UPDATE: Winning chili spices up October evening

Bob Maxson’s “straight-up chili” — no cheese or chips on top, no sweets to finish it off — was the top votegetter in Thursday’s Chili for Charity. But everyone who showed up in downtown Concordia this evening received the prize of a beautiful October evening and a chance to support local organizations.

The annual outdoors Chili for Charity event drew eight contestants, which each offered a sample of homemade chili — some with fixin’s and others, like Maxson’s, unadorned. A few even sweetened things up with after-chili treats of mints, miniature cinnamon rolls and caramel apples. Maxson was serving his chili to support Breckyn Reynolds, the 2-year-old Concordia girl born with multiple heart defects. Representing the Sisters of St. Joseph were Neighbor to Neighbor and Helping Hands, the food pantry at Manna House of Prayer. The Neighbor to Neighbor chili makers were the defending champions from last year.

The event at Sixth and Washington streets was sponsored this year by the new Neighbor to Neighbor center, a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and Cloud County Community College. Proceeds from the event make up the prize money, which is shared by the winners.

Survey: No simple answers to poverty

There were 30 questions on this summer’s countywide survey of people living in poverty — and even more as the results were discussed at the latest Community Needs Forum.

Fifty people attended the “working lunch” Thursday at the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse, to hear what people from throughout Cloud County had said on the survey about what services they use and what help they need.

In all, 77 surveys were returned. And while that is not enough of the 600 surveys it make it “statistically valid,” according to Sister Jean Rosemarynoski, it does represent nearly 1 percent of all the Cloud County adults who meet the federal poverty guidelines.

The four top services used by those responding involved food: food stamps, food banks, free and reduced school lunch programs and commodities that are distributed free.

Food programs also ranked No. 1 in terms of services that have been most helpful.

The top services these people in poverty say they need in Cloud County are all health related: Dental care and vision or hearing assistance.

But, said Sister Marcia Allen, president of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia and a member of the poverty group within the Community Needs Forum that drafted the survey, “What we found, really, was that there is no general category of poverty; there are as many faces of poverty as there are people.”

Allen said she and the others who decided to try surveying people living in poverty “may have been naïve to believe we could categorize it; it is not a simple issue.”

Those at the meeting who work with local organizations providing services agreed.

Complications they cited included limited affordable and reliable child care, few “family wage” jobs, an unwillingness or inability to leave Cloud County for broader job possibilities, state regulations and red tape and even “pride that can keep families from asking for help.”

But for Everett Ford, the answer is simple.

To begin with, he said it was notable that only five of the 77 survey respondents were male.

Ford, who has been a regular participant in the 12 working lunches so far, said the answer has to be “better jobs. We’ve got to get more jobs in here.”

Kirk Lowell, head of the local economic development agency Cloud Corp., agreed — but even that is not simple, he said.

Lowell cited the Kansas Inc. “County Economic Vitality and Distress Report,” which ranks the state’s 105 counties by relative economic performance.

In 2008, the newest report available, Cloud County tied for 99^th place, which was actually an improvement over the 102^nd place for 2007.

“Everything that’s proposed to come into this community, it’s fought,” he said. “No matter what the project or idea, there’s always going to be for and against. But we’ve got pitchforks and torches in the meeting room.”

Local government and community residents have to be more pro-business, Lowell argued. “When we get the opportunity, we need to jump on it.”

But even that is not the whole solution, he conceded: “If the person in need doesn’t seize the moment, there’s not much you can do.”

Two things that have been done over the past year, those attending the “working lunch” agreed, are the Concordia Year of Peace and the Community Needs Forum itself.

Part of this session was to ask participants if the community meetings, which began in January 2009, are still serving a purpose.

“This is the only forum that brings everyone together, and very good things have come out of this,” said Crystal Paredes. She noted that she and others have learned a great deal about programs available for women and children — and she praised the work of the Sisters of St. Joseph in launching the Neighbor to Neighbor center in downtown Concordia. “But we also noticed there aren’t the same kind of services for men.”

So she and others through the Concordia Christian Church are working to create “The Father’s House,” which will provide mentoring and positive role models for men in the community. The program is a direct outgrowth of discussions during the working lunches, she said.

The Year of Peace project, scheduled to conclude in December, is another direct outgrowth. And Rosemarynoski announced Thursday that it will continue through 2011. “We’re calling it ‘Another Year of Peace,’ and we’ll have new shirts,” she said with a laugh.

Lowell called the Year of Peace “the best thing that has happened in this community in 50 years; we can actually talk about some things.”

The welcome sign is finally out!

The women who have visited Neighbor to Neighbor on East Sixth Street in the past month didn’t need a sign to find it. But for everyone else, the new downtown “center welcoming women” finally has its identity in place.

Workers from the Sisters of St. Joseph maintenance crew put the square sign over the doorway this morning. It’s just the latest in a yearlong series of changes and renovations to the former home of Conn’s TV and Appliance at 103 E. Sixth St.

The center is open Monday through Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursday from 1 to 8 p.m. All services, classes and workshops are free, and the center is open to women and women with young children. For information, drop by or call the center at 262-4215.

Open house welcomes ‘strangers’ to new center

Scores of people from throughout Concordia and Cloud County turned out for the first of two open houses at Neighbor to Neighbor Thursday afternoon and evening.

They had a chance to tour the new women’s center at 103 E. Sixth St., plus meet the three women who have been the driving forces behind the project, Sisters Jean Befort, Pat McLennon and Ramona Medina. Also as part of the open house, Roberta Lowery from the Concordia Chamber of Commerce organized an official ribbon cutting, while Father Jack Schlaf, chaplain for the Sisters of St. Joseph, led a short dedication and blessing ceremony.

As a surprise ending to the simple ceremony, Verleta Moon from the Catholic Thrift Shop, operated by Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, presented Neighbor to Neighbor with a check for $5,000. That amount is expected to pay for utilities for the building for one year.

A second open house is scheduled for Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Refreshments will be served, and there will be a drawing for a door prize — a piece of original artwork by Sister Ramona.

Thursday evening, supporters, friends and people interested in learning more about the new center crowded into the renovated building throughout the afternoon and evening. Jan, Pat and Ramona explained the evolution of Neighbor to Neighbor and what programs will be offered and gave informal tours throughout the building. Those attending also had the chance to watch a photo slideshow that showed the complete renovation process and many of the volunteers who helped with the work.

Sister Marcia Allen, president of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, which is sponsoring Neighbor to Neighbor, explained that the idea of serving “neighbors” — anyone with whom sisters come into contact and who needs help — dates to the foundation of the religious congregation in 1650 France. “We start out strangers, and by being with you, we become neighbors,” Marcia said. “Some 360 years later, the same approach applies.”

Neighbor to Neighbor is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Thursday from 1 to 8 p.m. For information, you can call the center at 262-4215 or go to the sisters’ website at www.csjkansas.org/neighbor.

Sisters get a first look at Neighbor to Neighbor center

The phone wasn’t connected yet, and workers were still moving building supplies around upstairs — but the cookies and punch were out and the doors open Tuesday afternoon at the new Neighbor to Neighbor center in downtown Concordia.

The three Sisters of St. Joseph behind the new center for women — Sisters Jean Befort, Pat McLennon and Ramona Medina — invited the rest of the congregation in for a first look before Neighbor to Neighbor opens to the public this morning (Wednesday) at 9.

The center at 103 E. Sixth St. will provide a wide array of services to women and women with young children from throughout Cloud County. Yet its most important function, the three sisters say, may be as a place for women to come together and meet other women who are facing or have faced the same kinds of life challenges. The three see Neighbor to Neighbor as a place for women to build informal networks and then learn from those.

This week Sisters Jean, Pat and Ramona hope to welcome women to the center, show them around and then talk with them about how Neighbor to Neighbor can help them. The center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and 1 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

A formal open house and blessing of the center is planned in a couple of weeks.

City helps sisters restore 122-year-old building

The new Neighbor to Neighbor center has received a $5,000 grant from the city of Concordia to help cover the costs of renovating its two-story brick building on East Sixth Street.

The Sisters of St. Joseph had applied for the money — part of the 2009 Downtown Concordia Improvement Grant Program — to help pay for updating the outside of the 122-year-old building at 103 E. Sixth St.

The renovations covered by the grant proposal include removing facades added decades after the structure was built in 1888, replacing all the windows and doors, building a wheelchair-accessible ramp at the main entrance and repairing and rebuilding the concrete pad and basement stairs at the rear of the building.

The grant from the city went toward nearly $16,500 paid to local contractors for that work.

But that amount does not include the extensive interior renovation or any of the labor provided by employees of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

The Concordia congregation purchased the building a year ago. Since then, the former home of Conn’s Appliance and TV has been completely redesigned, with new sheetrock, flooring, bathroom fixtures and plumbing, lighting, cabinets and doors, appliances, an interior staircase and paint. Greg Gallagher, the sisters’ facility administrator, has served as project manager, while employees Gene Ganstrom, Curtis Mansfield, Brad Snyder, Jim Helton and Renn Allsman have done most of the interior renovations.

Last month members of the Improvement Grant Review Committee — city engineer Eric Johnson and downtown property owners Corinna Hood and Kirk Lowell — toured the building with Gallagher and several sisters.

On hand were the three women who will operate Neighbor to Neighbor — Sisters Pat McLennon, Jean Befort and Ramona Medina — as well as president of the congregation, Sister Marcia Allen.

The three committee members were impressed with the work both inside and outside of the old building. As Johnson walked through the first floor and then upstairs to the still-to-be-finished second floor, he asked questions about construction techniques and the craftsmanship shown in the renovations.

“These are people who take pride in their work,” he said of the sisters’ employees.

The sisters applied for the city grant last November, and the review was to verify the work had been completed in compliance with grant rules. The grants are designed to help property owners return their building exteriors to their original construction condition while encouraging revitalization and economic growth in downtown Concordia.

Neighbor to Neighbor is now scheduled to open in early May. It will provide a wide array of services for women and for women with young children and be a resource center to help them find other services they need, said Sister Pat.

Services offered will likely include nutrition and parenting classes, workshops on healthy living, personal counseling and information on what help is available through other agencies. The center will also have small facilities to meet what Sister Pat described as “basic needs” — showers, a washer and dryer and a kitchen.

Sister Ramona noted that services and volunteer opportunities will be added and developed as the need for them is identified.

April issue of The Messenger features volunteers

The new issue of The Messenger, the quarterly newspaper of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, is now available. It includes updates on the soon-to-be-open Neighbor to Neighbor center and the Concordia Community Garden of Hope, as well as coverage of the workshop by Dr. Donna Beegle — plus a two-page spread focuses on volunteers who help the sisters every day with their works of service.

Click HERE to download the complete issue.

Workers break out sledge hammers for new center

Workers wielding sledge hammers and crowbars today began tearing out the old concrete entry to a century-old downtown building, as the next step in the creation of the Neighbor to Neighbor center.

Meanwhile, workers inside the two-story building at 103 E. Sixth St. continued that renovation of the former Conn’s Electric and Appliance store into a center providing services, classes and information for women and women with children.

Heath Hoge and Jesse Williams are the workers hired for the deconstruction and reconstruction of the entryway at the front of the building. Once their work is complete, the old single concrete step will be replaced by a wheelchair-accessible doorway.

This morning’s work had them breaking up the old concrete with sledgehammers and then loading up the rubble to be hauled away.

Inside, employees of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia — Gene Ganstrom, Brad Snyder, Curtis Mansfield and Jim Helton — worked on installing door frames and doors throughout the building. Much of the interior renovation has been completed, with the bulk of the work done by the sisters’ employees and a number of volunteer crews.

Sisters Pat McLennon, Jean Befort and Ramona Medina will operate Neighbor to Neighbor when it opens this spring. In the meantime, the three staff a small interim program at the Nazareth Motherhouse every Monday and Wednesday morning.

A Valentine’s Day party for Neighbor to Neighbor

The Neighbor to Neighbor program hasn’t moved to its still-being-renovated building in downtown Concordia yet — and that may have been a good thing Wednesday.

The nine toddlers and pre-schoolers — along with four moms and a grandmom — needed the space of the Motherhouse Auditorium this morning to celebrate an early Valentine’s Day with music, dance, impromptu soccer instruction and a party with gifts for everyone.

Sisters Ramona Medina, Jean Befort and Pat McLennon — the three sisters who are the force behind Neighbor to Neighbor — supervised and took part in all the activities with the children, while the moms had a chance to get to know each other and chat. Sister Lucy Schneider came to provide music on the piano, and was accompanied by the children marching and playing everything from bells to tambourines. And Sister Agnes Bernita Green arrived to lend her 54 years experience as a teacher and school-party participant.

The interim Neighbor to Neighbor program is held Monday and Wednesday mornings at the Motherhouse, and is expected to continue until mid-March. By then, renovation on the two-story building at 103 E. Sixth St. should be complete, and the center will open with daily programs for women and women with young children.

Volunteers join sisters, employees in construction work

A volunteer work crew converged on the Neighbor to Neighbor center this week, continuing the renovation of the 122-year-old downtown Concordia building.


The big jobs Thursday, today and Saturday are placing insulation in the newly reframed walls and then putting up sheetirock throughout the two-story structure at 103 E. Sixth St.


Volunteers from Salina — including Al Gerstner, Janie Stein, Sister Lucille Herman, Marty Bates, Ralph Kresin and SIster Esther Pineda — worked with maintenance employees from the Nazareth Motherhouse who have done the bulk of the renovation work so far. And there is a lot of renovation required: The structure was built in 1888 and had been remodeled numerous times over the years. But for this project, the interior has been gutted to remove those later add-ons and to modernize plumbing, wiring, heating, cooling and all other functional aspects of the building.


With the new interior framing completed by Motherhouse employees, the volunteers are spending three days getting the interior ready for the next steps — painting, flooring and finishing.

The hope is to have the new center open in early February.

When it opens, Neighbor to Neighbor will provide a wide range of programs and services — and a place just to get to know each other — for women and women with young children. Three Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia — Pat McLennon, Jean Befort and Ramona Medina — will operate the center and design the programs offered there.

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