American Legion Auxiliary
The Pearce Keller Unit No. 17 Auxiliary meeting of Aug. 7 began with President Dana Pearce calling us to order at 6 p.m. Some newcomers introduced themselves as Beverly Smith, Shannon Johnson, Denise Taylor, and Angela Peterson.
Dana read a thank you letter from Steve French for a donation to the Manhattan Fire Department Fire Pup program.
There was also a thank you letter for a donation to ATA bus which will allow 50 people a free ride.
Carol Zeitvogel made a motion to donate the proceeds from the Thursday pizza party to member Susan Bergsten who recently lost her house due to a fire. It was amended to add $500 earmarked by the Legion to help Fort Riley families affected by fires. The September Dinner will be organized by Dianna Horner and Angela Peterson.
As Labor Day falls on the first Monday in Sept. the American Legion Auxiliary will meet on the 11th at 6 p.m.
Manhattan Rotary Club
President Mitzi Richards opened the August 24 meeting by welcoming guests Randy O’Boyle with Ultra Electronics, Michael Jones with Mankato, Craig Neill, an active duty soldier, and Rich Sell and Mayor Mark Hatesohl from the Konza Rotary Club. New member, Katie Allen, received her membership kit.
President-elect, Randy Peterson presented Beth Klug, executive director for Shepherd’s Crossing with our club’s July Cup Money contribution of $500 to provide financial resources to help most in need. The next Rotary on Tap is September 7 at Liquid Arts Winery.
Dr. Charlie Hughes introduced Jim Colbert, professional golfer on the PGA and Senior Tours. Colbert regaled members with tales of his earliest beginnings in the golf course management business, bringing the PGA Tour to Las Vegas with the first million-dollar purse in PGA history, plans for Colbert Hills Golf Course and more. In 1998, Colbert was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. Colbert worked as a color analyst for ESPN and has his own golf course management company based in Pahrump, Nevada. He helped plan, design and build Colbert Hills Golf Course in Manhattan, ranked as one of the best public courses in Kansas. Jim spoke of the outstanding staff at Colbert Hills and the challenges of maintaining a golf course.
In Jim Colbert’s honor, Dadaji’s Paint Brush children’s book will be given to Woodrow Wilson Elementary School. The Manhattan Rotary Club meets at noon on Thursdays at the Manhattan Country Club.
Solar Kiwanis Club
The Manhattan Solar Kiwanis Club met at noon on Aug. 29 at the Blue Hills Room. Announcements were made by President Tepe. Vera Williams is looking for one more Solarian to visit the Marysville Kiwanis Club on Sept. 12 in order to complete a “round robin”, that is to visit all 8 other Kiwanis clubs in our Division.
Carissa Tepe, President Tepe’s daughter, has presented our club with suggestions for increasing our club’s visibility through social media, Facebook and Instagram. We are looking for a Solarian or two to work with Carissa to set up the Facebook and Instagram accounts and possibly help maintain them going forward.
The Red Cross and local civic clubs are joining together in order to try to get more blood donors on the Sept. 18 and September 19 blood donation drives at Pottorf Hall. Each civic club member will recruit family, friends and neighbors to give blood so that every donation slot is filled for those two days. The times for those two days are noon to 6 p.m. on Sept. 18 and 7:30 a.m.to 1 p.m. on Sept. 19.
Club members are asked to reserve the evening of Oct. 3, for the Solar Kiwanis Installation and Awards Banquet. It will be held at the Blue Sage Barn at Prairiewood. The meal will be catered and we will celebrate the passing of another year and take a look forward at 2023-24.
Phil Anderson announced that he has a crew lined up to help park cars in the Central National Bank parking lot at K-State’s first football game on Sept. 2. Doug Denning announced that he and Karl Dean visited with Brian Tesene from Outdoor Resources, LLC last week and talked about Brian setting up and maintaining a Facebook page for our club.
President Tepe turned the meeting over to Solarian Suzanne Ryan-Numrich who introduced her colleagues from the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Russell Plaschka and Sammy Gleason.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) is the nation’s first state department of agriculture. The agency is devoted to the total support of agriculture in Kansas.
The department works for the entire Kansas agriculture sector, including farmers, ranchers, food establishments and agribusinesses. The department is dedicated to providing support and assistance to make Kansas businesses successful and encouraging more farms, ranches and other agriculture business to expand in or relocate to Kansas.
Within this role, KDA also fulfills its statutory responsibility of regulating business functions in accordance with state law. The department works to ensure businesses know what laws affect them and how they can ensure they are in compliance with those laws. In this process, the department aims to minimize excessive rules and regulations.
Solar Kiwanis meets at noon on Tuesdays at the Blue Hills Room next to RC McGraw’s in the Blue Hills Shopping Center.
The next meeting will be Sept. 5, and President Chad Tepe will hold a business meeting. Solar Kiwanis meets every Tuesday at noon at the Blue Hills Room in the Blue Hills Shopping Center. Contact Secretary Doug Ackley (rda@ksu.edu, or, 785-539-4945) if you have any questions.
