On this episode of the Post Podcast Thomas More Prep-Marian principal, Chad Meitner stops by to talk about the start of the spring semester.

James Bell &nbsp; Thomas More Prep-Marian in Hays is set to kick off their spring semester this week principal Chad Meitner stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the post podcast

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Ready or not, it's time to get back into the swing of things. Our teachers are actually an in service training, as we speak, are working hard to prepare for the kids who come back tomorrow. So I doubt any students are listening this early. But if you are, I'm glad to hear you're already up and about Adam, you're getting ready for tomorrow.

James Bell &nbsp; They're not up. I wouldn't be up if I was them anyway. No, no, no, no, but that's very cool. You know, and we talked, you know, as you were wrapping up the semester, bad or no back in I think late November, and things are going pretty well in the school year. Right. I mean, overall.

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, yeah, we've talked a little bit about, you know, it's still the pandemic COVID issues, but yet, it's much more manageable. And I would say a light version of what we had in 2020 21. school year. So it's, it's yeah, things are rolling right along. And it's into that point where you don't have to think about all those things that can go wrong. You're just more focused on the routine things that are happening, like, you know, we're getting ready has school starts up tomorrow, we've, of course, the activities quickly follow. We'll have wrestling on Thursday, and in basketball starting on Friday, right away this week. And that's good, because you never want too much unstructured time for any of us, especially for our teenagers and our students who who do better when they're interacting with each other and doing activities.

James Bell &nbsp; Oh, sure. And especially Yeah, you know, I feel like those the athletics, you know, all of the activities kind of keep you busy. But the athletics, especially for those athletes that are that they hit that downtime, they kind of like, Oh, what do I do with myself, you know, and it's, it's really easy to just like, let it slide. And then you got to fight your way back into conditioning.

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Oh, if you've been in out for sports at the high school level, you know, that that Christmas time period where you're just all you do is kind of practice but then you're also celebrating, so you're eating a lot of rich foods and sleeping late. Yeah, coming back to get in the swing of things is a little bit of a shock. But once you get back into it, it's nice. And it's the fun time of the basketball season. I think it's when you start getting in the league games, and it's a little more exciting. So the kids will have home games to go to little kids to the big kids, they all come out and it's nice to get in the Fieldhouse and have some excitement to get together again.

James Bell &nbsp; Yeah, absolutely. But it's not just athletics, you've got some, you know, the academic activities kicking up as well, right?

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Oh, yeah, those those will kick in as well. We've got chess team, our chess team pretty much competes every Saturday, which that's a sacrifice in itself. If you think about it in high school and junior high, given up you're not every Saturday, but during the season, almost every Saturday to go compete. And of course, there's still a lot of online tournaments. It's kind of a holdover from COVID that I think people like because you're not having to travel as far. Sometimes we travel all the way to Lawrence or which Topher tournament, so there's still some in person tournaments, but they also still do a lot of virtual tournaments in our schools. So they have won this Saturday, scholars bowl that's kicking off as well. They've had some early season events, but the scholars bowl kick right and get right back into it. They have a tournament in Hutchison the JV does next Tuesday. So yeah, whether you're athletics or academics, it's time to get back and focus on that and get into that routine. Very

James Bell &nbsp; cool. And you guys have some, some extra curricular kind of special events coming up that we want to talk about as well. A march for life, I believe is coming up. Oh, here in a couple of weeks, right.

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, that's a that's a big deal. For us. It's an annual pilgrimage, I'd say because it's, it's yeah, it's an experience. It's like a field trip. But it's also kind of a spiritual growth activity for our kids, right to say, we're put on this earth to not just be about ourselves, but to be about our community and our fellow man. And so that's an opportunity for the kids to get on a bus together, go on a long bus ride, which you know, us older folks, maybe don't think a long bus ride sounds exciting, but for the kids to get out of Hayes to get out of Kansas, to go see a part of our country to do it as a community. And then to do it for a good cause to say, hey, we're out here to support life and all of its stages and all of its forms. And so they'll head off to DC they'll get on the bus on January 19. And they'll get back on the 23rd that Sunday and then jump right back into school. Very cool.

James Bell &nbsp; And what are like a beautiful time of year to go to DC I mean, I know a few we're out you're out there in July August. Well, yeah, I mean, oh, hopefully but that he that humidity out there who?

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, who gets you? Yeah, as long as you don't get like a big snowstorm coming in DC is a beautiful place even in January. Sometimes you get some mild, sunny days and it's beautiful and so the kids get to go out in March. See a lot of the sights that that you see on TV and that are really important to the history of our country. And so it's an educational, a religious, a community activity all in one. Awesome.

James Bell &nbsp; And I think we also want to talk a little bit about this. The monarch, Fred Day is coming up later on in January, right?

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, actually two days. So this is a big piece of news for anybody who's got a fifth, sixth, or even seventh and eighth grader, who is maybe in the running to attend Thomas Moore prep Marian. A lot of times if if they're not already attending Holy Family, they might be considering where they're going to go to high school or junior high. And so this is the day to come check us out to come meet the teachers to meet some of the other students. We run them through different activities, get them exposed to some of the sights and sounds of our school, and hang out with have lunch. And so it's just a great way there's it's no commitment, right? Like, if you come to monarch for a day, you're not signing up to attend. But it's a great way to come in and see what it's all about and decide, hey, this is what's best for for my child. That's why we exist is to help the family raise their children in the faith and in those academics. So yeah, the dates for the sixth and eighth graders, if you've got a grandchild, or a child who's in the sixth, seventh, or eighth grades this year, on January 14, we will host them, all you have to do to sign up is call the office at the school, six to 56577. And let us know their name and their age. And we will get them signed up. We'll pair him up with in a small group, and they will have a great time. Fifth graders, it's never too soon to start thinking about hey, what your future is. So fifth graders have a day special for them on January 21. Same format, eight to noon, we can get kids their transportation, we can help get them back to their school, their current school after lunch, so that the family doesn't have to take off work. Come pick them up and take them back. We can handle that with our buses and our Suburbans. Just again, let us know at the school at the office and we'll sign him up. Perfect.

James Bell &nbsp; Yeah, get in there. Check it out. I mean, this and one of the cool things we always talk about here we are on the Catholic schools report is that sense of community that you mentioned, because you guys have just it's such a it's a tight knit group. And, you know, the faith pieces there. But it's also you know, it's just a it's a tremendous celebration of locals coming together and I just I love the admin atmosphere and the attitudes down there at both TMP and and holy family.

Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, we want to we want to strive to welcome everybody and like, right our faith is leads us to say we want to treat everybody with dignity, respect, and we would love to have folks come to our community. It's not a closed community by any means. If you don't know anything about TMP, Marian or haze, maybe you're just recently in the area. We would love to let you get to know us a little better, because we think we've got a lot to offer. Absolutely. It's an incredible educators standard as well. Oh, yeah. A fantastic staff and faculty. You know, we're pretty blessed because a lot of those folks, they're doing it not just as a job to get a paycheck. They are doing it because they believe in the mission. They they believe that God has called them to do what they're doing. And what what better person to have teaching your children than someone who's in it fothose reasons.&nbsp;

James Bell &nbsp; Absolutely. Well, sir, we've got to get over to news, weather and sports but any last thoughts before we go?

Chad Meitner &nbsp; No, but just we're excited to get started. I hope everyone's had a great Christmas season and looking forward to hopefully some nice nose that give us moisture but that keep the roads clear and stay safe.

<div><iframe title="TMP-M kicks off spring semester" 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=zfsu5-116dbe1-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 Thomas More Prep-Marian principal, Chad Meitner stops by to talk about the start of the spring semester.<h2>Transcript</h2>James Bell &nbsp; Thomas More Prep-Marian in Hays is set to kick off their spring semester this week principal Chad Meitner stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the post podcastChad Meitner &nbsp; Ready or not, it's time to get back into the swing of things. Our teachers are actually an in service training, as we speak, are working hard to prepare for the kids who come back tomorrow. So I doubt any students are listening this early. But if you are, I'm glad to hear you're already up and about Adam, you're getting ready for tomorrow.James Bell &nbsp; They're not up. I wouldn't be up if I was them anyway. No, no, no, no, but that's very cool. You know, and we talked, you know, as you were wrapping up the semester, bad or no back in I think late November, and things are going pretty well in the school year. Right. I mean, overall.Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, yeah, we've talked a little bit about, you know, it's still the pandemic COVID issues, but yet, it's much more manageable. And I would say a light version of what we had in 2020 21. school year. So it's, it's yeah, things are rolling right along. And it's into that point where you don't have to think about all those things that can go wrong. You're just more focused on the routine things that are happening, like, you know, we're getting ready has school starts up tomorrow, we've, of course, the activities quickly follow. We'll have wrestling on Thursday, and in basketball starting on Friday, right away this week. And that's good, because you never want too much unstructured time for any of us, especially for our teenagers and our students who who do better when they're interacting with each other and doing activities.James Bell &nbsp; Oh, sure. And especially Yeah, you know, I feel like those the athletics, you know, all of the activities kind of keep you busy. But the athletics, especially for those athletes that are that they hit that downtime, they kind of like, Oh, what do I do with myself, you know, and it's, it's really easy to just like, let it slide. And then you got to fight your way back into conditioning.Chad Meitner &nbsp; Oh, if you've been in out for sports at the high school level, you know, that that Christmas time period where you're just all you do is kind of practice but then you're also celebrating, so you're eating a lot of rich foods and sleeping late. Yeah, coming back to get in the swing of things is a little bit of a shock. But once you get back into it, it's nice. And it's the fun time of the basketball season. I think it's when you start getting in the league games, and it's a little more exciting. So the kids will have home games to go to little kids to the big kids, they all come out and it's nice to get in the Fieldhouse and have some excitement to get together again.James Bell &nbsp; Yeah, absolutely. But it's not just athletics, you've got some, you know, the academic activities kicking up as well, right?Chad Meitner &nbsp; Oh, yeah, those those will kick in as well. We've got chess team, our chess team pretty much competes every Saturday, which that's a sacrifice in itself. If you think about it in high school and junior high, given up you're not every Saturday, but during the season, almost every Saturday to go compete. And of course, there's still a lot of online tournaments. It's kind of a holdover from COVID that I think people like because you're not having to travel as far. Sometimes we travel all the way to Lawrence or which Topher tournament, so there's still some in person tournaments, but they also still do a lot of virtual tournaments in our schools. So they have won this Saturday, scholars bowl that's kicking off as well. They've had some early season events, but the scholars bowl kick right and get right back into it. They have a tournament in Hutchison the JV does next Tuesday. So yeah, whether you're athletics or academics, it's time to get back and focus on that and get into that routine. VeryJames Bell &nbsp; cool. And you guys have some, some extra curricular kind of special events coming up that we want to talk about as well. A march for life, I believe is coming up. Oh, here in a couple of weeks, right.Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, that's a that's a big deal. For us. It's an annual pilgrimage, I'd say because it's, it's yeah, it's an experience. It's like a field trip. But it's also kind of a spiritual growth activity for our kids, right to say, we're put on this earth to not just be about ourselves, but to be about our community and our fellow man. And so that's an opportunity for the kids to get on a bus together, go on a long bus ride, which you know, us older folks, maybe don't think a long bus ride sounds exciting, but for the kids to get out of Hayes to get out of Kansas, to go see a part of our country to do it as a community. And then to do it for a good cause to say, hey, we're out here to support life and all of its stages and all of its forms. And so they'll head off to DC they'll get on the bus on January 19. And they'll get back on the 23rd that Sunday and then jump right back into school. Very cool.James Bell &nbsp; And what are like a beautiful time of year to go to DC I mean, I know a few we're out you're out there in July August. Well, yeah, I mean, oh, hopefully but that he that humidity out there who?Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, who gets you? Yeah, as long as you don't get like a big snowstorm coming in DC is a beautiful place even in January. Sometimes you get some mild, sunny days and it's beautiful and so the kids get to go out in March. See a lot of the sights that that you see on TV and that are really important to the history of our country. And so it's an educational, a religious, a community activity all in one. Awesome.James Bell &nbsp; And I think we also want to talk a little bit about this. The monarch, Fred Day is coming up later on in January, right?Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, actually two days. So this is a big piece of news for anybody who's got a fifth, sixth, or even seventh and eighth grader, who is maybe in the running to attend Thomas Moore prep Marian. A lot of times if if they're not already attending Holy Family, they might be considering where they're going to go to high school or junior high. And so this is the day to come check us out to come meet the teachers to meet some of the other students. We run them through different activities, get them exposed to some of the sights and sounds of our school, and hang out with have lunch. And so it's just a great way there's it's no commitment, right? Like, if you come to monarch for a day, you're not signing up to attend. But it's a great way to come in and see what it's all about and decide, hey, this is what's best for for my child. That's why we exist is to help the family raise their children in the faith and in those academics. So yeah, the dates for the sixth and eighth graders, if you've got a grandchild, or a child who's in the sixth, seventh, or eighth grades this year, on January 14, we will host them, all you have to do to sign up is call the office at the school, six to 56577. And let us know their name and their age. And we will get them signed up. We'll pair him up with in a small group, and they will have a great time. Fifth graders, it's never too soon to start thinking about hey, what your future is. So fifth graders have a day special for them on January 21. Same format, eight to noon, we can get kids their transportation, we can help get them back to their school, their current school after lunch, so that the family doesn't have to take off work. Come pick them up and take them back. We can handle that with our buses and our Suburbans. Just again, let us know at the school at the office and we'll sign him up. Perfect.James Bell &nbsp; Yeah, get in there. Check it out. I mean, this and one of the cool things we always talk about here we are on the Catholic schools report is that sense of community that you mentioned, because you guys have just it's such a it's a tight knit group. And, you know, the faith pieces there. But it's also you know, it's just a it's a tremendous celebration of locals coming together and I just I love the admin atmosphere and the attitudes down there at both TMP and and holy family.Chad Meitner &nbsp; Yeah, we want to we want to strive to welcome everybody and like, right our faith is leads us to say we want to treat everybody with dignity, respect, and we would love to have folks come to our community. It's not a closed community by any means. If you don't know anything about TMP, Marian or haze, maybe you're just recently in the area. We would love to let you get to know us a little better, because we think we've got a lot to offer. Absolutely. It's an incredible educators standard as well. Oh, yeah. A fantastic staff and faculty. You know, we're pretty blessed because a lot of those folks, they're doing it not just as a job to get a paycheck. They are doing it because they believe in the mission. They they believe that God has called them to do what they're doing. And what what better person to have teaching your children than someone who's in it fothose reasons.&nbsp;James Bell &nbsp; Absolutely. Well, sir, we've got to get over to news, weather and sports but any last thoughts before we go?Chad Meitner &nbsp; No, but just we're excited to get started. I hope everyone's had a great Christmas season and looking forward to hopefully some nice nose that give us moisture but that keep the roads clear and stay safe.

🎙Post Podcast: TMP-M kicks off spring semester

Despite a busy year at the Hays Fire Department, Chief Ryan
Hagans said he thought the year went well.

“It was another great year at the fire department,” Hagans said.

As far as emergency responses, he said the department was
dispatched to just a little more than 2,600 calls in 2021 — about seven calls per
day.

&nbsp;“It’s been a busy
year on the call volume,” Hagans said, “but to be expected to like everything
else, and we expect the numbers to go up over the years.”

Those calls included fires in the city, but also, he said
the department is proud to assist Ellis County Emergency Medical Services.

“We run hand-in-hand with Ellis County EMS, which is a great
partnership for us and for the community,” Hagans said, noting firefighters
are also trained EMTs and can assist as needed.

&nbsp;During the year, the
department benefited from the purchasing of new equipment that will assist the
department with fighting fires well into the future.

“We did have a couple of additions to our fleet this year. We were able to add in a little 300-gallon grass fire unit. That's something that
his fire department hasn’t had for a long time,” Hagans said.

The new equipment is self-contained, is similar to equipment
used by the Ellis County Rural Fire Department and will allow quicker response times
to grass fires.

A pickup was also purchased that will transport the
department’s mobile air supply.

“So, if we do have a long structure fire or something, we can
fill up our air bottles. Instead of bringing them back to the station, we just
pull this pickup up and just refill everything out there on scene handy,”
Hagans said. 

Along with the new trucks, he said some of the department’s radio
equipment was also upgraded. 

“We're just trying to keep up with what's available out
there,” Hagans said, “so we have the best that we can afford to have.”

A part of that communication equipment that is used to increase
department efficiencies are iPads that have replaced pen-and-paper business inspections.

“Some of the stuff we don't have to go back and revisit the
businesses. They can just send us a picture of anything they had to fix in an
email,” Hagans said. “It saves us time and saves them time.”

Equipment aside, he said the department also spent
significant resources this year on continuing training for the department.

“We do a lot of training for all different types of
emergencies,” Hagans said. “So far, the guys have logged over 9,200 hours of
training this year.”

While some of that training occurs locally, he said members
of the department also traveled for advanced training and were able to bring
those skills back to Hays to be shared with other members of the department.

“That works out very, very well for us,” Hagans said.

For the local training, Hagans said the department’s new
training facility has allowed for more complex training scenarios. 

“There's a three-story drill tower out there made out of
Conex boxes,” Hagans said. “We use one Conex box for a live burn training.”

Once completed, the ongoing construction of an on-site
classroom will allow for even more training opportunities.

“We've partnered up with NCK Tech and Fort Hays to construct
a classroom out there,” Hagans said. “So that project is moving along with the
classroom. Hopefully, here next year, we'll be able to get that completed, and
it'll be able to host different types of trainings out there. [It will be] open to
different fire departments throughout the state and have some classes.”

Also looking ahead to next year, Hagans said the Front Door
Fridays program will continue, giving area residents an opportunity to interact
with department members and explore their equipment.

“It's kind of an open house event if you want to just call
it that,” he said. “We started running that May through October on like the
third Friday of the month from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. That has been great. We had so
many people, I think it was September or October maybe, we had 100
people show up. Bring family, bring your kids and let them crawl around.”

It’s a fun way for the department to show their
appreciation for a supportive community.

“The community support that we received this year and over the
past years has been just great,” Hagans said. 

<div><iframe title="Hays Fire Department wraps busy year; looks ahead to 2022" 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=tyiw6-11615c4-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 PostDespite a busy year at the Hays Fire Department, Chief Ryan
Hagans said he thought the year went well.“It was another great year at the fire department,” Hagans said.As far as emergency responses, he said the department was
dispatched to just a little more than 2,600 calls in 2021 — about seven calls per
day.&nbsp;“It’s been a busy
year on the call volume,” Hagans said, “but to be expected to like everything
else, and we expect the numbers to go up over the years.”Those calls included fires in the city, but also, he said
the department is proud to assist Ellis County Emergency Medical Services.“We run hand-in-hand with Ellis County EMS, which is a great
partnership for us and for the community,” Hagans said, noting firefighters
are also trained EMTs and can assist as needed.&nbsp;During the year, the
department benefited from the purchasing of new equipment that will assist the
department with fighting fires well into the future.“We did have a couple of additions to our fleet this year. We were able to add in a little 300-gallon grass fire unit. That's something that
his fire department hasn’t had for a long time,” Hagans said.The new equipment is self-contained, is similar to equipment
used by the Ellis County Rural Fire Department and will allow quicker response times
to grass fires.A pickup was also purchased that will transport the
department’s mobile air supply.“So, if we do have a long structure fire or something, we can
fill up our air bottles. Instead of bringing them back to the station, we just
pull this pickup up and just refill everything out there on scene handy,”
Hagans said. Along with the new trucks, he said some of the department’s radio
equipment was also upgraded. “We're just trying to keep up with what's available out
there,” Hagans said, “so we have the best that we can afford to have.”A part of that communication equipment that is used to increase
department efficiencies are iPads that have replaced pen-and-paper business inspections.“Some of the stuff we don't have to go back and revisit the
businesses. They can just send us a picture of anything they had to fix in an
email,” Hagans said. “It saves us time and saves them time.”Equipment aside, he said the department also spent
significant resources this year on continuing training for the department.“We do a lot of training for all different types of
emergencies,” Hagans said. “So far, the guys have logged over 9,200 hours of
training this year.”While some of that training occurs locally, he said members
of the department also traveled for advanced training and were able to bring
those skills back to Hays to be shared with other members of the department.“That works out very, very well for us,” Hagans said.For the local training, Hagans said the department’s new
training facility has allowed for more complex training scenarios. “There's a three-story drill tower out there made out of
Conex boxes,” Hagans said. “We use one Conex box for a live burn training.”Once completed, the ongoing construction of an on-site
classroom will allow for even more training opportunities.“We've partnered up with NCK Tech and Fort Hays to construct
a classroom out there,” Hagans said. “So that project is moving along with the
classroom. Hopefully, here next year, we'll be able to get that completed, and
it'll be able to host different types of trainings out there. [It will be] open to
different fire departments throughout the state and have some classes.”Also looking ahead to next year, Hagans said the Front Door
Fridays program will continue, giving area residents an opportunity to interact
with department members and explore their equipment.“It's kind of an open house event if you want to just call
it that,” he said. “We started running that May through October on like the
third Friday of the month from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. That has been great. We had so
many people, I think it was September or October maybe, we had 100
people show up. Bring family, bring your kids and let them crawl around.”It’s a fun way for the department to show their
appreciation for a supportive community.“The community support that we received this year and over the
past years has been just great,” Hagans said.

🎙Hays Fire Department wraps busy year, looks ahead to 2022

Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams recently shared an Ellis County economic recap during the final quarterly luncheon of the year.

And while no groundbreaking surprises were presented during the hour-long event, Williams shared with the crowd some of the challenges that came to light in 2021 and some of the opportunities that also were presented.

"To say it's been a challenging year, a couple of years, would
be an understatement," Williams said.

But he said looking forward to 2022 and beyond, Ellis County has the potential to face those challenges.

"I think we need to be thinking longer-term than maybe we have in the past as we try and deal with the world as it is
today, which is a whole lot different than the world that was yesterday," Williams said.

That thinking is exactly what Grow Hays is all about, he said.

"Every time I go back and talk about...what do we do
this year, I go back to our mission," Williams said. "And so how do we fulfill our mission and
our mission is business creation, business retention and expansion, and
business recruitment."

Over the year, events such as the Robert E. Schmidt Entrepreneurship Series, the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, the Think Like an Entrepreneur Class and Think Tank Group helped with those efforts.

And he said Brief Space, the co-working space operated by Grow Hays remains a powerful tool to assist in business development.

Over the year, he said usage of the facility has increased, with students from Fort Hays State University utilizing the space and podcasting tools, while more and more other area entrepreneurs, including some established business owners, are also coming to utilize the building for various purposes.

"We keep continuing
trying to create this environment, this community of entrepreneurship because
it's critically important that we grow our own," Williams said. "We can't count on necessarily
recruiting people from outside. We continue to do that, but we also have to
grow our own."

"And then we go to a
community loan program. We currently have 25 loans out to small businesses, about $600,000 in volume. We service those, and we make more loans each
year in that program," Williams said.

Next year those efforts will be expanded, he said, as events like their Pitch It series are set to return.

Another continuing focus of the organization is succession planning.

"We work consistently on succession planning," Williams said. "We believe it's
really important that we have stories like Northwestern printers, or Werth Plumbing
Heating, as opposed to Goodwin Sporting Goods or some things like that. We
wan want succession versus closure in a business."

Key to those efforts, however, is housing for workers in those businesses. He said on that front, much work remains.

"We've done a lot in the area of housing," he said. "Our Heart of America, our RHID addition, currently, we have 10 homes under construction, actually, at
various stages, some of them actually coming up out of the ground, which is
great."

He said homes in the new development are critical to meet the community's housing needs, but also so the developers can recoup building costs and begin working on more housing projects.

The homes in that project will help, but Williams said other ongoing construction, as well as future plans for multi-family housing to be built, will be vital.&nbsp;

Among the projects he noted, was the repurposing of the former St. Joesph school into apartments, and additional construction at the Ellis Estates.

Plans in the works for a retiree community near Hays Med also continue to develop.

"We're working on it," Williams said. " One
step forward, two steps back, but we're still confident that can happen
and will happen."

As development continues, Williams shared with the group efforts to establish long-term planning for Ellis County are moving ahead full-throttle.

"We have
a new committee called the Imagine Ellis County committee which is committed to
promoting growth in Ellis County," Williams said. "We've got a couple of grants to tell our
story."

He said videos on Ellis County have been developed, highlighting the benefits of living in the area.

Helping in the effort to recruit and retain businesses, Grow Hays this year also hired a new director of recruitment and retainment.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/3c8396f7-800d-405c-8251-7fdc9d72eca3">David Clingan was hired in the role earlier this month and will begin in the role on Jan. 3.</a>

"We were very fortunate, and thank you to the city of Hays and Ellis County," Williams said.&nbsp; "They both stepped up to the plate this year with some funding for our
organization to allow us to hire... And we're expecting big things."

A key component of that recruitment is having the workforce and, even setting housing shortages aside, regional population decline could dampen the ability of Hays to maintain the level of businesses currently supported.

"And as I look forward, there's one obvious, in my opinion, elephant in the room, and this may be a little beyond 2022, but if we look at the population trends
for western Kansas...northwest Kansas shrank by .62 percent," Williams said. "And
that's our trade area. So we've got a situation where we're growing just a
little bit or holding our own, (while) our trade area is shrinking. And that's not a
good combination."

Work needs to be done now to ward off regional population decline.

"If we want to grow that workforce, we really got to
start thinking about some things we have to do and what we have to be more
proactive about," Williams said.

But as more and more people are looking to leave urban areas in favor of more rural areas, he said he is hopeful the housing concerns can be addressed soon enough to capture that potential workforce.

"We have an
opportunity here that is kind of unique in the next 10 years. [There are] some statistics that talk about, there's going to be up to 20 million people
migrating from urban areas to rural areas... We need to make sure that we're in a position
to capture those urban migrators, at least a share."

Even with the challenges, Williams said he felt the year was productive for the organization as it looks ahead.

"I think we had a really good year. There's
certainly a lot of things I wish we had done faster and gotten more
done, but hopefully, that's always the case," Williams said. "So now we look forward to 2022."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640279693304.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><div><iframe title="Grow Hays hosts 2021 wrap up" 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=m7awf-116116a-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 PostGrow Hays executive director Doug Williams recently shared an Ellis County economic recap during the final quarterly luncheon of the year.And while no groundbreaking surprises were presented during the hour-long event, Williams shared with the crowd some of the challenges that came to light in 2021 and some of the opportunities that also were presented."To say it's been a challenging year, a couple of years, would
be an understatement," Williams said.But he said looking forward to 2022 and beyond, Ellis County has the potential to face those challenges."I think we need to be thinking longer-term than maybe we have in the past as we try and deal with the world as it is
today, which is a whole lot different than the world that was yesterday," Williams said.That thinking is exactly what Grow Hays is all about, he said."Every time I go back and talk about...what do we do
this year, I go back to our mission," Williams said. "And so how do we fulfill our mission and
our mission is business creation, business retention and expansion, and
business recruitment."Over the year, events such as the Robert E. Schmidt Entrepreneurship Series, the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, the Think Like an Entrepreneur Class and Think Tank Group helped with those efforts.And he said Brief Space, the co-working space operated by Grow Hays remains a powerful tool to assist in business development.Over the year, he said usage of the facility has increased, with students from Fort Hays State University utilizing the space and podcasting tools, while more and more other area entrepreneurs, including some established business owners, are also coming to utilize the building for various purposes."We keep continuing
trying to create this environment, this community of entrepreneurship because
it's critically important that we grow our own," Williams said. "We can't count on necessarily
recruiting people from outside. We continue to do that, but we also have to
grow our own.""And then we go to a
community loan program. We currently have 25 loans out to small businesses, about $600,000 in volume. We service those, and we make more loans each
year in that program," Williams said.Next year those efforts will be expanded, he said, as events like their Pitch It series are set to return.Another continuing focus of the organization is succession planning."We work consistently on succession planning," Williams said. "We believe it's
really important that we have stories like Northwestern printers, or Werth Plumbing
Heating, as opposed to Goodwin Sporting Goods or some things like that. We
wan want succession versus closure in a business."Key to those efforts, however, is housing for workers in those businesses. He said on that front, much work remains."We've done a lot in the area of housing," he said. "Our Heart of America, our RHID addition, currently, we have 10 homes under construction, actually, at
various stages, some of them actually coming up out of the ground, which is
great."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640279674001.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>He said homes in the new development are critical to meet the community's housing needs, but also so the developers can recoup building costs and begin working on more housing projects.The homes in that project will help, but Williams said other ongoing construction, as well as future plans for multi-family housing to be built, will be vital.&nbsp;Among the projects he noted, was the repurposing of the former St. Joesph school into apartments, and additional construction at the Ellis Estates.Plans in the works for a retiree community near Hays Med also continue to develop."We're working on it," Williams said. " One
step forward, two steps back, but we're still confident that can happen
and will happen."<h2>Looking ahead</h2>As development continues, Williams shared with the group efforts to establish long-term planning for Ellis County are moving ahead full-throttle."We have
a new committee called the Imagine Ellis County committee which is committed to
promoting growth in Ellis County," Williams said. "We've got a couple of grants to tell our
story."He said videos on Ellis County have been developed, highlighting the benefits of living in the area.Helping in the effort to recruit and retain businesses, Grow Hays this year also hired a new director of recruitment and retainment.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640279684000.jpeg" alt="David Clingan was hired by Grow Hays in December to fill the newly created role of director of recruitment and retainment." />
 <figcaption>David Clingan was hired by Grow Hays in December to fill the newly created role of director of recruitment and retainment.</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/3c8396f7-800d-405c-8251-7fdc9d72eca3">David Clingan was hired in the role earlier this month and will begin in the role on Jan. 3.</a>"We were very fortunate, and thank you to the city of Hays and Ellis County," Williams said.&nbsp; "They both stepped up to the plate this year with some funding for our
organization to allow us to hire... And we're expecting big things."A key component of that recruitment is having the workforce and, even setting housing shortages aside, regional population decline could dampen the ability of Hays to maintain the level of businesses currently supported."And as I look forward, there's one obvious, in my opinion, elephant in the room, and this may be a little beyond 2022, but if we look at the population trends
for western Kansas...northwest Kansas shrank by .62 percent," Williams said. "And
that's our trade area. So we've got a situation where we're growing just a
little bit or holding our own, (while) our trade area is shrinking. And that's not a
good combination."Work needs to be done now to ward off regional population decline."If we want to grow that workforce, we really got to
start thinking about some things we have to do and what we have to be more
proactive about," Williams said.But as more and more people are looking to leave urban areas in favor of more rural areas, he said he is hopeful the housing concerns can be addressed soon enough to capture that potential workforce."We have an
opportunity here that is kind of unique in the next 10 years. [There are] some statistics that talk about, there's going to be up to 20 million people
migrating from urban areas to rural areas... We need to make sure that we're in a position
to capture those urban migrators, at least a share."Even with the challenges, Williams said he felt the year was productive for the organization as it looks ahead."I think we had a really good year. There's
certainly a lot of things I wish we had done faster and gotten more
done, but hopefully, that's always the case," Williams said. "So now we look forward to 2022."

🎙 Williams: 2021 year of challenges, opportunities

A new year is quickly approaching, and for the Hays Chamber
that means another awards banquet celebrating area business people for their work
and contributions to Hays and beyond.

“The annual chamber awards banquet is one of the best nights
that the chamber gets to celebrate every year, and it also serves as a
fundraiser for the chamber,” said president and CEO Sarah Wasinger. “And more
than anything, it's just really a great chance to celebrate our strong business
community and the individuals who make Hays such a special place to live, work
and play.”

This year eight awards will be given out, including one of
the chamber’s newest awards the Werth Wealth Management Member Investor of the
Year Award.

“The award is focused on businesses that invest capital into
the Hays community and events that the Chamber sponsors, as well as investing
time,” said Tim Werth, founding&nbsp; and managing partner of Werth&nbsp;Wealth
Management.

“We think this will be a very exciting one. We've never had
this award before,” Wasinger said.

Also being added this year is the Grow Hays Robert E.
Schmidt Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

“This award is going to be presented annually to an
entrepreneur who has demonstrated the ability to create and grow their business
while adding value to our communities,” Wasinger said.

“The award, just as a whole, I'd say, what a great
tribute to one of the true icons and pillars of the Hays community. How
appropriate to have that named after Robert Schmidt,” Werth said. 

“There are a number of great entrepreneurs in the Hays
community, a number of great businesses. And it's obvious that
brings dollars into communities when you have successful businesses. And, you
know, Robert Schmidt certainly laid a good path for many to follow.”

Awards returning this year include the City of Hays Small
Business Achievement Award, eyeSMILE Vision &amp; Dental Helping Hands Award, Golden
Belt Bank Hall of Fame Award, Nex-Tech Citizen of the Year Award, Nex-Tech
Wireless Businesswoman of the Year Award and the Vyve Broadband Rising Star
Award.

While the awards will celebrate those making a difference in
the community, the banquet also serves as a fundraiser for the chamber, itself
a community resource.

“We have such a great community and a lot to be proud of,”
Werth said. “And it takes it takes work from all of us to make a community go
and what a great investment to make into the chamber and, you know, other civic
organizations as well, that makes our community so great.”

Award nominations are due to the chamber by Jan. 7. The
banquet is scheduled for Jan. 25.

“And of course, because we pick January for that day,
sometimes weather can, you know, poke fun at your plans and good intentions,”
Wasinger said. “So the backup weather date would be Feb. 1."

The evening is set to begin with a social at 5:30 p.m. in
the Black and Gold Room located on Memorial Union on the Fort Hays State
University campus.

Dinner will be provided again by Chartwells, one of our
premier sponsors, and the program will start around 7 p.m.

“We intend on wrapping up right around 8:30 p.m., Wasinger said.
“So, it's really about three hours, just wonderful socializing, networking with
your counterparts across the business community. And then, of course, getting to
see some wonderful businesses and folks being recognized.”

A full list of awards and requirements can be seen below. <a href="https://hayschamber.com/">For more information, including the nomination form, visit hayschamber.com.</a>

City of Hays Small Business Achievement Award

 • Must be a long-standing member and a small business that has had a significant impact on the community, and contributed to the overall success of the Hays area.

eyeSMILE Vision &amp; Dental Helping Hands Award

 • Demonstrated commitment to caring, generosity of spirit, openness and inclusion

Golden Belt Bank Hall of Fame Award

 • Long-term community service and history of civic imvolvement

 • Demonstrated excellence in business or profession

Grow Hays Robert E. Schmidt Entrepreneur of the Year Award

 • This award is presented annually to an entrepreneur who has demonstrated the ability to create and grow their business while adding value to our community.

Nex-Tech Citizen of the Year Award

 • Community involvement during the past year

 • Has given themselves for the betterment of our community and it’s people over the past year

Nex-Tech Wireless Businesswoman of the Year Award

 • Business accomplishments, history of community service, Chamber participation, etc.

 • Assists others in reaching their full leadership potential

 • Within the ages of 21-40 with a history of community service and Chamber participation, etc.

 • Demonstrated excellence in leadership qualities in business or community

Werth Wealth Management Member Investor of the Year Award

 • Consideration will be given to members who support the chamber throughout the year through the investment of capital and time of volunteers, including service to the Board of Directors, Ambassadors, Hays Young Professionals, and committees, as well as attending chamber events throughout the year.

<div><iframe title="Annual Chamber Award Banquet nomination open now" 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=wvw2e-116045d-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 PostA new year is quickly approaching, and for the Hays Chamber
that means another awards banquet celebrating area business people for their work
and contributions to Hays and beyond.“The annual chamber awards banquet is one of the best nights
that the chamber gets to celebrate every year, and it also serves as a
fundraiser for the chamber,” said president and CEO Sarah Wasinger. “And more
than anything, it's just really a great chance to celebrate our strong business
community and the individuals who make Hays such a special place to live, work
and play.”This year eight awards will be given out, including one of
the chamber’s newest awards the Werth Wealth Management Member Investor of the
Year Award.“The award is focused on businesses that invest capital into
the Hays community and events that the Chamber sponsors, as well as investing
time,” said Tim Werth, founding&nbsp; and managing partner of Werth&nbsp;Wealth
Management.“We think this will be a very exciting one. We've never had
this award before,” Wasinger said.Also being added this year is the Grow Hays Robert E.
Schmidt Entrepreneur of the Year Award.“This award is going to be presented annually to an
entrepreneur who has demonstrated the ability to create and grow their business
while adding value to our communities,” Wasinger said.“The award, just as a whole, I'd say, what a great
tribute to one of the true icons and pillars of the Hays community. How
appropriate to have that named after Robert Schmidt,” Werth said. “There are a number of great entrepreneurs in the Hays
community, a number of great businesses. And it's obvious that
brings dollars into communities when you have successful businesses. And, you
know, Robert Schmidt certainly laid a good path for many to follow.”Awards returning this year include the City of Hays Small
Business Achievement Award, eyeSMILE Vision &amp; Dental Helping Hands Award, Golden
Belt Bank Hall of Fame Award, Nex-Tech Citizen of the Year Award, Nex-Tech
Wireless Businesswoman of the Year Award and the Vyve Broadband Rising Star
Award.While the awards will celebrate those making a difference in
the community, the banquet also serves as a fundraiser for the chamber, itself
a community resource.“We have such a great community and a lot to be proud of,”
Werth said. “And it takes it takes work from all of us to make a community go
and what a great investment to make into the chamber and, you know, other civic
organizations as well, that makes our community so great.”Award nominations are due to the chamber by Jan. 7. The
banquet is scheduled for Jan. 25.“And of course, because we pick January for that day,
sometimes weather can, you know, poke fun at your plans and good intentions,”
Wasinger said. “So the backup weather date would be Feb. 1."The evening is set to begin with a social at 5:30 p.m. in
the Black and Gold Room located on Memorial Union on the Fort Hays State
University campus.Dinner will be provided again by Chartwells, one of our
premier sponsors, and the program will start around 7 p.m.“We intend on wrapping up right around 8:30 p.m., Wasinger said.
“So, it's really about three hours, just wonderful socializing, networking with
your counterparts across the business community. And then, of course, getting to
see some wonderful businesses and folks being recognized.”A full list of awards and requirements can be seen below. <a href="https://hayschamber.com/">For more information, including the nomination form, visit hayschamber.com.</a>City of Hays Small Business Achievement Award • Must be a long-standing member and a small business that has had a significant impact on the community, and contributed to the overall success of the Hays area.eyeSMILE Vision &amp; Dental Helping Hands Award • Nonprofit organization or employee • Demonstrated commitment to caring, generosity of spirit, openness and inclusionGolden Belt Bank Hall of Fame Award • Long-term community service and history of civic imvolvement • Demonstrated excellence in business or professionGrow Hays Robert E. Schmidt Entrepreneur of the Year Award • This award is presented annually to an entrepreneur who has demonstrated the ability to create and grow their business while adding value to our community.Nex-Tech Citizen of the Year Award • Community involvement during the past year • Has given themselves for the betterment of our community and it’s people over the past yearNex-Tech Wireless Businesswoman of the Year Award • Business accomplishments, history of community service, Chamber participation, etc. • Assists others in reaching their full leadership potentialVyve Broadband Rising Star Award • Within the ages of 21-40 with a history of community service and Chamber participation, etc. • Demonstrated excellence in leadership qualities in business or communityWerth Wealth Management Member Investor of the Year Award • Consideration will be given to members who support the chamber throughout the year through the investment of capital and time of volunteers, including service to the Board of Directors, Ambassadors, Hays Young Professionals, and committees, as well as attending chamber events throughout the year.Cover photo courtesy Pixabay.

🎙Nominations open for annual Hays chamber awards

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Hays Arts Council executive director Brenda Meder shares the latest from the council.

The Winter Artwalk may be over. But there's still an opportunity to see the five state photography show at the Hays Arts Council and maybe get in a little holiday shopping as well, Executive Director Brenda Meder stops by to talk to us about what's going on at the Arts Council this month. On this episode of the Post Podcast.

We've got is 150 fabulous photographs in this year's Five State Photography Exhibition. As a lot of people know, we opened the exhibition on Saturday, December 4, as the anchor of our winter, our walk. And and in fact, while I'm mentioning that, I'll just let everyone know, if you use us Facebook, I put a nice album up about I think 80 images, just to the various sites and the features, and some people enjoying them. And that is up on our Facebook page. And I don't have it on our website, I'll move it over there, but it is on our Facebook page. So you can just see how what a lovely day It wasn't. It was wonderful. And again, that's the day we opened the five state. And we did have a lot of photographers that were visiting from the Kansas City area from Winfield and we had people from McPherson, I know we had some people from Nebraska, I think we had some Oklahoma, I know some around the Wichita area. So it's wonderful that this project has such a level of appreciation that they appreciate it so much, because they know we're not going to do any formal ceremonies or make any big announcements or, you know, it's just come and enjoy great art. And so we just invite the community to do that as well. And the good news is we know the holidays can be a little crazy, which is why when it's a show we put this much work into and is this enjoyable for everyone people you know, there's something for everyone in this show. This show will run through February the 11th. So a good long time yet you know, schedules again are crazy during the holidays and will be shut down in a little bit over the two big holiday weekends and, and we know other people will be traveling, but on February the 11th. So you've got some great time to just come in and take a look when you've got a few minutes you're downtown. Because there isn't a fee. Nobody bothers you. It's just come in and enjoy a little bit of background music we'll be playing and and you know, we say hello, we say goodbye and unless you need something, we leave you alone just to enjoy. So please, please do come by and check it out. But it was a really great day. We had a lot of fun. And a lot of really wonderful things. It was such a great opportunity to see such a diverse array of creativity and imagination and arts and culture in our community. They were quilt shows in the photography. I went down and got to catch part of one of the martial arts demonstrations and it's such it's such an ancient art form, you know the aikido that was going on, I caught a little bit of that and, and some of the model building that was down there as well as you know, to great BFA and one fantastic MFA show. Factor I'll give her a shout out if you haven't been down to see Wendy tan show yet. And I know you guys have been reading some stuff on his post about it. It's really a fabulous show and it's one of those that's unique and interesting and it's just been a resounding success. So I got no connection to that one but it's a great show. And it and you know maybe not so bad to get a park on campus this week with it being finals and people kind of coming and going at different times. But I believe her show goes through this Friday. So it was it was just it was really really wonderful. The the sculpture students were out forging metal and showing some of their wares and stuff over at the Pavilion and there was a youth artwork and it was it was just a really good day. And again come see us if you didn't get a chance to and when you do come see us it'll also be a great opportunity to check out our Gift Gallery. As most people know our Gift Gallery is not real big and you know there's not you know we've got a great diversity of things in there but it's not like we have some big seasonal changeover but it's a great place to find something unique. The Coburn pottery that we have is always really popular. In fact we've had that going out in the last few days in a couple of really nice big chunks and at the Artwalk we did as well. But this wonderful decorative and functional pottery microwave oven and dishwasher safe made by Steve Coburn and Selena really really wonderful prices on it. It's beautiful a pottery but very simple in its in its form because its function is fabulous. And people have been loving it for years because it's basically been the same designs. We've also got if if you've got you know a fine art follower on your on your Christmas list. It doesn't have to cost a fortune. We've got this entire binder book of Maciel etchings, original original pulled press etchings for only $45 an etching and then if you want something with a little bit more drama and color, those wonderful little flowers that Nick also does, and those are those are these wonderful little floral paintings. They're framed and matted, and they're only 150 but they are original paintings. There's some larger floral works in there by Mick as well. We've got a little bit of some handcrafted jewelry. We've got a nice selection of books. I know there's people who know and remember the lovely lovely Pamela Shafer who is a person fessor in the English department for many, many years, and just here, shortly over, well, it's only going to be about a year now, shortly before she passed away, her book came out letters to marry, which was a collection of letters that she edited of her uncle writing to her and her uncle was Bishop, Monsignor Furman Schmitt. And we do have copies of that book at our gallery, Mary Kay Schippers family farms series, a couple of wonderful things by Nicole Thibodeau. And so there are some some books and things like that even down there. And there's some wonderful little glass necklace pendants that are there fused glass, and there's so many different colors, and you put them on whatever chord or chain you choose. They're original, they're handmade, they're only $15. So there are some fun things down there. So come check us out. Anytime we're open the gift galleries open.

Very cool. Yeah, I can attest those photos. Oh, it was an incredible show. There is such a such a diversity of photos. I know. And I took the family down, we all kind of we had a lot of fun picking our favorites, our top three and going through the whole gallery. But it was interesting to me, everybody in my family picked some different and it was such a, again, such a diversity. You know, the kiddos had a completely different either than my wife and I and just really cool and it does

And that I think it's we all point to different things there. The juror statement. Oh, in fact, I'll come back to that. But the juror statement, complete album of all 150 works. If it's somebody who says I just never get to downtown Hays, sorry. But I do think it's a great idea. You can see all 150 works on our website, I stayed up until the wee hours, I'm going to get that on. Because we don't just post part of them. They're all up there all 150 photographs are on our website in an album, the award winners are in their own separate album, the jury statement is there. And so go to our website, Hayes arts council.org. Go go to there, if during the holidays, you just want to have something to scroll through, you will see the diversity, the names of the photographers are on there, where they come from, which is all over the five states Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, and the title of their piece. And you'll see see how broad This is. And you'll also in fact, if you've never entered before even seen it, but you are a photographer, I've left the call for entry up there. So because it'll look the same next year, probably overall. So you can even check out what's involved and maybe be thinking of it for your for yourself. But in the juror statement. He quoted this very well known, respected, famous photography curator that worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in this quote, and I'm gonna paraphrase it badly. But he referenced that this this gentleman, he gave his quote, comparing photography to the act of painting. And I thought that was so fascinating, because that is what it is, is like, oh, gotta get this, there is something about that act of pointing, whether you whether it's something pretty to look at, or not so great, or dark or whimsical, or a great sunset, I mean, look at the people have been pointing, quote unquote, at their sunsets for the last week or so, through photography, they really wanted to make sure you saw that and pointing at it. And all of a sudden, it clarifies, in some ways, some of those images that he chose, because you kind of go, Huh, I wonder why they would pick that. But again, if you liken it to the act of pointing, you know, that's, that's kind of an interesting concept. And so yeah, you see, you see a lot of that your kids pointing, quote, unquote, it's something different than you were and someone is their height may have had something to do with something a little lower, some are a little higher. But But yeah, it's, it's it's a great assortment of things to just enjoy. And I'm curious, how do you like that? Eight by 10 format that we've been utilizing for the last two years?

I like it, because it you don't have to focus so much on, you know, to be honest with you, and the older and the other shows in the past style. Yeah, the you know, the big ones are the ones that catch your eye, I think,

Right? Whether they're stronger or not than something else, there's just a sliceof it. 

Yeah, exactly. And with this format, you know, you they're kind of all even keel. Yeah.&nbsp;

And that's what I've been getting. That's what I've been getting from a lot of folks. And when you consider that most photography shows anymore. For the most part, there are a lot of shows that go on, like what we do when it comes to photography. They're they're more of an online presence now, because the digital format of photography. And so when people say, oh, gosh, I don't like doing something that's small. And this because I work big. It's like, well, if you enter anything or you have your website, everybody's going to be looking on it on a little tiny. And the images people are going to be looking at are going to be far smaller than the eight by 10 images that you're seeing at the Hays Arts Council. But yeah, looks great. Everything's framed and matted really cleanly. And everyone's framed and matted identically. So it really is all about the image. And I think also propels you to engage with each image a little bit more, because you don't sort of scan you have too close and personal with each one. So good. I'm excited for that feedback, because I've been trying to get that from from from folks. But yeah, that's one of the things that'll carry us over into the new year. And then just as a heads up, after the beginning of the year, we'll be getting information out Smoky Hill art exhibition, it's hard to believe that one rolls right into the next. But the state's oldest juried Fine Art competitive, which, you know, covers paintings and sculpture and, and printmaking and drawing and photography and ceramics. And, you know, I mean, it's any fine art medium, and that information will be going out sometime probably by about mid January, and also announced after the beginning of the year, we'll be getting the information out on our creative writing contest. And with with so many more families doing homeschooling in the last couple of years, I want to remind everyone that our Creative Writing Contest is definitely welcomes entries from homeschooled students, as well. In Ellis County, this is an Ellis County project. This one because it is large, the English department, the university, bless their souls work as the judging panel for our project. And so I have to keep that one in check. But anybody that is an Ellis County resident, so in public schools, private schools, or homeschooled, keep your eyes open for that in both prose and poetry. We'll also be getting information out on famous figures got a lot of great things we're doing in the schools. So we're gonna keep bringing it as we turn the corner and enter 2022.

Excellent. Yeah, I love that their involvement with those kiddos. And especially I know that the famous figures is it as a huge hit every day.

And it's going to be so great. I booked beach mid, we're going to be back on stage with the live competition. Oh, nice, wonderful that we didn't jettison in the last couple of years and did this recorded version in two different styles, genres, formats, if you will, the last couple of years that were scheduled back in beechmont for that back in the big ballroom at the University for a creative writing award. So those kids can get that public recognition and an acknowledgement that they deserve. And that makes everybody very proud of their accomplishments. And so yeah, hopefully, we'll be back in the saddle re rescheduling J unless the Katy laughing matters that we're supposed to have this fall, tucking them into the spring. So actually, the spring is going to be full because of a couple of things we've had to restructure, but, but it's all good. And just come see us at the Arts Council. We will be closed December 24, fifth, sixth and seventh. And then again that Friday through Monday combo, New Year's weekend. But otherwise, we're open, come down and see us we will be open during weekdays. The rest of this week will be open Saturday. And we will be open through next week through the 23rd close to 24th. So if you're just you know kind of stuck on a gift idea, you may not find it with us, but you can share come in and look and at least it'll be something different than you saw someplace else.

Yeah, when do if you've got some family in town and your head now down to get some lunch or something pop on?

Yeah, a lot of people do Christmas, you know, like the weekend before the weekend or two weekends after something. Yeah, pop on in on Saturday. We're just open 10 to one. But yeah, come down early and check us out before you go to lunch. But the gift opportunities are there through the end of the day, next week, Thursday. And like I said, if we if it doesn't fit, you know, no harm, no foul, you'll see some breaks. And if it does, maybe you'll get a unique gift that you hadn't thought of.

<div><iframe title="Holiday season a perfect time to enjoy the Hays Art Center" 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=hb4s7-115fee2-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 Arts Council executive director Brenda Meder shares the latest from the council.<h2>Transcript</h2>James BellThe Winter Artwalk may be over. But there's still an opportunity to see the five state photography show at the Hays Arts Council and maybe get in a little holiday shopping as well, Executive Director Brenda Meder stops by to talk to us about what's going on at the Arts Council this month. On this episode of the Post Podcast.Brenda MederWe've got is 150 fabulous photographs in this year's Five State Photography Exhibition. As a lot of people know, we opened the exhibition on Saturday, December 4, as the anchor of our winter, our walk. And and in fact, while I'm mentioning that, I'll just let everyone know, if you use us Facebook, I put a nice album up about I think 80 images, just to the various sites and the features, and some people enjoying them. And that is up on our Facebook page. And I don't have it on our website, I'll move it over there, but it is on our Facebook page. So you can just see how what a lovely day It wasn't. It was wonderful. And again, that's the day we opened the five state. And we did have a lot of photographers that were visiting from the Kansas City area from Winfield and we had people from McPherson, I know we had some people from Nebraska, I think we had some Oklahoma, I know some around the Wichita area. So it's wonderful that this project has such a level of appreciation that they appreciate it so much, because they know we're not going to do any formal ceremonies or make any big announcements or, you know, it's just come and enjoy great art. And so we just invite the community to do that as well. And the good news is we know the holidays can be a little crazy, which is why when it's a show we put this much work into and is this enjoyable for everyone people you know, there's something for everyone in this show. This show will run through February the 11th. So a good long time yet you know, schedules again are crazy during the holidays and will be shut down in a little bit over the two big holiday weekends and, and we know other people will be traveling, but on February the 11th. So you've got some great time to just come in and take a look when you've got a few minutes you're downtown. Because there isn't a fee. Nobody bothers you. It's just come in and enjoy a little bit of background music we'll be playing and and you know, we say hello, we say goodbye and unless you need something, we leave you alone just to enjoy. So please, please do come by and check it out. But it was a really great day. We had a lot of fun. And a lot of really wonderful things. It was such a great opportunity to see such a diverse array of creativity and imagination and arts and culture in our community. They were quilt shows in the photography. I went down and got to catch part of one of the martial arts demonstrations and it's such it's such an ancient art form, you know the aikido that was going on, I caught a little bit of that and, and some of the model building that was down there as well as you know, to great BFA and one fantastic MFA show. Factor I'll give her a shout out if you haven't been down to see Wendy tan show yet. And I know you guys have been reading some stuff on his post about it. It's really a fabulous show and it's one of those that's unique and interesting and it's just been a resounding success. So I got no connection to that one but it's a great show. And it and you know maybe not so bad to get a park on campus this week with it being finals and people kind of coming and going at different times. But I believe her show goes through this Friday. So it was it was just it was really really wonderful. The the sculpture students were out forging metal and showing some of their wares and stuff over at the Pavilion and there was a youth artwork and it was it was just a really good day. And again come see us if you didn't get a chance to and when you do come see us it'll also be a great opportunity to check out our Gift Gallery. As most people know our Gift Gallery is not real big and you know there's not you know we've got a great diversity of things in there but it's not like we have some big seasonal changeover but it's a great place to find something unique. The Coburn pottery that we have is always really popular. In fact we've had that going out in the last few days in a couple of really nice big chunks and at the Artwalk we did as well. But this wonderful decorative and functional pottery microwave oven and dishwasher safe made by Steve Coburn and Selena really really wonderful prices on it. It's beautiful a pottery but very simple in its in its form because its function is fabulous. And people have been loving it for years because it's basically been the same designs. We've also got if if you've got you know a fine art follower on your on your Christmas list. It doesn't have to cost a fortune. We've got this entire binder book of Maciel etchings, original original pulled press etchings for only $45 an etching and then if you want something with a little bit more drama and color, those wonderful little flowers that Nick also does, and those are those are these wonderful little floral paintings. They're framed and matted, and they're only 150 but they are original paintings. There's some larger floral works in there by Mick as well. We've got a little bit of some handcrafted jewelry. We've got a nice selection of books. I know there's people who know and remember the lovely lovely Pamela Shafer who is a person fessor in the English department for many, many years, and just here, shortly over, well, it's only going to be about a year now, shortly before she passed away, her book came out letters to marry, which was a collection of letters that she edited of her uncle writing to her and her uncle was Bishop, Monsignor Furman Schmitt. And we do have copies of that book at our gallery, Mary Kay Schippers family farms series, a couple of wonderful things by Nicole Thibodeau. And so there are some some books and things like that even down there. And there's some wonderful little glass necklace pendants that are there fused glass, and there's so many different colors, and you put them on whatever chord or chain you choose. They're original, they're handmade, they're only $15. So there are some fun things down there. So come check us out. Anytime we're open the gift galleries open.James Bell Very cool. Yeah, I can attest those photos. Oh, it was an incredible show. There is such a such a diversity of photos. I know. And I took the family down, we all kind of we had a lot of fun picking our favorites, our top three and going through the whole gallery. But it was interesting to me, everybody in my family picked some different and it was such a, again, such a diversity. You know, the kiddos had a completely different either than my wife and I and just really cool and it doesBrenda Meder And that I think it's we all point to different things there. The juror statement. Oh, in fact, I'll come back to that. But the juror statement, complete album of all 150 works. If it's somebody who says I just never get to downtown Hays, sorry. But I do think it's a great idea. You can see all 150 works on our website, I stayed up until the wee hours, I'm going to get that on. Because we don't just post part of them. They're all up there all 150 photographs are on our website in an album, the award winners are in their own separate album, the jury statement is there. And so go to our website, Hayes arts council.org. Go go to there, if during the holidays, you just want to have something to scroll through, you will see the diversity, the names of the photographers are on there, where they come from, which is all over the five states Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, and the title of their piece. And you'll see see how broad This is. And you'll also in fact, if you've never entered before even seen it, but you are a photographer, I've left the call for entry up there. So because it'll look the same next year, probably overall. So you can even check out what's involved and maybe be thinking of it for your for yourself. But in the juror statement. He quoted this very well known, respected, famous photography curator that worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in this quote, and I'm gonna paraphrase it badly. But he referenced that this this gentleman, he gave his quote, comparing photography to the act of painting. And I thought that was so fascinating, because that is what it is, is like, oh, gotta get this, there is something about that act of pointing, whether you whether it's something pretty to look at, or not so great, or dark or whimsical, or a great sunset, I mean, look at the people have been pointing, quote unquote, at their sunsets for the last week or so, through photography, they really wanted to make sure you saw that and pointing at it. And all of a sudden, it clarifies, in some ways, some of those images that he chose, because you kind of go, Huh, I wonder why they would pick that. But again, if you liken it to the act of pointing, you know, that's, that's kind of an interesting concept. And so yeah, you see, you see a lot of that your kids pointing, quote, unquote, it's something different than you were and someone is their height may have had something to do with something a little lower, some are a little higher. But But yeah, it's, it's it's a great assortment of things to just enjoy. And I'm curious, how do you like that? Eight by 10 format that we've been utilizing for the last two years?James Bell I like it, because it you don't have to focus so much on, you know, to be honest with you, and the older and the other shows in the past style. Yeah, the you know, the big ones are the ones that catch your eye, I think,Brenda Meder Right? Whether they're stronger or not than something else, there's just a sliceof it. James Bell Yeah, exactly. And with this format, you know, you they're kind of all even keel. Yeah.&nbsp;Brenda MederAnd that's what I've been getting. That's what I've been getting from a lot of folks. And when you consider that most photography shows anymore. For the most part, there are a lot of shows that go on, like what we do when it comes to photography. They're they're more of an online presence now, because the digital format of photography. And so when people say, oh, gosh, I don't like doing something that's small. And this because I work big. It's like, well, if you enter anything or you have your website, everybody's going to be looking on it on a little tiny. And the images people are going to be looking at are going to be far smaller than the eight by 10 images that you're seeing at the Hays Arts Council. But yeah, looks great. Everything's framed and matted really cleanly. And everyone's framed and matted identically. So it really is all about the image. And I think also propels you to engage with each image a little bit more, because you don't sort of scan you have too close and personal with each one. So good. I'm excited for that feedback, because I've been trying to get that from from from folks. But yeah, that's one of the things that'll carry us over into the new year. And then just as a heads up, after the beginning of the year, we'll be getting information out Smoky Hill art exhibition, it's hard to believe that one rolls right into the next. But the state's oldest juried Fine Art competitive, which, you know, covers paintings and sculpture and, and printmaking and drawing and photography and ceramics. And, you know, I mean, it's any fine art medium, and that information will be going out sometime probably by about mid January, and also announced after the beginning of the year, we'll be getting the information out on our creative writing contest. And with with so many more families doing homeschooling in the last couple of years, I want to remind everyone that our Creative Writing Contest is definitely welcomes entries from homeschooled students, as well. In Ellis County, this is an Ellis County project. This one because it is large, the English department, the university, bless their souls work as the judging panel for our project. And so I have to keep that one in check. But anybody that is an Ellis County resident, so in public schools, private schools, or homeschooled, keep your eyes open for that in both prose and poetry. We'll also be getting information out on famous figures got a lot of great things we're doing in the schools. So we're gonna keep bringing it as we turn the corner and enter 2022.James Bell Excellent. Yeah, I love that their involvement with those kiddos. And especially I know that the famous figures is it as a huge hit every day.Brenda MederAnd it's going to be so great. I booked beach mid, we're going to be back on stage with the live competition. Oh, nice, wonderful that we didn't jettison in the last couple of years and did this recorded version in two different styles, genres, formats, if you will, the last couple of years that were scheduled back in beechmont for that back in the big ballroom at the University for a creative writing award. So those kids can get that public recognition and an acknowledgement that they deserve. And that makes everybody very proud of their accomplishments. And so yeah, hopefully, we'll be back in the saddle re rescheduling J unless the Katy laughing matters that we're supposed to have this fall, tucking them into the spring. So actually, the spring is going to be full because of a couple of things we've had to restructure, but, but it's all good. And just come see us at the Arts Council. We will be closed December 24, fifth, sixth and seventh. And then again that Friday through Monday combo, New Year's weekend. But otherwise, we're open, come down and see us we will be open during weekdays. The rest of this week will be open Saturday. And we will be open through next week through the 23rd close to 24th. So if you're just you know kind of stuck on a gift idea, you may not find it with us, but you can share come in and look and at least it'll be something different than you saw someplace else.James Bell Yeah, when do if you've got some family in town and your head now down to get some lunch or something pop on?Brenda MederYeah, a lot of people do Christmas, you know, like the weekend before the weekend or two weekends after something. Yeah, pop on in on Saturday. We're just open 10 to one. But yeah, come down early and check us out before you go to lunch. But the gift opportunities are there through the end of the day, next week, Thursday. And like I said, if we if it doesn't fit, you know, no harm, no foul, you'll see some breaks. And if it does, maybe you'll get a unique gift that you hadn't thought of.

🎙Post Podcast: Holiday season a perfect time to enjoy the Hays Art Center

During the end-of-the-year holiday season, charitable giving
is top of mind for many. While the spirit of the holidays may drive donations, individuals can benefit, as well.

“It's something like 30 percent of charitable giving happens
in December,” said Heartland Community Foundation executive director Sarah
Meitner. “The biggest three days are the last three days of the year.”

That last minute drive she said can have a tremendous impact
on organizations throughout the year.

“On the organization side, organizations, up to 50 percent of
them, this is where they get the bulk of their revenue during the year. This is
the money that they use all year long,” Meitner said.

One of the largest charitable organizations in Ellis County
is the United Way of Ellis County. Executive director Erica Burgess said this
year 16 area nonprofits benefited from donations to the organization.

“They're wonderful agencies,” Burgess said. “They help
everybody from the community that you can think of from birth to seniors, any
demographic income level, and [it's] just amazing of how many people they help
and the need that's out there.”

The agency will close out its current fundraising campaign
in January.

“So, there's still some time to give,” Burgess said. “There's
a lot of different ways you can give you can go online, <a href="https://www.liveunited.us/">liveunited.us</a>…and you
can make a one-time gift, a monthly gift or we have our roundup option.”

She said even small donations can make a difference.

“I saw that happen with the ARK Park,” Meitner said. “We
celebrated the $10, $15 and $20 donations just as much as we did the $5,000 or $10,000,
because it meant it was important to that person. We touched that person
enough to inspire them to give a gift, and that's the biggest win of all.”

She said donations can also be a way to bring families
together.

“This is the time of year to really reflect on what your
gift-giving looks like in your family,” Meitner said. “If you have kids, set a
good example for them, include them in the process. … Be intentional with your
gift-giving, and that means setting aside time to discuss it with your partner or
your family.”

“Make decisions together. Make it fun. There are fun things
you can do,” she said “And give a gift this holiday time to the nonprofit
organizations that mean the most to you.”

&nbsp;With charitable giving,
there is a benefit to the community, but they also can be used to lower tax
liabilities.

“This time of year, there are some tax benefits,” Meitner
said. “The Cares Act was extended. So even if you are a person who does not
itemize in your taxes, you can deduct $300 from your income per person, or $600
per adult. So, you can give that much, up to $600 if you're a married person,
and then deduct [it] from your taxes.”

Benefits can be even greater for those that itemize taxes.

“You can deduct cash donations, up to 100 percent of your
adjusted gross income,” Meitner said. “For a C Corp for business, you can
deduct cash donations, up to 25 percent of that taxable income. So, there's a
real benefit, whether you itemize or not.”

Those donations can be in a variety of forms as well, from
cash to cryptocyrrency, real estate and material goods.

The foundation, she said is happy to discuss those options. 

The United Way also has an online tool available to assist
giving decisions.

“It’s a great resource. We have a separate website for it,”
Burgess said. “It's <a href="http://elliscountykshelp.com/">Elliscountykshelp.com</a>. So you can go to that and we have
them kind of broken down in different categories. So, if you didn't kind of
know what type of resource you need, you can go to that.”

For more information visit the <a href="https://heartlandcommunityfoundation.org/">Heartland Community
Foundation</a> or the <a href="https://www.liveunited.us/">United Way of Ellis County websites</a>.

<div><iframe title="The end of the year can be a perfect time for charitable giving" 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=64ujh-116032d-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 PostDuring the end-of-the-year holiday season, charitable giving
is top of mind for many. While the spirit of the holidays may drive donations, individuals can benefit, as well.“It's something like 30 percent of charitable giving happens
in December,” said Heartland Community Foundation executive director Sarah
Meitner. “The biggest three days are the last three days of the year.”That last minute drive she said can have a tremendous impact
on organizations throughout the year.“On the organization side, organizations, up to 50 percent of
them, this is where they get the bulk of their revenue during the year. This is
the money that they use all year long,” Meitner said.One of the largest charitable organizations in Ellis County
is the United Way of Ellis County. Executive director Erica Burgess said this
year 16 area nonprofits benefited from donations to the organization.“They're wonderful agencies,” Burgess said. “They help
everybody from the community that you can think of from birth to seniors, any
demographic income level, and [it's] just amazing of how many people they help
and the need that's out there.”The agency will close out its current fundraising campaign
in January.“So, there's still some time to give,” Burgess said. “There's
a lot of different ways you can give you can go online, <a href="https://www.liveunited.us/">liveunited.us</a>…and you
can make a one-time gift, a monthly gift or we have our roundup option.”She said even small donations can make a difference.“I saw that happen with the ARK Park,” Meitner said. “We
celebrated the $10, $15 and $20 donations just as much as we did the $5,000 or $10,000,
because it meant it was important to that person. We touched that person
enough to inspire them to give a gift, and that's the biggest win of all.”She said donations can also be a way to bring families
together.“This is the time of year to really reflect on what your
gift-giving looks like in your family,” Meitner said. “If you have kids, set a
good example for them, include them in the process. … Be intentional with your
gift-giving, and that means setting aside time to discuss it with your partner or
your family.”“Make decisions together. Make it fun. There are fun things
you can do,” she said “And give a gift this holiday time to the nonprofit
organizations that mean the most to you.”&nbsp;With charitable giving,
there is a benefit to the community, but they also can be used to lower tax
liabilities.“This time of year, there are some tax benefits,” Meitner
said. “The Cares Act was extended. So even if you are a person who does not
itemize in your taxes, you can deduct $300 from your income per person, or $600
per adult. So, you can give that much, up to $600 if you're a married person,
and then deduct [it] from your taxes.”Benefits can be even greater for those that itemize taxes.“You can deduct cash donations, up to 100 percent of your
adjusted gross income,” Meitner said. “For a C Corp for business, you can
deduct cash donations, up to 25 percent of that taxable income. So, there's a
real benefit, whether you itemize or not.”Those donations can be in a variety of forms as well, from
cash to cryptocyrrency, real estate and material goods.The foundation, she said is happy to discuss those options. The United Way also has an online tool available to assist
giving decisions.“It’s a great resource. We have a separate website for it,”
Burgess said. “It's <a href="http://elliscountykshelp.com/">Elliscountykshelp.com</a>. So you can go to that and we have
them kind of broken down in different categories. So, if you didn't kind of
know what type of resource you need, you can go to that.”For more information visit the <a href="https://heartlandcommunityfoundation.org/">Heartland Community
Foundation</a> or the <a href="https://www.liveunited.us/">United Way of Ellis County websites</a>.Cover photo courtesy Pixabay.

🎙End of year can be perfect time for charitable giving

On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University's Glen McNeil stops by to talk about holiday eating habits.&nbsp;

In the McNeil house. Usually prime rib and then either ham,
or sometimes a turkey that goes along with it. My wife likes really likes
Turkey. But usually and that started with my mother years ago. I mean, I
remember growing up that was Christmas dinner and so we've kind of my family
side of the family has kind of stayed with that. So we generally have prime rib
and either mashed potatoes, real mashed potatoes, not dried mashed potatoes,
which are real mashed potatoes, but you know, yeah, it's not the same or twice
baked. I love that really preferred twice-baked that takes a little more time
and these days times important because family comes home our Christmas is gonna
be this weekend. So our kids get to spend actual Christmas with all their
in-laws. Last year we got him to share you know, it's kind of one of those
trade-off things. They were all here for Thanksgiving. So you know we did that.
So we have usually a primary oven then ham. Like I said mashed potatoes or
twice-baked potatoes, or my wife makes this really list cheesy casserole, which
I kind of liked that more so than anything else. But you know, you always have
to remember that. I am the lessor in this when it comes to deciding what we
have because the grandkids tell Grandma What they like now. And that's the main
one there. We usually have like a seven-layer salad that Terry has made for
years and it's lettuce and peas and salad dressing, Manny's based salad
dressing and cheese and it's very good from that process. And of course, green
bean casserole. You can't have a holiday without green bean casserole.

See, I'd fight you on that one. I can't stand this stuff. I
can't I can't do it. It's one of those things. I can't even look at it. It
makes me kind of cool.

Yeah, my favorite soup is mushroom soup. So has those in
there. The green beans are okay, too. But we generate that and then we do
freshly baked rolls. We've always done a fresh-baked bread that goes along with
it. And then it kind of depends on you know what, what Terry's thinking about
what she may want to do. A lot of times it's fresh broccoli seems to go well
and my family likes fresh broccoli sometimes and broccoli cauliflower, carrot
mix. You know, we we do that. The kids all get grape juice it also I'll get a
glass of wine. Of course, you know how that part goes. And then leading up to
that, of course, you know that you're doing all that preparation leading up to
that we do like many families do is, is we sort of have our hors d'oeuvres, we
don't really lunch, we middle the day, middle of the afternoon Christmas Day,
so about 10 o'clock in the morning outcomes the what I was thinking about this
morning, which is the summer sausage that sliced the cheddar cheese, the
pepper, jack cheese, couple different varieties of cheese, crackers, you know
all of those good things. And then of course, you feel guilty. So you also have
you know, he also we also have some vegetable plates out and we make a taco
dip, we kind of do all of the things around Christmas, based upon and
Thanksgiving is pretty much the same way and so's Easter the foods that the
family likes the kids like and the foods that my grandkids like It's like most
people holiday season tends to congregate around the kitchen. You know and you
and you visit while you're fixing meals and doing those types of things. So we
try to be reasonable in what we do. And like we've talked about in here a lot
moderation. Try to include some of those favorite holiday things that are a
little bit high in saturated fat and cholesterol, balanced those out with some
of those healthy alternatives. And then throughout the day, I try to work a
little bit of all of that into my daily intake. But I think it's important that
the holidays that we focus on the foods that bring us together and keep us
together and the memories that are around that particular food. My mother's
recipes, Terry's mom's recipes, recipes, Terry and I've built together for
different things and so it just makes a friendly environment to build the food
around. That's the holidays, I think. And we'll slip a little bit in there and
we'll use that word moderation. You know, some of the secrets about holiday
eating, and I'm sure like most people holiday eating has started for me last
week, you know, you go somewhere, and there's snacks out and beverages out. And
so it's Christmas. Yeah, and all the parties and all the events and those
things and, and so you have to practice that, those little keys that we talked
about that when you go somewhere, you know, you, you want to show your
appreciation for Westerners. So you want to sample the things that are made. So
you start with a small plate, okay, you know, if you had a choice of sizes, you
know, different planets, pick the smallest one, and then fill the smallest one,
one layer and take your time, support it with a beverage, you know,
non-alcoholic beverage is good, you know from that. But if you do that with a
small plate, there's less of a tendency to eat large amounts. Because you feel
psychologicaly you feel more satisfied as whatever you put on your plate, that
you've consumed them, and that plates empty, it's empty. And if you take a
large plate, or if you graze, so to say, without a plate, you tend to consume
more. And so that plate can help you in that process. Yeah, and what

You mean there is your you actually want to put the food on,
not just stand there and kind of Munch because then you don't really, your
brain doesn't know how much you had.

Right? If you've, we've talked about this before, and I'm a
watcher, right? I likey nobody will do that. But I also like to watch other
people, you know, whether it's in the grocery store, or you go somewhere and,
and there's an event and people are eating, you're snacking. And what you
really notice is the people that don't use, in essence, a little bit of a
crutch, like a plate, or something to put their food on, they eat considerably
more, and they continue to eat constantly. It's not like they take a plate and
they move away, but they stand there and it's a little bit of this, a little
bit of that, and then they're back to this or back to that they're always in
action around the food. So you can help yourself with your holiday eating by
fixing a plate and then moving away from where the main component of the food
is, you can always go back. But a lot of times that moving away helps you feel
a little more satisfied, and you're less likely to eat lots of food, so a large
amount of food. So you can go back and eat a greater variety throughout the day
when you do those types of things. And, you know, we talk about this time of
year that we have a responsibility as hosts to offer healthy choices. So

You don't feel that responsibility to my house. You're just
gonna whatever junk I've got,

All right, some of us some of the responsibility. So we
generally make sure that we have a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables
and, and, you know, different varieties of crackers or chips to offer. And you
know, like I said before, yeah, summer sausage is great, the cheeses are great,
the dips are great. You know, if we have one dip that may be somewhat fatty and
rich, we have another one that maybe a salsa bass dip or something like that.
So there are always those alternatives that you can offer. I doubt if anybody
else, or very few people really ever think of that. When they come to our
house, they think oh, yeah, just lots of food. In that process, so I think the
holidays in relationship to food are, are very important, and especially what
it brings to us in terms of memory and family and friendship.

Yeah, and I think too, and maybe you want to speak a little
bit to this for for folks that are so health-conscious, and I know some of
these folks in my world, you know, they need a rogue cookie without counting it
and tracking it and how much do I have to run to burn that off? It's okay
during the holidays to maybe not be so conscious, cuz you can always pick it
back up in a couple of weeks, you know, New Year new resolutions and, and burn
all that off and get back in that prime shape. You know, without experience,
throw caution to the wind.

Okay, it's it's the time to notice the wind a little bit
more so to say which, you know, we had plenty of that yesterday. That was a
terrible. But the fact is, yeah, if you're very, very health conscious about
what you do, this is not the time to be doing that. Yes, remain
health-conscious. Okay, and maybe you do a little bit of the calculations in
your head or something, but it's not something to bring up in a group. And it's
not a reason not to eat things. You can also do it a lot of times as what we
refer to as sample, you can take a small plate, you can put small amounts of
things on them. And because typically you don't have to eat the whole cookie.
Right? Now you want to be careful in doing that, that you don't take a plate of
food and take tiny little bites of everything and throw it all the way in front
of your host. That's not a good process, you know, but the fact is that you can
take smaller portions you don't have to eat everything you take, you can
sample. And this is a time to relax a little bit. And I think what you're
saying is relax a little bit and enjoy it. Don't worry so much about, you know,
it's got 132 calories versus 108, it's got six grams of added sugar versus
three grams of added sugar and all those, this is not really the time to do
that. And you're only doing it for a very short period of time. Okay, and
you're not going to come back after two weeks of Christmas, and deny yourself
all this and exercise extensively hard to burn off everything you consumed. You
want to come back after that period of time, continue your exercise the way it
was, right, and maybe you for a very short period of time, you watch what you
eat very closely to balance yourself back, most people are going to gain one or
two pounds over the holidays, it's not going to take very long to get rid of
those one or two pounds, once those extra holiday foods are not there anymore.
So enjoy the season, enjoy what's put in front of you. Even though you know
when you come back at the first of the year or after the first of the year,
you're going to really focus on your life plan again. But it's a time to enjoy
what's out there. And we should we really need you to know from a health aspect
from a food and nutrition aspect with the stresses that have been around in the
last year and a half. This should be a time to really sit back and relax and
enjoy the types of things that we have always enjoyed. And to me foods at the
top of that. You know that it brings in so many memories and so many aspects of
comfort. It's really important to take some time to do that.

<div><iframe title="Holiday eating a staple of annual traditions" allowtransparency="true" height="600" 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=bru5a-1160348-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=600" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University's Glen McNeil stops by to talk about holiday eating habits.&nbsp;<h2>Transcript</h2>Glen McNeil&nbsp;In the McNeil house. Usually prime rib and then either ham,
or sometimes a turkey that goes along with it. My wife likes really likes
Turkey. But usually and that started with my mother years ago. I mean, I
remember growing up that was Christmas dinner and so we've kind of my family
side of the family has kind of stayed with that. So we generally have prime rib
and either mashed potatoes, real mashed potatoes, not dried mashed potatoes,
which are real mashed potatoes, but you know, yeah, it's not the same or twice
baked. I love that really preferred twice-baked that takes a little more time
and these days times important because family comes home our Christmas is gonna
be this weekend. So our kids get to spend actual Christmas with all their
in-laws. Last year we got him to share you know, it's kind of one of those
trade-off things. They were all here for Thanksgiving. So you know we did that.
So we have usually a primary oven then ham. Like I said mashed potatoes or
twice-baked potatoes, or my wife makes this really list cheesy casserole, which
I kind of liked that more so than anything else. But you know, you always have
to remember that. I am the lessor in this when it comes to deciding what we
have because the grandkids tell Grandma What they like now. And that's the main
one there. We usually have like a seven-layer salad that Terry has made for
years and it's lettuce and peas and salad dressing, Manny's based salad
dressing and cheese and it's very good from that process. And of course, green
bean casserole. You can't have a holiday without green bean casserole.James Bell&nbsp;See, I'd fight you on that one. I can't stand this stuff. I
can't I can't do it. It's one of those things. I can't even look at it. It
makes me kind of cool.Glen McNeil&nbsp;See, I love mushrooms.James Bell&nbsp;And that's the trick, I think.Glen McNeil&nbsp;Yeah, my favorite soup is mushroom soup. So has those in
there. The green beans are okay, too. But we generate that and then we do
freshly baked rolls. We've always done a fresh-baked bread that goes along with
it. And then it kind of depends on you know what, what Terry's thinking about
what she may want to do. A lot of times it's fresh broccoli seems to go well
and my family likes fresh broccoli sometimes and broccoli cauliflower, carrot
mix. You know, we we do that. The kids all get grape juice it also I'll get a
glass of wine. Of course, you know how that part goes. And then leading up to
that, of course, you know that you're doing all that preparation leading up to
that we do like many families do is, is we sort of have our hors d'oeuvres, we
don't really lunch, we middle the day, middle of the afternoon Christmas Day,
so about 10 o'clock in the morning outcomes the what I was thinking about this
morning, which is the summer sausage that sliced the cheddar cheese, the
pepper, jack cheese, couple different varieties of cheese, crackers, you know
all of those good things. And then of course, you feel guilty. So you also have
you know, he also we also have some vegetable plates out and we make a taco
dip, we kind of do all of the things around Christmas, based upon and
Thanksgiving is pretty much the same way and so's Easter the foods that the
family likes the kids like and the foods that my grandkids like It's like most
people holiday season tends to congregate around the kitchen. You know and you
and you visit while you're fixing meals and doing those types of things. So we
try to be reasonable in what we do. And like we've talked about in here a lot
moderation. Try to include some of those favorite holiday things that are a
little bit high in saturated fat and cholesterol, balanced those out with some
of those healthy alternatives. And then throughout the day, I try to work a
little bit of all of that into my daily intake. But I think it's important that
the holidays that we focus on the foods that bring us together and keep us
together and the memories that are around that particular food. My mother's
recipes, Terry's mom's recipes, recipes, Terry and I've built together for
different things and so it just makes a friendly environment to build the food
around. That's the holidays, I think. And we'll slip a little bit in there and
we'll use that word moderation. You know, some of the secrets about holiday
eating, and I'm sure like most people holiday eating has started for me last
week, you know, you go somewhere, and there's snacks out and beverages out. And
so it's Christmas. Yeah, and all the parties and all the events and those
things and, and so you have to practice that, those little keys that we talked
about that when you go somewhere, you know, you, you want to show your
appreciation for Westerners. So you want to sample the things that are made. So
you start with a small plate, okay, you know, if you had a choice of sizes, you
know, different planets, pick the smallest one, and then fill the smallest one,
one layer and take your time, support it with a beverage, you know,
non-alcoholic beverage is good, you know from that. But if you do that with a
small plate, there's less of a tendency to eat large amounts. Because you feel
psychologicaly you feel more satisfied as whatever you put on your plate, that
you've consumed them, and that plates empty, it's empty. And if you take a
large plate, or if you graze, so to say, without a plate, you tend to consume
more. And so that plate can help you in that process. Yeah, and whatJames Bell&nbsp;You mean there is your you actually want to put the food on,
not just stand there and kind of Munch because then you don't really, your
brain doesn't know how much you had.Glen McNeil&nbsp;Right? If you've, we've talked about this before, and I'm a
watcher, right? I likey nobody will do that. But I also like to watch other
people, you know, whether it's in the grocery store, or you go somewhere and,
and there's an event and people are eating, you're snacking. And what you
really notice is the people that don't use, in essence, a little bit of a
crutch, like a plate, or something to put their food on, they eat considerably
more, and they continue to eat constantly. It's not like they take a plate and
they move away, but they stand there and it's a little bit of this, a little
bit of that, and then they're back to this or back to that they're always in
action around the food. So you can help yourself with your holiday eating by
fixing a plate and then moving away from where the main component of the food
is, you can always go back. But a lot of times that moving away helps you feel
a little more satisfied, and you're less likely to eat lots of food, so a large
amount of food. So you can go back and eat a greater variety throughout the day
when you do those types of things. And, you know, we talk about this time of
year that we have a responsibility as hosts to offer healthy choices. SoJames Bell&nbsp;You don't feel that responsibility to my house. You're just
gonna whatever junk I've got,Glen McNeil&nbsp;All right, some of us some of the responsibility. So we
generally make sure that we have a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables
and, and, you know, different varieties of crackers or chips to offer. And you
know, like I said before, yeah, summer sausage is great, the cheeses are great,
the dips are great. You know, if we have one dip that may be somewhat fatty and
rich, we have another one that maybe a salsa bass dip or something like that.
So there are always those alternatives that you can offer. I doubt if anybody
else, or very few people really ever think of that. When they come to our
house, they think oh, yeah, just lots of food. In that process, so I think the
holidays in relationship to food are, are very important, and especially what
it brings to us in terms of memory and family and friendship.James Bell&nbsp;Yeah, and I think too, and maybe you want to speak a little
bit to this for for folks that are so health-conscious, and I know some of
these folks in my world, you know, they need a rogue cookie without counting it
and tracking it and how much do I have to run to burn that off? It's okay
during the holidays to maybe not be so conscious, cuz you can always pick it
back up in a couple of weeks, you know, New Year new resolutions and, and burn
all that off and get back in that prime shape. You know, without experience,
throw caution to the wind.Glen McNeil&nbsp;Okay, it's it's the time to notice the wind a little bit
more so to say which, you know, we had plenty of that yesterday. That was a
terrible. But the fact is, yeah, if you're very, very health conscious about
what you do, this is not the time to be doing that. Yes, remain
health-conscious. Okay, and maybe you do a little bit of the calculations in
your head or something, but it's not something to bring up in a group. And it's
not a reason not to eat things. You can also do it a lot of times as what we
refer to as sample, you can take a small plate, you can put small amounts of
things on them. And because typically you don't have to eat the whole cookie.
Right? Now you want to be careful in doing that, that you don't take a plate of
food and take tiny little bites of everything and throw it all the way in front
of your host. That's not a good process, you know, but the fact is that you can
take smaller portions you don't have to eat everything you take, you can
sample. And this is a time to relax a little bit. And I think what you're
saying is relax a little bit and enjoy it. Don't worry so much about, you know,
it's got 132 calories versus 108, it's got six grams of added sugar versus
three grams of added sugar and all those, this is not really the time to do
that. And you're only doing it for a very short period of time. Okay, and
you're not going to come back after two weeks of Christmas, and deny yourself
all this and exercise extensively hard to burn off everything you consumed. You
want to come back after that period of time, continue your exercise the way it
was, right, and maybe you for a very short period of time, you watch what you
eat very closely to balance yourself back, most people are going to gain one or
two pounds over the holidays, it's not going to take very long to get rid of
those one or two pounds, once those extra holiday foods are not there anymore.
So enjoy the season, enjoy what's put in front of you. Even though you know
when you come back at the first of the year or after the first of the year,
you're going to really focus on your life plan again. But it's a time to enjoy
what's out there. And we should we really need you to know from a health aspect
from a food and nutrition aspect with the stresses that have been around in the
last year and a half. This should be a time to really sit back and relax and
enjoy the types of things that we have always enjoyed. And to me foods at the
top of that. You know that it brings in so many memories and so many aspects of
comfort. It's really important to take some time to do that.

🎙Post Podcast: Holiday eating a staple of annual traditions

On Jan. 23 the Kansas Association of Extension 4-H Agents have again planned&nbsp;4-H Day with the Wildcat Women’s Basketball.

"It's just a fun way to show spirit. It shows that connection to K State and to 4-H and it's just a cool, cool event," said Cottonwood Extension District agent Susan Schlichting.

The game is scheduled for 1 p.m., with the Wildcats set to take on Oklahoma University.

For $22, participants will receive a ticket into the game, a game day t-shirt, and a $10 meal voucher.

The online registration deadline is Tuesday, Dec.21 and can be found at&nbsp;<a href="https://conta.cc/3cbHDDI" target="_blank">https://conta.cc/3cbHDDI</a>

"They usually have a big block of 4-H or so we're putting on that green pride in their stadium and can see it all across the room," Schlichting said "It's pretty cool."

<div><iframe title="4-H Day with the Wildcat Women’s Basketball set for Jan." 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=9vipg-115dbf0-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 PostOn Jan. 23 the Kansas Association of Extension 4-H Agents have again planned&nbsp;4-H Day with the Wildcat Women’s Basketball."It's just a fun way to show spirit. It shows that connection to K State and to 4-H and it's just a cool, cool event," said Cottonwood Extension District agent Susan Schlichting.The game is scheduled for 1 p.m., with the Wildcats set to take on Oklahoma University.For $22, participants will receive a ticket into the game, a game day t-shirt, and a $10 meal voucher.The online registration deadline is Tuesday, Dec.21 and can be found at&nbsp;<a href="https://conta.cc/3cbHDDI" target="_blank">https://conta.cc/3cbHDDI</a>"They usually have a big block of 4-H or so we're putting on that green pride in their stadium and can see it all across the room," Schlichting said "It's pretty cool."

🎙 4-H Day with the Wildcat Women’s Basketball set for Jan.

In his 17 years of teaching at Fort Hays State University, Terry Crull has taken choral groups all around the country – and beyond – to perform.

Each one is special, but Crull, director of choral activities, admits the trip his students are taking to Hawaii this week is one for the ages.

The FHSU Singers, a 26-member premier ensemble, will sing the Star-Spangled Banner at the 80th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of U.S. naval forces at Pearl Harbor. An entourage of nearly 100 people will be on hand to watch the singers perform at 8:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. Central time) at the Aviation Museum near the USS Arizona Memorial.

The FHSU group will sing several patriotic and gospel songs popular in the 1940s.&nbsp;

Music Celebrations International, a tour company that has booked several trips for FHSU in the past, contacted Crull and asked Fort Hays State to represent Kansas at the event.

A Hays floral shop, Flowers by Frances, designed and donated a Sunflower Memorial Wreath for a fundraiser for the trip.

Donors — no matter how large or how small the donation — could request a service member’s name from any branch of U.S. military service, living or deceased, to be written on one of the wreath’s petals. Crull said that more than 400 names adorn the wreath, which will hang on permanent display in the&nbsp;Kansas section of the Visitor’s Center at Pearl Harbor.

Crull scheduled three other performances for his students on the trip. They sang at a church worship service Sunday and were to perform at an outdoor concert in Honolulu Monday night and near the USS Bowfin, a submarine that fought in the Pacific war during World War II, on Wednesday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638829772043.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>FHSU University RelationsIn his 17 years of teaching at Fort Hays State University, Terry Crull has taken choral groups all around the country – and beyond – to perform.Each one is special, but Crull, director of choral activities, admits the trip his students are taking to Hawaii this week is one for the ages.The FHSU Singers, a 26-member premier ensemble, will sing the Star-Spangled Banner at the 80th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of U.S. naval forces at Pearl Harbor. An entourage of nearly 100 people will be on hand to watch the singers perform at 8:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. Central time) at the Aviation Museum near the USS Arizona Memorial.<div><iframe title="FHSU choirs helping commemorate Pearl Harbor attacks" 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=c5c8m-114c4ef-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=ffffff&btn-skin=3267a3&size=600" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>The FHSU group will sing several patriotic and gospel songs popular in the 1940s.&nbsp;Music Celebrations International, a tour company that has booked several trips for FHSU in the past, contacted Crull and asked Fort Hays State to represent Kansas at the event.A Hays floral shop, Flowers by Frances, designed and donated a Sunflower Memorial Wreath for a fundraiser for the trip.Donors — no matter how large or how small the donation — could request a service member’s name from any branch of U.S. military service, living or deceased, to be written on one of the wreath’s petals. Crull said that more than 400 names adorn the wreath, which will hang on permanent display in the&nbsp;Kansas section of the Visitor’s Center at Pearl Harbor.Crull scheduled three other performances for his students on the trip. They sang at a church worship service Sunday and were to perform at an outdoor concert in Honolulu Monday night and near the USS Bowfin, a submarine that fought in the Pacific war during World War II, on Wednesday.

🎙Fort Hays State choral group to perform at Pearl Harbor anniversary

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Chamber president and CEO Sarah Wasinger shares details about a recently awarded leadership grant.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">To find out more about The Post Podcast, or subscribe to mobile&nbsp;</a><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">notifications click here.</a>

A recent
grant to the Hays Chamber will help strengthen leadership in the area president
and CEO Sarah Wasinger stops by to talk to us about that and more on this
episode of the Post Podcast.

I don't
know if you've heard but the chamber was awarded a leadership transformation
grant from the Kansas Leadership Center. 

Oh, very
cool. No, I hadn't heard about this. I don't know anything about this. What is
it again.

<div><iframe title="Hays Chamber awarded leadership grant" 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=mfkks-1149cd3-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 Hays Chamber president and CEO Sarah Wasinger shares details about a recently awarded leadership grant.<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">To find out more about The Post Podcast, or subscribe to mobile&nbsp;</a><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5dd2f46c897d147ad4bb104b">notifications click here.</a><h2>Transcript</h2>James Bell&nbsp;
A recent
grant to the Hays Chamber will help strengthen leadership in the area president
and CEO Sarah Wasinger stops by to talk to us about that and more on this
episode of the Post Podcast.Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
I don't
know if you've heard but the chamber was awarded a leadership transformation
grant from the Kansas Leadership Center. James Bell&nbsp;
Oh, very
cool. No, I hadn't heard about this. I don't know anything about this. What is
it again.Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
So it's
a leadership Transformation Grant, the Kansas Leadership Center is based out of
Wichita, Kansas. And part of their focus is working with community partnerships
to really expand leadership principles and concepts across the state of Kansas.
And last year, our chamber was successful in receiving 46 spots for from them.
And we're very close to utilizing all those spots up this year. And the grant
that we wrote for 2022, however, we wrote a grant for 50 spots, and we were
awarded those spots, which is very exciting. Nice. So leadership Haze is
actually something that many of our listeners might be familiar with. It's a
leadership program that was started by the Chamber, the Hays area, Chamber of
Commerce, then, um, to really just help businesses and organizations help their
folks that are maybe at the beginning of their careers in the middle or, you
know, even the seasoned pros, bringing folks together to talk about leadership
concepts, how we work together as a community to address issues, or needs, or
just in general to kind of strengthen ourselves and better ourselves. One of
the things that our leadership, hey, students go through is step one of the KLC
process. And that is your leadership edge. And that's a two day course. And
normally yours, we actually take the students to Wichita, Kansas for that, that
because of COVID. Last year, we did that virtually. But we're excited for this
year, because they're going to let us go back to Wichita and take them in
person, again, awesome, they'll have a blended approach. So there might be some
folks who still feel more comfortable doing things virtually. And that's okay.
But we're very excited to have that in person capacity. Again, I can very much
tell you that being an alumni of the leadership Hayes class, that the in person
experiences I felt to be pushed me outside of my comfort zone a little bit
more. And I was probably able to get a little bit more out of my experience
with it.James Bell&nbsp;
Well,
sure. I mean, because it's human nature, I think you get uncomfortable and
you've got the screen and all you got to do is close it or shut the camera off.
And but if you're in the room is hard to you can't scrunch down enough to not
get called on sometimes, right,Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
I'm not
going to hide underneath that chair. But the exciting thing about this is we
are actually in the window right now for folks to turn in applications. So I
was just actually talking to Joe in the lobby. And this is really significant,
because some of these trainings are actually worth $800. Wow. And so we're
actually offering them to folks who fill out the grant application form for
free, I'm really the only investment that they would actually have outside of
of course, their time. And there is a workbook and a guide book that are used
in conjunction with the course nicely enough, those workbooks and guide books
are the same for all three steps of the KLC path. And so you really had that
investment only one time. But December 15 is kind of the deadline that we're
hoping folks will fill out those applications. So we've got a little over two
weeks now. And it's a very simple application, we're just going to ask a little
bit of information from you, kind of what you would hope to gain from the
leadership course and why you're wanting to apply for it. And then as long as
we have enough spots, we'll grant everybody their application. But if we have a
certain amount of spots, we'll of course, look at different things like, you
know, maybe putting a cap on a number of people per employer, or things of that
nature. And we might also look at a few things to, you know, with this person,
I'm taking this leadership course, perhaps set our community up to be a little
bit stronger based on what they're doing. And you know, the different
organizations that they're a part of. So that will all be taken into
consideration. Our hope, then, is to actually have all those spots kind of
identified and communicated back out with folks by the end of this year. And
then I'm really we're gonna give everybody the opportunity to register for
their courses by June 30. Our hope is that if we have them registered by that
point in time, if anyone changes their mind and says, Hey, I applied for this,
but my schedule has changed. I don't think I'll be able to take a course
between now and then that gives us time as a chamber to make sure that we're
utilizing all this 50 spots.James Bell&nbsp;
Very
cool. thought of everything. Oh, I get so organized down there at the chamber.Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
Oh,
well, we try. Except for emails not coming through. We'll work on that. James Bell&nbsp;
Well,
that's probably our system. That's yeah. But very cool. Very cool. Well, um,
so, you know, for now, is there a like a website? Or do you have more
information on your website for this, if people want check it a little bit more
detail?Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
We do so
they can go to Hayes chamber.com. And then our news and announcements page,
we've got our resources on the right hand side of that page. And there's a 2022
leadership transformation grant application. And for those folks who also kind
of pay attention to our emails and get our news blasts, we'll be sending that
out as well as another attachment in our December newsletter. So a couple of
different reminders Coming out folks this way, and I do believe will anticipate
doing a Facebook post to just to kind of give people another step to apply for
that. But yeah, so they arranged like I said, between 408 $100. So it's
significant value. And quite frankly, I feel like anytime you have a chance to
better yourself, you should do it. A few of the things I did want to talk about
is kind of the core concepts and leadership principles that KLC has. So they
define leadership as an activity and not a position. And they share that anyone
can lead anytime, anywhere, it starts with you and must engage others, and your
purpose must be clear. And last, and probably most important, it's risky. So
Leadership isn't always easy. And so we have to make sure that we are able to
exhibit great patience and understanding with others. So I think those are all
different concepts that I struggle with and try to improve on every day. And
I'd imagine if I had those considerations and things I need a benefit from, and
could improve on that others would, too. And so that's really kind of the why
behind why we applied for the grant. And our hope is to continue to apply for
the leadership Transformation Grant, year after year. So we can keep moving
forward that leadership needle in our community, and give as many businesses
and organizations exposure to those leadership concepts as possible.James Bell&nbsp;
Very
cool. Yeah. And you know, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about
this. But I think for a lot of people, when you when you hear that term
leadership, you think about the old traditional style boss, you know, the
coming down the mountain, somebody's telling you what to do. And that's not
necessarily the entire experience and leadership. It's it can be at any level,
it can be a, you know, an on any size of project, right.Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
Yeah,
that's more management actually versus leadership. And there's going to be some
great debate and discussion through the courses on that as well. Yeah, well,
they're needed just at different times in different places.James Bell&nbsp;
Yeah,
exactly. Love it. All right. Well, Sarah, what else? Well, I think we got to
talk about this. The childcare survey is out now. Ready, ready for people to
take it? I've seen a couple different places that where you can get to that,
right.Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
Yes. So
thank you so much for bringing that up. Yes, we are working with the childcare
task force of Ellis County and have constructed a survey that takes no more
than 10 minutes, this survey essentially is going to help that task force to be
able to collect data that really gives us a good vantage point as to what needs
access for childcare in our community, how many spots we need, how many more
providers we need, and then that committee will really assess, you know, how do
we support the people who are currently providing childcare? And what things
must we do to possibly incentivize others to do childcare because we, of
course, have people looking for childcare every day. And we know that there's a
lot of waiting lists going on. So the survey is important for people to
understand, you don't just have to be a parent to take it, you could be a
grandparent, you could be an employer, you know, you're going to know the needs
of your staff. And if they're not coming to work, because they don't have
daycare lined up, obviously, you can express that, you know, you know that this
is needed in your community. So the more people we can get to fill that survey
out the better snapshot we get, and we'll be able to start then applying for
grant funds, which we can use to help incentivize and start identifying and
addressing this issue in our community. So it's also critical, I will have that
conversation window open through the end of December. So folks can actually go
to our Facebook page to find a QR code. If they have a cell phone, they can
scan that. Or there's our direct link on that, too.James Bell&nbsp;
So funny
story, I actually went and took your survey yesterday. Oh, thank you. And yeah,
you're welcome. I was trying to figure out how I was going to scan the QR code
with my phone because I'm on my phone. And I'm like, huh, and then I saw the
link. I took me a minute, but they're both both way ways are right there in
handy. It just yeah, you got to be smarter than me, I guess, to be able to get
there quickly.Sarah Wasinger&nbsp;
Well,
you know, we wanted it to be as readily accessible as possible, which is why we
gave folks both options. But yes, thank you for bringing that up as well. And
again, our goal is to have about 1000 survey responses if we can, obviously we
have about 20,000 people in Ellis County. So we know that there's going to be a
need for us to collect data for the whole entire county, not just Hayes,
because there are folks coming over from LSE and Victoria getting daycare spots
served on here and Hayes and vice versa. We know we have some families that are
going out of town to for sure.James Bell&nbsp;
So
everybody if you're hearing this, take a few minutes go find that survey and do
it. It's really not a big deal. I think you say 10 minutes I think I did mine
in five it's it's quick and easy. It's nothing. No no long form kind of
questions. It's just put it that but the having that data is so vital for the
community.