share some updates on this episode of the Post Podcast.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; What is brought you back home to the northwest part of the
state. U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)This week well, it is great to be back home. Senate is out
of session this week, we worked through Martin Luther King, what was traditionally
a recess a time away from Washington DC because of the holiday. And instead
because of work that took place last week, we're away from Washington, DC this
week, gives me the opportunity to be out and about among Kansans. In western
Kansas, certainly paying attention to what's going on here. And one of the ways
I do that is today, yesterday was a visit with the with the Ness City Rotary
Club, getting their perspective on what's going on in NES County, a visit to
lacrosse High School to visit with a young student who's been chosen to be the
Senate youth program opportunity to go to Washington D.C. Oh, I think he has
the misfortune of it being a zoom program this year, and see what's going on in
lacrosse and rush county as well. And mostly just trying to make certain that
Kansans have the opportunity to tell me what's on their mind.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; I know you also mentioned you're trying to put out a plea
for blood donation that that was a personal request from your own doctor there
in Plainville to, to put in people's minds that the Red Cross really needs
blood right now.U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)Earlier this week, I had a conversation with Dr. Sanchez,
one of the physicians in my hometown of Plainville. And the request was, could
I do anything to help encourage people to donate blood and I'm intending to do
so myself today. And just the the point he was making is that surgeries are
being denied because of lack of blood, and just again, encourage Kansans to be
the kind of people that we always are, and rise to the occasion when there's a
need in our community. I know that there's opportunities to do the blood drives
are taking place on certain days across western Kansas. But in Hayes, I think
it's an arc and it occurs most weekdays here in this community. So on behalf of
Dr. Sanchez, and, and his patients, and really all all of us here encouraged
people to donate blood.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; Yes, that's so important. I'm planning on doing that myself.
I won't be eligible here for another week. But I do plan on doing that myself.
Let's turn a little bit to the job back in Washington. There's a lot of
interest going around on what is happening in the Ukraine right now. What is
your perspective on that?U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)You know, we have no choice me as a senator and all of us
really, as citizens of this country wish we could just deal with the local
issues to deal with the things that affect Kansans directly. But we have no
choice but to deal with the huge national international issues. And we are in a
significant circumstance with, with Putin and his desire to retake at least
portions of the Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union, but became an
independent state when the Soviet Union fell apart. And this is a test of
American resolve. And I certainly not interested to be discouraged if we had to
put American troops into another battle. But how we handle this is important.
And this really is a mission for NATO. And the challenges that it seems that
particularly Germany is not aligned with other NATO countries in the response.
And over time, I think European countries have become dependent upon Russian
energy, oil and natural gas, and it changes the way that they are willing to
take on Putin and Russia. My view is that we've got to make certain
particularly in light, I'm still angry about the way we came out of
Afghanistan. We were we were poorly prepared, we left people behind, we send a
message to the world that we're not reliable. And it's important for us to work
with our NATO allies to demonstrate to the world not only to protect the
freedoms and liberties as as they are, as we hope they become in Ukraine. But
to make certain that the rest of the world knows that the United States is a
reliable partner.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; Also, you said that you were concerned about some legislation
that was being considered in terms of fossil fuel funding?U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)Absolutely. This is a this is not a piece of legislation.
It's the Biden administration and their policies. And here in oil producing
country. I'm not sure this has become a topic but it is an important one,
because there are not the votes in Congress to to outlaw energy companies to do
away with fossil fuels. This administration, the Biden administration is
looking for every opportunity to undermine the ability of an energy company to
exist. And one of the ways they're doing that is appointing people to the
regulatory organizations, the Federal Reserve Board the Office of Comptroller
of currency, the FDIC, the entities that regulate our banks and credit unions
and financial institutions. And the goal was to put people in place that will
insist that no, no loans would be against their regulations for loans to be
made to energy companies. It's a roundabout way of trying to diminish or
eliminate the role of that kind of energy in our country's economy. And while
we ought to do everything we can to make sure we have the cleanest environment
possible, how we do that, how practical we are, when we do it, and what the
economic consequences are. Look we're facing I would say that Americans,
perhaps greatest domestic concern, is inflation. And here we have an
administration that is doing things to reduce the availability of oil and
natural gas, increasing the price, as we've seen, at the pump, and natural gas,
ask a farmer about the cost of fertilizer, which is components of making
fertilizer or natural gas, these expensive increases are going to be very
damaging to the economy. And it's also so so hypocritical, so odd for President
Biden to call on Russia to increase its oil production, while he and his administration
do everything they can to reduce hours.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; Yes, that could be very devastating to our local economy, if
oil companies were not able to take out loans. Do you have any comments about
the election legislation that has been considered in Congress?U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)Absolutely. That was why the Senate was in session last week
is because of that issue that legislation. First of all, I would say that the
there were not sufficient votes, it takes 60 votes to pass a piece of
legislation, including this election, this voting bill that was crafted solely
by Democrats. And in my view, the rules of the Senate which require 60 votes,
protect us protect, particularly as rural people, but protect the minority, not
necessarily Republicans or Democrats, but people who have different points of
view. And generally, that's those of us who come from rural places like Kansas.
And so the Democrats because they couldn't get 60 votes attempted to change the
rules. Unfortunately, two Democratic senators, Senator Manchin and Senator
cinema refused to go along. And so the Senate rules stay in place. And that is
a good thing for protecting us from a heavy handed urban and suburban Congress.
And really just protecting people who have ideas that are different than
perhaps the majority. So that was part of the debate last week. But the
underlying bill wants to nationalize the process by which people the rules
about how you vote become a national thing. The Constitution says the manner of
voting will be determined for congressional elections will be determined by
states. So constitutionally, this is a Kansas issue, not a Washington issue.
And when people can't get their way in Washington, DC, because states may be
doing something different. They want to change the law, change the rules,
ignore the Constitution and take over this this role. Every almost in every
circumstance, when Washington DC tries to solve a problem. It does so in a
heavy handed, broad based way that is often damaging to Kansas, we know how to
run our elections in Kansas, and we don't need some election board and in the
nation's capital determining how we do that.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; Do you think that there's any concern nationwide about voter
suppression, though, coming from it and from individual states here,U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)Here's what I would say, is that I would never want to
support would never support the very much more straightforward would would
never support or would not encourage, in fact, would discourage any state from
trying to figure out ways to keep people from voting. If they're legally
entitled to vote, whatever their views are, whatever their political party is,
we want people to vote. And so we need to make certain that mean, people need
to make certain that in their own states, there's nothing going on that's designed
to discourage discriminate against people who may have a different idea may
belong to a different political party. We ought to be encouraging people to
vote as long as they're legally entitled to vote.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; Okay. We've seen searches in COVID. Do you think that the
federal government is doing enough to address the latest surges in COVID, in
terms of testing and vaccination?U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)I am certainly encouraged people to be vaccinated and to and
I guess maybe I say this is talk to their physician, talk to the person who
took out their appendix deliver their baby and find out if vaccination is good
for them. Make that decision. I'm opposed to the mandate that comes from
Washington DC telling us we have to be vaccinated, but people ought to take responsibility.
If it's an appropriate opportunity for them then then personally, the federal
government has been provided Congress's provided millions and billions of
dollars to respond to COVID. And my view is that we are still woefully short of
meeting the things that need to happen in this country. Particular The
manufacturing and supply of pharmaceuticals and gas, gas masks gowns and
gloves, the things back at the beginning of the COVID of COVID, in which we
said, we're going to bring this stuff home, we're not going to wait on China,
their suppliers, and they're not dependable and they're our adversary. So my
view is that there's a lot of money that's out there to be spent. And we still
don't have the necessary domestic supply to fight COVID or any other pandemic
and is certainly there's a shortage and a long waiting line for people to be
tested which there many people are now interested in doing.Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney&nbsp; Do you think that the rollout of the new home tests that you
think that's going to be?U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)Christina I'm anxious to see what we’re gonna wait to have
to wait and see. I mean, it. It sounds good that you go to your computer and
you can get a test, but we've not seen it work yet.

🎙Post Podcast: Sen. Moran says situation in Ukraine 'a test of American resolve'

One of the most popular — and tasty — annual Holy Family Elementary
School fundraisers is set to return Sunday, bringing an opportunity for area
residents a chance to support the school and win one of a number of prizes.

The annual Chili Supper and Bazaar is scheduled from 4 to 7
p.m. at Holy Family Elementary, 1800 Milner. 

“Come and support our schools support our teachers, our
kids,” said event co-chair Ryan Pfannenstiel. “This is open to everybody. You
don't have to be a holy family or a TMP family to come. It's community-wide. Come
and have a great meal, bid on some really awesome prizes.”

As one of the largest fundraisers of the year, she said the
funds raised are used to directly support school operations.

Meals will be served for dining in person, but to-go and
drive-through options will also be available.

“So, if you don't feel comfortable eating with us,
still come get a great meal feed your family,” Pfannenstiel said.

Along with chili, cinnamon rolls, brownies and chicken sandwiches
will also be served.

A warm meal might be a draw, but that is only a part of the experience.

“The game room is going to be back for the kids to play
while the parents ... look at the silent auction and do raffle stuff,” said
Jessica Acosta. “They're going to have bingo and, of course, the cakewalk.”

“Classroom teachers have finalized their 'Feed the Pig'
lists, which are fun incentives for their students to earn special dress-up
days and activities while earning more funds for the school,” according to the
school’s website. “Our classroom 'pigs' have become a huge part of
our chili supper, earning our school thousands of dollars in prior years, and
you can donate to any classroom pig through the night of the chili supper.”

Children attending the fundraiser will also have the opportunity
to visit the Scholastic Book Fair in the school library.

Book fair proceeds will be used to purchase new books for the
library.

Raffle items this year include a Napolean gas
grill, a $1,000 cash prize, Airpod Pros, children’s bikes, a 43-inch smart TV,
activity memberships, gift cards and more.

“If you're busy on Sunday, you can
also come by on Saturday, check out our silent auction items, our book fair and
our raffle,” Pfannenstiel said. Items will be displayed in the school gym.

Items included in the silent auction will also be available
to view, and bidding will be done online.

Meal tickets for the event run $4 per child ages 4 through 12 and
$8 per adult and can be purchased at the door. Children under 3 are free.

Once again, organizers expect a good turnout.

"That's a great thing about Hays. I mean, everybody just
comes out and supports everybody, whether you're part of our school or just our
community Pfannenstiel said."

<a href="https://www.hfehays.org/">For more information
about the Annual Chili Supper and Bazaar, or Holy Family Elementary, visit
their website, hfehays.org.</a>

<div><iframe title="Major elementary school fundraiser scheduled for Sunday" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=m4jhm-118a0ec-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL 
Hays PostOne of the most popular — and tasty — annual Holy Family Elementary
School fundraisers is set to return Sunday, bringing an opportunity for area
residents a chance to support the school and win one of a number of prizes.The annual Chili Supper and Bazaar is scheduled from 4 to 7
p.m. at Holy Family Elementary, 1800 Milner. “Come and support our schools support our teachers, our
kids,” said event co-chair Ryan Pfannenstiel. “This is open to everybody. You
don't have to be a holy family or a TMP family to come. It's community-wide. Come
and have a great meal, bid on some really awesome prizes.”As one of the largest fundraisers of the year, she said the
funds raised are used to directly support school operations.Meals will be served for dining in person, but to-go and
drive-through options will also be available.“So, if you don't feel comfortable eating with us,
still come get a great meal feed your family,” Pfannenstiel said.Along with chili, cinnamon rolls, brownies and chicken sandwiches
will also be served.A warm meal might be a draw, but that is only a part of the experience.“The game room is going to be back for the kids to play
while the parents ... look at the silent auction and do raffle stuff,” said
Jessica Acosta. “They're going to have bingo and, of course, the cakewalk.”“Classroom teachers have finalized their 'Feed the Pig'
lists, which are fun incentives for their students to earn special dress-up
days and activities while earning more funds for the school,” according to the
school’s website. “Our classroom 'pigs' have become a huge part of
our chili supper, earning our school thousands of dollars in prior years, and
you can donate to any classroom pig through the night of the chili supper.”Children attending the fundraiser will also have the opportunity
to visit the Scholastic Book Fair in the school library.Book fair proceeds will be used to purchase new books for the
library.Raffle items this year include a Napolean gas
grill, a $1,000 cash prize, Airpod Pros, children’s bikes, a 43-inch smart TV,
activity memberships, gift cards and more.“If you're busy on Sunday, you can
also come by on Saturday, check out our silent auction items, our book fair and
our raffle,” Pfannenstiel said. Items will be displayed in the school gym.Items included in the silent auction will also be available
to view, and bidding will be done online.Meal tickets for the event run $4 per child ages 4 through 12 and
$8 per adult and can be purchased at the door. Children under 3 are free.Once again, organizers expect a good turnout."That's a great thing about Hays. I mean, everybody just
comes out and supports everybody, whether you're part of our school or just our
community Pfannenstiel said."<a href="https://www.hfehays.org/">For more information
about the Annual Chili Supper and Bazaar, or Holy Family Elementary, visit
their website, hfehays.org.</a>Cover image courtesy Pixabay

🎙Major elementary school fundraiser scheduled for Sunday

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about the upcoming Imagine Ellis County committee town hall.&nbsp;

The Imagine Ellis County committee has set up a town hall to solicit community feedback, Grow Hays executive director, Doug Williams stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.

Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;

We're having this meeting on February 7, at the Hilton Garden Inn, from 530 to 8 pm. And it's a town hall meeting that's put on by our Imagine Ellis County committee. And this is the committee that was put together a large group of cross-section of the community, very diverse in terms of age group in terms of occupations and backgrounds, to try and take a look at where we want to be in Ellis County 510 25 years from now. And we're in the input gathering state where we're trying to get feedback from the community. And that's what this town hall meeting is part about is to get people from the community to come to this event and tell us what they'd like to see what they think Ellis County should be.

Yeah, and you know, this is kind of what we talked about quite a bit the economic development here in Ellis County. But as the committee starts firing up and starts having events like this, really what kind of feedback are you looking for? I mean, are you wanting to know what we're looking for in retail, what kind of sectors we need to build on? Or is it really just open to whatever you think, Ellis County might be in 20 years 30.

It's kind of all of the above, we initially brought in the larger employers' business in the business community, and have them each give five minutes on what their strategic plan is, and where they're headed, and what their challenges are. And, and we've gone through that we've heard from them, there are some recurring themes, and all of those things. And I'm sure there'll be some recurring themes and from the public in general. But we're kind of taking this to this next step where we want to hear from the general public, what they would like to see how they feel about things. And it could be retail for some it could be, you know, better-paying jobs for others. And the ones we hear time and again, you know, housing, and childcare, and workforce, and all of those kinds of things. But we don't have any preconceived notions about where this might lead and what people might come up with. We're just eager to get input. And that's what it's all about.

And I understand, you know, as little incentive for people maybe to go if you want to share an idea, but try game ideas, not that great. Can we give away some free food right?

To feed everybody? Does that always hopefully helps a little bit, get people to come and participate? So hopefully, that increases attendance and people come and give us their thoughts. Yeah, you know, I think we want to keep it positive, but we're not we want to look at what some of our our weaknesses might be as well, I think in the community, because we know we have some every community does. But we really need people are to participate. This summer, we're going to do a community survey that we're going to send out the docking Institute has been contracted to do a community survey, asking some specific questions of as many participants as they can get, as to, you know, some of the things that people would like to see what they would like to what they would like Ellis County to look like in the future.

Doug, I'm curious, do you know when the last time that something like this was either attempted or done in haste? I know that the Imagine Ellis County committee has been around for a couple years now. But what kind of got derailed with COVID. But previous to that, as there have been similar efforts?

Well, this, this committee comes out of the strategic doing process, which is a process that the Hansen Foundation has supported across western Kansas, where they have had, they got a facilitator who comes in and hosts a meeting like this, and lots of ideas come out of that this is this Imagine Ellis County group came out of that strategic doing initiative. And it's it's similar in what it does this just bores down into more specifics, you know, they imagine or the strategic doing sessions are really broad-based, you know, nothing's off the table, nothing. You know, just what would you like to see, you know, do you think Ellis County or rooks, county or wherever they're holding needs, needs a theme park, you know, something like that, just to let your imagination run wild? We're kind of honing in on some things right now and trying to be a little bit more specific. Okay, what can we do in our community, that's going to make it a better place to live. And yes, it's going to be broad in some senses that it may include retail, it may include housing, it may include lots of different things, but we want to make sure that we're addressing those things and find, you know, come up with some what might be some great ideas. So I would say that to answer your question that Strategic Soing was kind of the first event that I'm aware of, and that was probably three or four years ago. And this has kind of been the ongoing effort from that initial event.

Okay. You know, in the economic development word world, I'm kind of curious how important our strategic sessions like this, because I think of other cities that, you know, have seen like a pretty good explosive growth over the last few years where Hayes's relatively stagnant in its growth and the county in their region, I should say, are losing people. So they're not even seeing growth. Does this really make an impact on that? Or is this just a kind of cherry on top?

Well, we hope it makes an impact on that. I mean, we're, we believe that we have an amazing community and a great place to live, we have a lot to offer, whether it be companies that might move here, whether it be the local companies that want to expand, or people that want to retire here, people that want to relocate here, because they work remotely. But we have to identify the type of things that people want, and see what we can do about delivering those type of things. If we want to be successful in those efforts, and in attracting people and keeping people in our community.

And as we've talked about in the past, this time, right now, there's so much urban fly, people are looking for, hey, cities, like Hayes to move to. And if we can get everybody involved and start to develop those ideas, we could see some potential economic development in a really big way in the next few years. Right?

I think we can I mean, I've read different statistics. One of them is that there's 20 million people in the next 10 years will migrate away from these urban areas. They're looking for places to go. If you watched, there was an episode on 60 minutes last week, and a lady named Karen Kimbrough, who was the chief financial officer, chief economist for LinkedIn, which is the largest job hunting site, that there is online. She said pre-pandemic, one in 67, of the jobs they had posted, was for remote workers. Today, it's one in seven. Wow, that's a huge transformation of the workplace transferring to knowing that they have to accommodate people in different ways. So one in seven jobs now on LinkedIn is, for a remote worker, they'll let you work from anywhere you want to work. And that's huge. And so as these people look to flee the urban areas, as you said, and find a different type of life. We have to look as a community, what do we have to offer because we're in the competition, and they can go anywhere, right? They have the skills, they now can work remotely, so they can choose where they live? Well, how do we make sure that they choose here, at least some of them, obviously, we don't want 20 million, but some of them are some share of them are willing to come here. And that's why things like housing, that's why things like schools, that's like things like safe communities and activities in the community and, and that type of thing make a huge difference. And so part of our job within grow Hays as economic development organization, but also within this Imagine Ellis County committee is to identify the things that we need to put in place for this community to be able to attract those people because as I say, all the time, you know, I have lots of people say I like hate dislike it is we want to stay the same. And my response to that is we have to grow to stay the same, because our region is losing people. And so we have to increase in population, just to stay the way we are much less to grow and have more activities and more choices with retail or whatever it might be.

Yeah. And to dig a little bit deeper into that. Something that I hear pretty frequently is is the pull factor in Ellis County, or I don't know, maybe it's in Hayes, but it's a 1.7 1.8, I believe, which means that for every dollar spent here, we're getting point eight from outside of the community.

That's correct. We're typically in the top three in the state, the county or pull factor, and then Hayes's about the same. And that's important, but we're we're slipping a little bit in that area, because other areas have done a better job of developing retail, and we have some shortcomings in that area. So we've got to do better. But our pull factor is still critically important. And we're still ranked very high. And but we've got to have, you know, as our as our region, our trade area shrinks, we've got to make it up someplace or will not have that typo factor for very much longer.

Yeah. And you know, the other piece of this on the remote work that I think about is, you know, unlike any other employer, if you're employed in Ellis County and you spend that money in Ellis County, that movie's just or money is just circling around. But if you're employed by Amazon, let's say, and living in Ellis County, you're getting money from other places and bringing that into the community. And as for my understanding, that is just going to be vital going on to the next 10/20 years.

Sure, we want to we're an exporter, if we can get those kind of people, we're exporting labor. Basically, we're bringing in money from the outside. These people are buying homes, they're buying cars are buying groceries, they're buying appliances, and everything else. And they typically have great jobs and make a good salary. So that's exactly the type of people we want coming into our community. So it's critical that we identify what's important to them, and then try and meet those requirements.

Yeah, you know, I'm curious if along with the input from the local community, is there any effort with this Imagine Ellis County committee to get that feedback from people say, from Denver, or the front range that are looking to move into a more rural setting?

Well, there is part of our marketing initiative. And we were fortunate to receive a grant from the Schmidt foundation to do some marketing, and part of that is going to be specifically targeting people on the eastern slope of Colorado, we, we believe that's fertile ground for people looking to relocate. And so we've got some marketing efforts, we've created some quality of life videos about what it's like to live in Ellis County, not only in Hays, but also in Allison Victoria, the smaller communities around the county, and to try and show them that we have a great quality of life here. We have lots going on, and we have a great place to live. And so but that's all great, but it's not if they don't know it. So we've got to let them know what it is. And that's what these videos and other methods of advertising are being produced to get to these people and help them understand the quality of life that we do have here.

Absolutely. Well, Doug, I tell you, we've got just about a minute left. Anything else on this that he thought you want to share?

Well, I just I hope everybody you know, as many people as possible come out, we are going to feed you. It runs from 530 till eight o'clock at the Hilton Garden Inn on February 7. We will kind of go over what we've done so far. And then we're going to just kind of open it up to people and get their input we want input. We don't have any. As I said, we really don't have any preconceived notions. We have some recurring themes that we continue to hear and we know about but we know there's some things that people have on their minds that we're not seeing. So we're eager to get good representation out and tell us what they think. Very good

Free to attend but you are asking for registration in advance right? Just say of a meal count, right?

We would like you to register ahead of time. If you can't get that done and at the last minute find out you can come out, go ahead and come out. But if you can register that be great. You can do so on our Facebook page, the Imagine Ellis County Facebook page, call our office, email us, however, you want to do it but we look forward to having a big crowd.

<div><iframe title="Upcoming Imagine Ellis County town hall seeks to inform the future to the county" allowtransparency="true" height="450" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=kmmbc-118654e-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=f6f6f6&size=450" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>On this episode of the Post Podcast, Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about the upcoming Imagine Ellis County committee town hall.&nbsp;<h2>Transcript</h2>James Bell&nbsp;The Imagine Ellis County committee has set up a town hall to solicit community feedback, Grow Hays executive director, Doug Williams stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;We're having this meeting on February 7, at the Hilton Garden Inn, from 530 to 8 pm. And it's a town hall meeting that's put on by our Imagine Ellis County committee. And this is the committee that was put together a large group of cross-section of the community, very diverse in terms of age group in terms of occupations and backgrounds, to try and take a look at where we want to be in Ellis County 510 25 years from now. And we're in the input gathering state where we're trying to get feedback from the community. And that's what this town hall meeting is part about is to get people from the community to come to this event and tell us what they'd like to see what they think Ellis County should be.James Bell&nbsp;Yeah, and you know, this is kind of what we talked about quite a bit the economic development here in Ellis County. But as the committee starts firing up and starts having events like this, really what kind of feedback are you looking for? I mean, are you wanting to know what we're looking for in retail, what kind of sectors we need to build on? Or is it really just open to whatever you think, Ellis County might be in 20 years 30.Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;It's kind of all of the above, we initially brought in the larger employers' business in the business community, and have them each give five minutes on what their strategic plan is, and where they're headed, and what their challenges are. And, and we've gone through that we've heard from them, there are some recurring themes, and all of those things. And I'm sure there'll be some recurring themes and from the public in general. But we're kind of taking this to this next step where we want to hear from the general public, what they would like to see how they feel about things. And it could be retail for some it could be, you know, better-paying jobs for others. And the ones we hear time and again, you know, housing, and childcare, and workforce, and all of those kinds of things. But we don't have any preconceived notions about where this might lead and what people might come up with. We're just eager to get input. And that's what it's all about.James Bell &nbsp;And I understand, you know, as little incentive for people maybe to go if you want to share an idea, but try game ideas, not that great. Can we give away some free food right?Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;To feed everybody? Does that always hopefully helps a little bit, get people to come and participate? So hopefully, that increases attendance and people come and give us their thoughts. Yeah, you know, I think we want to keep it positive, but we're not we want to look at what some of our our weaknesses might be as well, I think in the community, because we know we have some every community does. But we really need people are to participate. This summer, we're going to do a community survey that we're going to send out the docking Institute has been contracted to do a community survey, asking some specific questions of as many participants as they can get, as to, you know, some of the things that people would like to see what they would like to what they would like Ellis County to look like in the future.James Bell&nbsp;Doug, I'm curious, do you know when the last time that something like this was either attempted or done in haste? I know that the Imagine Ellis County committee has been around for a couple years now. But what kind of got derailed with COVID. But previous to that, as there have been similar efforts?Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;Well, this, this committee comes out of the strategic doing process, which is a process that the Hansen Foundation has supported across western Kansas, where they have had, they got a facilitator who comes in and hosts a meeting like this, and lots of ideas come out of that this is this Imagine Ellis County group came out of that strategic doing initiative. And it's it's similar in what it does this just bores down into more specifics, you know, they imagine or the strategic doing sessions are really broad-based, you know, nothing's off the table, nothing. You know, just what would you like to see, you know, do you think Ellis County or rooks, county or wherever they're holding needs, needs a theme park, you know, something like that, just to let your imagination run wild? We're kind of honing in on some things right now and trying to be a little bit more specific. Okay, what can we do in our community, that's going to make it a better place to live. And yes, it's going to be broad in some senses that it may include retail, it may include housing, it may include lots of different things, but we want to make sure that we're addressing those things and find, you know, come up with some what might be some great ideas. So I would say that to answer your question that Strategic Soing was kind of the first event that I'm aware of, and that was probably three or four years ago. And this has kind of been the ongoing effort from that initial event.James Bell&nbsp;Okay. You know, in the economic development word world, I'm kind of curious how important our strategic sessions like this, because I think of other cities that, you know, have seen like a pretty good explosive growth over the last few years where Hayes's relatively stagnant in its growth and the county in their region, I should say, are losing people. So they're not even seeing growth. Does this really make an impact on that? Or is this just a kind of cherry on top?Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;Well, we hope it makes an impact on that. I mean, we're, we believe that we have an amazing community and a great place to live, we have a lot to offer, whether it be companies that might move here, whether it be the local companies that want to expand, or people that want to retire here, people that want to relocate here, because they work remotely. But we have to identify the type of things that people want, and see what we can do about delivering those type of things. If we want to be successful in those efforts, and in attracting people and keeping people in our community.James Bell&nbsp;And as we've talked about in the past, this time, right now, there's so much urban fly, people are looking for, hey, cities, like Hayes to move to. And if we can get everybody involved and start to develop those ideas, we could see some potential economic development in a really big way in the next few years. Right?Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;I think we can I mean, I've read different statistics. One of them is that there's 20 million people in the next 10 years will migrate away from these urban areas. They're looking for places to go. If you watched, there was an episode on 60 minutes last week, and a lady named Karen Kimbrough, who was the chief financial officer, chief economist for LinkedIn, which is the largest job hunting site, that there is online. She said pre-pandemic, one in 67, of the jobs they had posted, was for remote workers. Today, it's one in seven. Wow, that's a huge transformation of the workplace transferring to knowing that they have to accommodate people in different ways. So one in seven jobs now on LinkedIn is, for a remote worker, they'll let you work from anywhere you want to work. And that's huge. And so as these people look to flee the urban areas, as you said, and find a different type of life. We have to look as a community, what do we have to offer because we're in the competition, and they can go anywhere, right? They have the skills, they now can work remotely, so they can choose where they live? Well, how do we make sure that they choose here, at least some of them, obviously, we don't want 20 million, but some of them are some share of them are willing to come here. And that's why things like housing, that's why things like schools, that's like things like safe communities and activities in the community and, and that type of thing make a huge difference. And so part of our job within grow Hays as economic development organization, but also within this Imagine Ellis County committee is to identify the things that we need to put in place for this community to be able to attract those people because as I say, all the time, you know, I have lots of people say I like hate dislike it is we want to stay the same. And my response to that is we have to grow to stay the same, because our region is losing people. And so we have to increase in population, just to stay the way we are much less to grow and have more activities and more choices with retail or whatever it might be.James Bell&nbsp;Yeah. And to dig a little bit deeper into that. Something that I hear pretty frequently is is the pull factor in Ellis County, or I don't know, maybe it's in Hayes, but it's a 1.7 1.8, I believe, which means that for every dollar spent here, we're getting point eight from outside of the community.Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;That's correct. We're typically in the top three in the state, the county or pull factor, and then Hayes's about the same. And that's important, but we're we're slipping a little bit in that area, because other areas have done a better job of developing retail, and we have some shortcomings in that area. So we've got to do better. But our pull factor is still critically important. And we're still ranked very high. And but we've got to have, you know, as our as our region, our trade area shrinks, we've got to make it up someplace or will not have that typo factor for very much longer.James Bell&nbsp;Yeah. And you know, the other piece of this on the remote work that I think about is, you know, unlike any other employer, if you're employed in Ellis County and you spend that money in Ellis County, that movie's just or money is just circling around. But if you're employed by Amazon, let's say, and living in Ellis County, you're getting money from other places and bringing that into the community. And as for my understanding, that is just going to be vital going on to the next 10/20 years.Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;Sure, we want to we're an exporter, if we can get those kind of people, we're exporting labor. Basically, we're bringing in money from the outside. These people are buying homes, they're buying cars are buying groceries, they're buying appliances, and everything else. And they typically have great jobs and make a good salary. So that's exactly the type of people we want coming into our community. So it's critical that we identify what's important to them, and then try and meet those requirements.James Bell&nbsp;Yeah, you know, I'm curious if along with the input from the local community, is there any effort with this Imagine Ellis County committee to get that feedback from people say, from Denver, or the front range that are looking to move into a more rural setting?Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;Well, there is part of our marketing initiative. And we were fortunate to receive a grant from the Schmidt foundation to do some marketing, and part of that is going to be specifically targeting people on the eastern slope of Colorado, we, we believe that's fertile ground for people looking to relocate. And so we've got some marketing efforts, we've created some quality of life videos about what it's like to live in Ellis County, not only in Hays, but also in Allison Victoria, the smaller communities around the county, and to try and show them that we have a great quality of life here. We have lots going on, and we have a great place to live. And so but that's all great, but it's not if they don't know it. So we've got to let them know what it is. And that's what these videos and other methods of advertising are being produced to get to these people and help them understand the quality of life that we do have here.James Bell&nbsp;Absolutely. Well, Doug, I tell you, we've got just about a minute left. Anything else on this that he thought you want to share?Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;Well, I just I hope everybody you know, as many people as possible come out, we are going to feed you. It runs from 530 till eight o'clock at the Hilton Garden Inn on February 7. We will kind of go over what we've done so far. And then we're going to just kind of open it up to people and get their input we want input. We don't have any. As I said, we really don't have any preconceived notions. We have some recurring themes that we continue to hear and we know about but we know there's some things that people have on their minds that we're not seeing. So we're eager to get good representation out and tell us what they think. Very goodJames Bell&nbsp;Free to attend but you are asking for registration in advance right? Just say of a meal count, right?Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams&nbsp;We would like you to register ahead of time. If you can't get that done and at the last minute find out you can come out, go ahead and come out. But if you can register that be great. You can do so on our Facebook page, the Imagine Ellis County Facebook page, call our office, email us, however, you want to do it but we look forward to having a big crowd.

🎙Post Podcast: Imagine Ellis County town hall scheduled

On this episode of the Post Podcast Downtown Hays Development Corporation executive director Sara Bloom and director of events and operations Allie Glidewell shares updates from downtown Hays.

The Downtown Hays Development Corporation is getting ready for a busy spring season. Executive Director Sarah bloom and director of events and operations, Allie Glidewell stops by to talk to us about that on this episode of the post podcast.

What are you talking about? First? We got a whole list?

Well, yeah, I thought it was kind of a slower time a year. But then I'm here. I know you guys actually are getting prepared for a lot of things going on. I think we got to do this chronologically. Right Valentine's Day. That's the first thing coming up.

Sure. Well, it's kind of something new and different that we're trying to do just a promotional thing for businesses. But know that a lot of people spend money downtown, spend gifts, spend money for guessing their loved ones. So what we've done is we put together three baskets. And when you spend money in downtown, you can bring your receipts into us, whether that's paper or you know, I know a lot of square receipts go virtual. But bring that to us will stamp it and you can enter to win a basket will draw it on Valentine's Day. And there's all sorts of I mean, almost every single store is represented in those baskets. We

had so much fun shopping, we picked, what Tuesday when it was 60 degrees outside, we walked all over downtown. And we're talking from like reds all the way down to Indigo and breathe and all the things in between.

Yeah, super awesome. So we spent a little bit of money in every store to put together different baskets. We got stuff from even like the baskets themselves, or from the ark. We went everywhere. There. I mean, there's great things we put together a little men's basket that's got Gosh, soaps and goodies and all sorts of Thai

and mugs and coffee and trees and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, that's and that's just that. That's just the men's baskets, toothbrush and a really nice electric toothbrush for my smile. Yeah, yeah. So if you give love to our downtown businesses, you could have the opportunity to get the so we'll be posting pictures of those baskets later today along with that promotion. But essentially, starting next week, if you shop downtown, bring in a receipt, and it doesn't matter if it's for a $3 coffee from breeze or a $3,000 couch from furniture, luck. Bring your receipts in and you can enter to win one of these baskets and we'll draw Valentine's.

Yeah. Because we love you. Yes, amazing. Well, it's fun.

So you can the interim all the way up until Valentine's Day, so that Friday before Friday before okay.

Or like bringing in your receipts from the weekend on that Monday. Valentine's is on a Monday and we could draw

That means you have all weekend to spoil your love. That's what that means. I suppose that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe we do Monday at the end of the day. That way you can bring in your seats. Have coffee yet.

It is still pretty early in the morning. It's especially talking about like Valentine's Day and all the craziness that comes along with that.

And it's not that far away. We are at the end of January already.

It's sneaking up on us only 22 It's it's firmly here.

Well, it's pretty cool Valentine's I would watch our Facebook page and other downtown business Facebook pages because I know there are a lot of Valentine dinners and events being planned right now and you have to make reservations right now specifically the strand and the Paisley pair are already booking very quickly for their Valentine

audience always has really great deals around this time too. And they book out so

far. The new Brickhouse Spa has some ones going on. So be watching. We'll try and share as much as we can, of course, but just be aware that there's some really wonderful stuff happening in downtown makes it easy. And Halo it is a partnership going on. All sorts of stuff.

Awesome. Yeah, you support your loved ones. Or shows love to your loved ones, I guess and support downtown Hayes at the same time. Exactly. I love that. Very cool.

Yeah. Also happening this weekend is the winter sidewalk sale. We did not go chronologically, but there are several businesses that have their winter sidewalk sale going on. Specifically couture has like 75% off simply refine, are all participating so check that out.

And I think we're gonna have decent weather this weekend. So it'd be a nice day to walk around and I think I'm gonna check a hole 35 today. Yeah, not nice today. Today is nothing better than the last two days it is currently eight degree by the way. Yeah, no, it looks like Saturday. Well, not not great, but mid 40s so decent weather is gonna be nice and sunny anyway

there's no wind that's what a beautiful day that's walkable.

actually buildings will block anyone that might be Oh

yeah, you always get that that nice buffer down there. But you know I already do this Saturday morning. You guys know this, but pretty much I take my kids in this what we do we walk down to On Hayes, we go when we hit different shops, they've got their little favorite hit spots they like to hit and we get some lunch at one of the restaurants down there. And it's a great time. And you see so many people down there even when there's no events going on. There's always people walking around and it's it's it's just a fun, energetic time to do it. And a third, some sidewalk sales on top of that, and it's just over the moon over the moon. That's what we're

saying. Believe it or not, I did not know that you walk downtown every Saturday though. I'm not down there every I usually at a basketball tournament or a baseball tournament.

So to be fair, we're walking around downtown all the time.

Their weekend is his community theaters. It's showtime. It's a fun new thing that they're putting on that'll air on Friday and on Saturday, but the community theater has all sorts of Valentine's things coming up too. So if you want to support a really, really fun cause, go give them a show. They're always exciting.

Yeah. Yeah, we had the director for this one. Cheryl Glassman come in earlier this week, I think. Yeah. Sounds like a really fun show. And I last time I talked to him. I don't know for sure. But they still had some tickets available. So if you're interested, well, it's Friday. I guess you probably need to get him today anyway, but but don't wait because they might sell out. So get them if you're interested.

That's rodeo. She's a former country, right? Yeah, rodeo. Yeah, I don't know what I saw. It's, uh, yeah. It's really good. But it's kind of a little bit genre bending, I

think, Oh, 20? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, yeah, you

might say that genre bending sounds way cooler. And I just came up with it. I like that. That's why you're good at the job, James.

What else is on your list? What else do we want to talk about?

Easter, you got to do some Easter stuff, too. I mean, that's a little bit down the road. But

like your face, you can't see your face. But we're very excited for

Easter. Easter is going to be very fun. We're hoping to incorporate a lot of different stores and just put something on for the kids. We don't have all the details yet, which includes, you know, the full format or a date. But we had a great brainstorming session yesterday. So look out for marketing on that something was eggs and something with candy. Yes, candy and children come downtown. It's gonna be a good time.

Really, you get those two things together, and you're gonna have a good time no matter what.

Maybe even cupcakes, I don't know, there's a lot of brainstorming happening. But something will be happening in downtown for Easter. So be watching our Facebook page for that. And then Allie had a great another great brainstorming session last night with our downtown Hayes market vendor. Yeah, we had

our little end of year meeting to talk about everything that went really great or things that need tweaking, and we want to kind of vision board in 2022. We're really excited, they're all very passionate about what they do. All of our market vendors are very excited to come back already. They were working their calendars for day one and figuring out you know, different promotions, especially for some of the bigger days like National honeybee day or what to do during Oktoberfest weekend. So it was really, really great. The markets gonna kick off October 28. And then go every single Saturday, maybe? Yep, May 28. So sorry. I was thinking October 20.

<div><iframe title="DHDC kicks off year with upcoming downtown events" allowtransparency="true" height="450" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=2qyp3-11863ed-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=450" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>On this episode of the Post Podcast Downtown Hays Development Corporation executive director Sara Bloom and director of events and operations Allie Glidewell shares updates from downtown Hays.<h2>Transcript</h2>James Bell&nbsp;The Downtown Hays Development Corporation is getting ready for a busy spring season. Executive Director Sarah bloom and director of events and operations, Allie Glidewell stops by to talk to us about that on this episode of the post podcast.Sara Bloom&nbsp;What are you talking about? First? We got a whole list?James Bell&nbsp;Well, yeah, I thought it was kind of a slower time a year. But then I'm here. I know you guys actually are getting prepared for a lot of things going on. I think we got to do this chronologically. Right Valentine's Day. That's the first thing coming up.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Yeah, sure is.James Bell&nbsp;What are you guys going on for that?Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Sure. Well, it's kind of something new and different that we're trying to do just a promotional thing for businesses. But know that a lot of people spend money downtown, spend gifts, spend money for guessing their loved ones. So what we've done is we put together three baskets. And when you spend money in downtown, you can bring your receipts into us, whether that's paper or you know, I know a lot of square receipts go virtual. But bring that to us will stamp it and you can enter to win a basket will draw it on Valentine's Day. And there's all sorts of I mean, almost every single store is represented in those baskets. WeSara Bloom&nbsp;had so much fun shopping, we picked, what Tuesday when it was 60 degrees outside, we walked all over downtown. And we're talking from like reds all the way down to Indigo and breathe and all the things in between.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Yeah, super awesome. So we spent a little bit of money in every store to put together different baskets. We got stuff from even like the baskets themselves, or from the ark. We went everywhere. There. I mean, there's great things we put together a little men's basket that's got Gosh, soaps and goodies and all sorts of ThaiSara Bloom&nbsp;and mugs and coffee and trees and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, that's and that's just that. That's just the men's baskets, toothbrush and a really nice electric toothbrush for my smile. Yeah, yeah. So if you give love to our downtown businesses, you could have the opportunity to get the so we'll be posting pictures of those baskets later today along with that promotion. But essentially, starting next week, if you shop downtown, bring in a receipt, and it doesn't matter if it's for a $3 coffee from breeze or a $3,000 couch from furniture, luck. Bring your receipts in and you can enter to win one of these baskets and we'll draw Valentine's.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Yeah. Because we love you. Yes, amazing. Well, it's fun.James Bell&nbsp;So you can the interim all the way up until Valentine's Day, so that Friday before Friday before okay.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Or like bringing in your receipts from the weekend on that Monday. Valentine's is on a Monday and we could drawJames Bell&nbsp;on a Monday this year. It isAllie Glidewell&nbsp;okay that Monday, we love Monday.Sara Bloom&nbsp;That means you have all weekend to spoil your love. That's what that means. I suppose that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe we do Monday at the end of the day. That way you can bring in your seats. Have coffee yet.James Bell&nbsp;It is still pretty early in the morning. It's especially talking about like Valentine's Day and all the craziness that comes along with that.Sara Bloom&nbsp;And it's not that far away. We are at the end of January already.James Bell&nbsp;It's sneaking up on us only 22 It's it's firmly here.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Well, it's pretty cool Valentine's I would watch our Facebook page and other downtown business Facebook pages because I know there are a lot of Valentine dinners and events being planned right now and you have to make reservations right now specifically the strand and the Paisley pair are already booking very quickly for their ValentineAllie Glidewell&nbsp;audience always has really great deals around this time too. And they book out soSara Bloom&nbsp;far. The new Brickhouse Spa has some ones going on. So be watching. We'll try and share as much as we can, of course, but just be aware that there's some really wonderful stuff happening in downtown makes it easy. And Halo it is a partnership going on. All sorts of stuff.James Bell&nbsp;Awesome. Yeah, you support your loved ones. Or shows love to your loved ones, I guess and support downtown Hayes at the same time. Exactly. I love that. Very cool.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Yeah. Also happening this weekend is the winter sidewalk sale. We did not go chronologically, but there are several businesses that have their winter sidewalk sale going on. Specifically couture has like 75% off simply refine, are all participating so check that out.James Bell&nbsp;And I think we're gonna have decent weather this weekend. So it'd be a nice day to walk around and I think I'm gonna check a hole 35 today. Yeah, not nice today. Today is nothing better than the last two days it is currently eight degree by the way. Yeah, no, it looks like Saturday. Well, not not great, but mid 40s so decent weather is gonna be nice and sunny anywaySara Bloom&nbsp;there's no wind that's what a beautiful day that's walkable.James Bell&nbsp;five mile an hour winds. That's doable.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;It's great down there.James Bell&nbsp;You know andSara Bloom&nbsp;actually buildings will block anyone that might be OhJames Bell&nbsp;yeah, you always get that that nice buffer down there. But you know I already do this Saturday morning. You guys know this, but pretty much I take my kids in this what we do we walk down to On Hayes, we go when we hit different shops, they've got their little favorite hit spots they like to hit and we get some lunch at one of the restaurants down there. And it's a great time. And you see so many people down there even when there's no events going on. There's always people walking around and it's it's it's just a fun, energetic time to do it. And a third, some sidewalk sales on top of that, and it's just over the moon over the moon. That's what we'reSara Bloom&nbsp;saying. Believe it or not, I did not know that you walk downtown every Saturday though. I'm not down there every I usually at a basketball tournament or a baseball tournament.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;So to be fair, we're walking around downtown all the time.Sara Bloom&nbsp;It's true. Time down Saturday morning.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Their weekend is his community theaters. It's showtime. It's a fun new thing that they're putting on that'll air on Friday and on Saturday, but the community theater has all sorts of Valentine's things coming up too. So if you want to support a really, really fun cause, go give them a show. They're always exciting.Sara Bloom&nbsp;ks.com Yeah. For tickets.James Bell&nbsp;Yeah. Yeah, we had the director for this one. Cheryl Glassman come in earlier this week, I think. Yeah. Sounds like a really fun show. And I last time I talked to him. I don't know for sure. But they still had some tickets available. So if you're interested, well, it's Friday. I guess you probably need to get him today anyway, but but don't wait because they might sell out. So get them if you're interested.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Yeah. And Kylie Frey at the fox.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Kylie Frey at the fox. Yeah.James Bell&nbsp;That's rodeo. She's a former country, right? Yeah, rodeo. Yeah, I don't know what I saw. It's, uh, yeah. It's really good. But it's kind of a little bit genre bending, ISara Bloom&nbsp;think, Oh, 20? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, yeah, youAllie Glidewell&nbsp;might say that genre bending sounds way cooler. And I just came up with it. I like that. That's why you're good at the job, James.Sara Bloom&nbsp;What else is on your list? What else do we want to talk about?James Bell&nbsp;Easter, you got to do some Easter stuff, too. I mean, that's a little bit down the road. ButSara Bloom&nbsp;like your face, you can't see your face. But we're very excited forAllie Glidewell&nbsp;Easter. Easter is going to be very fun. We're hoping to incorporate a lot of different stores and just put something on for the kids. We don't have all the details yet, which includes, you know, the full format or a date. But we had a great brainstorming session yesterday. So look out for marketing on that something was eggs and something with candy. Yes, candy and children come downtown. It's gonna be a good time.James Bell&nbsp;Really, you get those two things together, and you're gonna have a good time no matter what.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Maybe even cupcakes, I don't know, there's a lot of brainstorming happening. But something will be happening in downtown for Easter. So be watching our Facebook page for that. And then Allie had a great another great brainstorming session last night with our downtown Hayes market vendor. Yeah, we hadAllie Glidewell&nbsp;our little end of year meeting to talk about everything that went really great or things that need tweaking, and we want to kind of vision board in 2022. We're really excited, they're all very passionate about what they do. All of our market vendors are very excited to come back already. They were working their calendars for day one and figuring out you know, different promotions, especially for some of the bigger days like National honeybee day or what to do during Oktoberfest weekend. So it was really, really great. The markets gonna kick off October 28. And then go every single Saturday, maybe? Yep, May 28. So sorry. I was thinking October 20.James Bell&nbsp;Of course, October.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Definitely the last Saturday of MayAllie Glidewell&nbsp;springtime. Yes. And it'll still run 730 to 11. Every day. We're gonna have all sorts of fun things going on all the time. But stay tuned to our Facebook page for that as well.James Bell&nbsp;Very cool. Yeah. And you mentioned a couple times now. But absolutely. If you want to stay tuned into what's going on to downtown Hayes, you guys do a really fantastic job of keeping that Facebook page updated. It's an easy and efficient way to do it on the website as well. You guys have the calendar. And it's all right there in handy. And yeah,Sara Bloom&nbsp;yeah. And we kind of mentioned it too. Even if it's not an event organized by the DHDC. Office, we would love to promote it for you. Let us know anything happening in downtown. If it's if it's a benefit to downtown, it's bringing foot traffic and attention to downtown. Let us know we'll try and get it on our Facebook page. We'll get it in our weekly newsletter, we'll get it on the website, at least the events calendar, let us know how we can help promote what's happening in downtown Hayes, whether it's out of our office or not, because I support the community. But that's kind of it. We're working on a lot of things, but those are the most pressing.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;It is a slow time of year, but it just leads a lot of room for game planning.James Bell&nbsp;Yes, and that's you know, that's what I love about this time of year. It's all the ideas it's the energy it's thinking about, you know, all the stuff that is going to be going on and you know, as we as we warm up in the spring, and I love it because just the planning bit and then the excitement starts to build and you get to talk about things like the Farmers Market, which is going to beSara Bloom&nbsp;a next month we'll be telling you in brews tickets go on sale.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;There's all sorts there's all sorts of things all the time.Sara Bloom&nbsp;But yeah, always check the Facebook page. Always check downtown, he's calm. We've got a great Instagram. Lots of new businesses are opening it downtown. We just celebrated the fort opening. We're going to be celebrating the bloomin barber lounge opening soon. Lots of changes, and it's all very exciting. Yeah.James Bell&nbsp;Absolutely. And, you know, and this is part of what we were talking about before we went on air downtown. It's it's full. I mean, it's not you know, if you remember if you're if you're listening, I can't imagine a lot of people that are listening haven't been in downtown Hays in the last couple years. But if you haven't, like come and check it out, because it is the the the energy is just so incredible. And there's this this attitude of just building and fixing and, and driving business and I love it. I don't know what else to say.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Thanks for getting excited about it. We're excited. It's great.James Bell&nbsp;Truly. Alrighty, guys. Well, any last thoughts when we go?Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Downtown hayes.com Thanks for supportingSara Bloom&nbsp;local shop downtown. Downtown. Downtown.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Love downtown. Stay on the lookout for the Valentine. Yes.Sara Bloom&nbsp;Yeah, we're very excited. We're like, well, maybe we can change our names on.Allie Glidewell&nbsp;Yeah, maybe we can when we will give ourselves basket but they're really great and we want them to. We want to win. We picked out everything. They're very curated.

🎙Post Podcast: DHDC kicks off year with upcoming downtown events

As recovery efforts continue following the devastating Four County Wildfire on Dec. 15, the Heartland Community Foundation has set up new special emergency funds for Ellis, Rooks and Trego counties. 

“Having some special emergency fund was something that was
on my to do list, it just hadn't happened yet,” said Heartland Community
Foundation executive director Sarah Meitner. “And when we had the fires go
through the area and the windstorm in the middle of December, it sort of
expedited the process.”

With each fund, donations will stay in the counties in which
they are made.

“We did this on purpose because, you know, there might be an
emergency situation that affects one county, but not the others,” Meitner said.

She said the funds are also set up in order to give anyone
interested in donating a way to ensure the donation will be used in the most efficient
way.

“When they don't know where to take that money, or they
don't know how their $50 or $100 will really make an impact, this is a way to
combine it with the other donations of other individuals and know that it will
be designated to go directly to those who are helping aid in the in the relief,”
Meitner said.

While the funds are new, Meitner said they were set up in a
way that allows for immediate access.

“Heartland put $10,000 into each account to establish it,”
she said. “So we put $30,000 in, which basically means that every dollar that
comes in can be granted out.”

In the future, Meitner said the goal is to turn the accounts
into endowed funds that can be used for emergency situation in perpetuity.

“It was my thinking that if there's an emergency, there's
going to be some time before insurance money comes in or before the state or
federal aid comes in, or in this case, there's not even federal aid coming in,”
Meitner said. “So, we want to be able to close that gap and provide money
immediately to those impacted.”

The funds, she said, are indicative of the way Kansans come
together during a crisis.

“They've been doing very well,” Meitner said. “So far, we
have over $50,000, among the three."

Now she hopes to move those funds to those in need.

“I'm still just encouraging people, agencies to apply,”
Meitner said. “The application is on our website at HeartlandCommunityfoundation.org.”

As a part of the regulations that guide foundation operations, individuals interested in receiving funds must partner with an agency or nonprofit.

“But we do want to help individual families,” Meitner said. “So,
we're encouraging them to partner with a church or a 4-H club or a Boy Scout
troop to apply on their behalf. ... But really, the funds are
completely unrestricted, other than they need to be given in the county that
they were raised in.”

For those unsure of what agencies are available to assist individual
needs, she said the foundation is happy to help.

<div><iframe title="Heartland Community Foundation funds assisting Dec. 15 victims" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=u5pbw-1183592-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>By JAMES BELL 
Hays PostAs recovery efforts continue following the devastating Four County Wildfire on Dec. 15, the Heartland Community Foundation has set up new special emergency funds for Ellis, Rooks and Trego counties. “Having some special emergency fund was something that was
on my to do list, it just hadn't happened yet,” said Heartland Community
Foundation executive director Sarah Meitner. “And when we had the fires go
through the area and the windstorm in the middle of December, it sort of
expedited the process.”With each fund, donations will stay in the counties in which
they are made.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639777373541.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>“We did this on purpose because, you know, there might be an
emergency situation that affects one county, but not the others,” Meitner said.She said the funds are also set up in order to give anyone
interested in donating a way to ensure the donation will be used in the most efficient
way.“When they don't know where to take that money, or they
don't know how their $50 or $100 will really make an impact, this is a way to
combine it with the other donations of other individuals and know that it will
be designated to go directly to those who are helping aid in the in the relief,”
Meitner said.While the funds are new, Meitner said they were set up in a
way that allows for immediate access.“Heartland put $10,000 into each account to establish it,”
she said. “So we put $30,000 in, which basically means that every dollar that
comes in can be granted out.”In the future, Meitner said the goal is to turn the accounts
into endowed funds that can be used for emergency situation in perpetuity.“It was my thinking that if there's an emergency, there's
going to be some time before insurance money comes in or before the state or
federal aid comes in, or in this case, there's not even federal aid coming in,”
Meitner said. “So, we want to be able to close that gap and provide money
immediately to those impacted.”The funds, she said, are indicative of the way Kansans come
together during a crisis.“They've been doing very well,” Meitner said. “So far, we
have over $50,000, among the three."Now she hopes to move those funds to those in need.“I'm still just encouraging people, agencies to apply,”
Meitner said. “The application is on our website at HeartlandCommunityfoundation.org.”As a part of the regulations that guide foundation operations, individuals interested in receiving funds must partner with an agency or nonprofit.“But we do want to help individual families,” Meitner said. “So,
we're encouraging them to partner with a church or a 4-H club or a Boy Scout
troop to apply on their behalf. ... But really, the funds are
completely unrestricted, other than they need to be given in the county that
they were raised in.”For those unsure of what agencies are available to assist individual
needs, she said the foundation is happy to help.With the Dec. 15 relief, she said many of the dollars
granted will cover non-insured expenses.“It's going to be a lot in fencing, maybe livestock-related expenses.
You know, the Red Cross has been in the area but is limited to only helping
peoples' needs,” Meitner said.And she hopes those that are in need are willing to reach
out.“I think that there's a lot of pride among maybe some of the
people who are impacted, that they don't want to ask for help,” Meitner said. “Or
maybe they haven't had been in the position of asking for help before. And
that's a little bit hard to do. So, what I've been saying is that this isn't a
handout, it's just your turn. And when times are better, and you're back on
your feet, then you can give back to this fund if you'd like or any charitable
cause. But when it's your turn, it's your turn. And there's no shame in asking
for help.”For more information visit the Heartland Community Foundation website,&nbsp;<a href="https://heartlandcommunityfoundation.org/">heartlandcommunityfoundation.org.</a>