Methodists volunteer as painting crew

Volunteers from the First United Methodist Church in Concordia turned up, paint brushes in hand, this morning (April 30)  to help Neighbor to Neighbor with its next big project.

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The church members — Dallas Nading, Mike and Marsha Wentz, Harvey Olson and Mary Thoman — were there to paint the second-floor expansion of the women’s center in downtown Concordia. Joining them for the day was Sister Cecilia Green, who works at the Nazareth Motherhouse, and Sisters Jean Befort and Pat McLennon, two of the three women who run Neighbor to Neighbor.

This was the second time a volunteer crew from First United Methodist donated work at Neighbor to Neighbor. In October 2009, about 15 people from the church held a “demolition day” as part of the original renovation of the 122-year-old building on Sixth Street. After the renovation was completed, Neighbor to Neighbor opened in May 2010.

But within months it became clear that more space was needed for all the women and children who come to the center every day.

From Monday through Friday, Sisters Jean and Pat, along with Sister Ramona Medina, and a cadre of volunteers offer classes and services that range from one-on-one tutoring for GED exams and book studies to providing a place to do laundry or take showers and classes in sewing, baking, lacemaking and household budgeting. Individual counseling services are also available as needed, as is help in navigating the social services maze. And, for some moms, the center has become a place to go with their young children, to give the kids a chance to play and the moms a chance to befriend other moms.

There is never any cost to the women taking part; all the programs are offered free, with funding coming from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, a handful of grants and individual donations.

Planning began last fall to double the size of the center by renovating the second floor. Employees from the Motherhouse began work in December to create an art room, a private counseling or small meeting room, two more bathrooms, lots of storage space and a kitchenette that will look out over a large play area for children.

And once again, First United Methodist wanted to be part of the project.

A work day had been scheduled this winter for Methodist volunteers to help put insulation in the second-floor walls, but that project was canceled due to icy roads on the slated Saturday.

Instead, the volunteers waited for another opportunity to help — and they got it Saturday.

Curtis Mansfield, one of the Motherhouse maintenance employees who has been heavily involved in the renovation project, showed up early to make sure the volunteers had all the tools and supplies they needed. And Sister Jean worked downstairs in the kitchen to keep them supplied with coffee and snacks.

Greg Gallagher, facilities administrator for the Sisters of St. Joseph, expects the renovation to be completed later this spring.

The center remains open during the upstairs construction. The sounds of work on the second level sometimes competes with conversation on the main floor, but not enough to deter women from continuing to come to Neighbor to Neighbor.

The fund drive to pay for the renovation of the second floor is continuing as well. At $24.33 per square foot, donors may pay for the renovation of one foot, or 10 — or 100.

If you’d like to help support Neighbor to Neighbor or any of the sisters’ other ministries, you can make a donation through a secure server with Amazon Simple Pay, simply fill in the amount of your donation and then click on the Donate button:

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Saturday & Sunday, April 30 & May 1, 2011

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

~Margaret Atwood

Friday, April 29, 2011

“I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring.  Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature’s rebirth?”

~Edward Giobbi

Thursday, April 28, 2011

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”

~Hal Borland

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

“It’s spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

~Mark Twain

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.

— Keshavan Nair

Economic ‘cheerleader’ details local mission

In just over an hour and a half Monday evening, Kirk Lowell proved that he is a storyteller, a country boy, a salesman, a realist — and a committed cheerleader for Concordia and Cloud County.

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The executive director of CloudCorp Inc., the economic development organization for Cloud County, was the third presenter in the 2011 Concordia Speakers Series hosted by the Sisters of St. Joseph at the Nazareth Motherhouse. Nearly 60 people were in the audience as Lowell outlined the 55-year history of CloudCorp, its original and evolving mission and its role in today’s economy. And while he ran a bit over the advertised ending time, he kept the audience entertained with quips and stories to illustrate the serious topic.

“This is not a tea and crumpets organization,” he said of the 25-member CloudCorp board, noting that he’s heard complaints that board members serve too long and work too little. “We have a breadth of experience that’s important.”

Lowell — who started with CloudCorp as a volunteer in 1985 and has been executive director since 1993 — also countered complaints that the private organization has not changed with the times.

“The (original) 1956 board would not have worked on the Majestic Theatre project or the Walmart project or the fuel station in Aurora or Buy The Book,” he said. “They were all about industry.

“But you can’t chase the smokestack — and today most people don’t want the smokestack,” he added, referring to most heavy industry.

The organization was formed when the population of Cloud County had begun to decline, he pointed out, falling from a high near 20,000 to about 15,000 in 1956. “We went from a one word mission statement in 1956 — ‘Jobs’ — to a one-sentence mission statement and now a one-page mission statement.”

But even that one page can be summed up in just three action words, he said: facilitate, coordinate, communicate. “That’s what we do.”

One way of measuring success, Lowell noted, is the county’s ranking in the Kansas Inc. Economic Vitality and Distress Annual Report. Of the state’s 105 counties, Cloud had routinely been very near the bottom in overall rankings. As recently as 2007, Cloud County’s “economic vitality” was rated at 101st in the state. But the 2009 report — the most recent available — ranks the county at 73rd overall.

“And I think it’s going to get even better in spite of ourselves,” he added, “because there are some people who just won’t give up on Cloud County.”

In one exercise with the audience, however, Lowell demonstrated why some residents remain resistant to change and complacent about the economy.

Using a large graph showing population from the time the county was established in the 1860s, he asked each member of the audience to place a red dot on the year he or she had arrived in Cloud County. The county’s population had peaked in 1890 and has been on a slow but steady decline ever since, and all of the red dots were clustered on that downward slope.

“The Sisters of St. Joseph as an organization came here in the period of expansion,” he noted, “but individually we all came here in the period of decline. We’re comfortable with decline because that’s all we know.”

But continuing that trend is not inevitable, he argued. He cited what he called the law of successful economic development: “If your community does not take good care of its existing businesses and new business prospects, some other community will.”

Or, put another way, “The more backward one community thinks, the more another community cheers. There’s just no denying that.”

What’s required is thinking in terms of community development rather than the older ideas of industrial or purely economic development. And that requires effort at all levels and in all areas of the community, he said.

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Monday, April 25, 2011

That God once loved a garden we learn in Holy writ.

And seeing gardens in the Spring I well can credit it.

~Winifred Mary Letts

Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011

“The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world.  Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice.  But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice.”

~ Henry Knox Sherrill

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

— Mohandas Gandhi

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