Submitted
ELLINWOOD — U.S. Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran’s Garden City district representative, Hunter Carson, recently visited Ellinwood to tour the vacant Ellinwood District Hospital and learn more about the dream project of converting the building into a dual purpose property to serve central Kansas residents.
Plans are for an emotional and physical health center for our veterans in central Kansas and emotional counseling for residents in central Kansas who are dealing with thoughts of suicide.
Sen. Moran has a passionate heart for our military veterans as well as those wanting to achieve optimal emotional health.
Two central Kansas groups have joined forces to pursue a dream to help Kansas residents wanting to achieve complete emotional and physical health, The Center for Counseling & Consultation and the Fort Zarah Veterans Center.
The Center for Counseling & Consultation has been providing emotional support to central Kansas residents since 1968 and a volunteer group consisting of seven military veterans and two at-large members recently organized to focus on a dream to develop a service center that supports our military veterans and they refer to their dream as the Fort Zarah Veterans Center.
These members include Jon Prescott as the volunteer lead for this project, Don Green, Vietnam veteran who originated this dream, Gary Burke, military veteran, Ghazi Jahay, military veteran, Ken Lebbin, military veteran and Ellinwood city council member, Jeff McQuade, military veteran and care coordinator/target case manager for veterans, and Harry Whiting, volunteer member at-large.
Wendy Lockwood, CEO of The Center for Counseling & Consultation is equally as passionate for serving the emotional needs of central Kansas residents as well as our military veterans.
The board of directors for The Center voted unanimously to have the Fort Zarah Veterans Center operate as part of their 501(c)(3) with McQuade providing his services for veterans and residents needing a care coordinator/target case manager.
Once enough funds are raised to move forward with remodeling the vacant Ellinwood District Hospital building, The Center will oversee the construction of this remodeling project as well as recruiting staff and manage operations for this new service center.
If you have a heart for our veterans as well as those residents needing emotional counseling and you are interested in giving to this project, please contact Wendy Lockwood at 620-792-2544.