Club news for April 13, 2024

Manhattan Duplicate Bridge Club

Linda Schottler and Katha Hurt won the Charity Club championship at the Manhattan Duplicate Bridge Club April 8. Elizabeth Jankord and Sharon Kriss were second, Pat and Tom O’Grady were third and first in flight B, and Larry Corah and Roger Allerheiligen were fourth in A and second in B. Dianne Childs and Judy Hildreth were fifth, and Nancy Ryan and Lyn Patterson were third in B, while Katie Philp and Kathleen Oldfather were second in flight C.

The duplicate club meets each Monday at 1 p.m. at the Seniors’ Center. For more information or partnerships, call Pam at 785-456-3117.

Riley County

Historical Society

The Riley County Historical Society (RCHS) and Riley County Historical Museum (RCHM) are hosting more than 500 fourth grade students at the Wolf House Museum during the month of April. The students will learn about what life was like in 1880s Manhattan.

“Grow Green” Match Day is from 7 a.m.-11:59 p.m., online and in person on April 22, at the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, 555 Poyntz Ave. Funds raised this year will go toward general RCHS operating expenses. This includes upkeep and staffing at our historic house museums, preservation projects at any of our properties, funding of educational programs and exhibits, the purchase of new collections storage materials, and more.

Come explore local history as the Riley County Historical Society partners with Leo Schell and the First Congregational United Church of Christ for a presentation titled, “The Founding of the First Congregational Church: When, Where, Who, and Why.” Held in the church’s Pioneer Hall and Blachly Room at 700 Poyntz Ave., the program will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, and is free and open to the public. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Leo Schell is a church member and emeritus faculty of the Kansas State University College of Education, as well as a lifetime member and supporter of the RCHS. The church got its start in April 1855 in a tent near the vicinity of the present building. Construction on the original stone church began in 1858. This gives the church the distinction of being the oldest Protestant church building in Kansas still in use by its original congregation.

The Pioneer Log Cabin in Manhattan’s City Park will re-open on April 28 for the 2024 season. The cabin is free and open to the public on Sundays from 2-5 p.m. April through October, and by appointment: 785-565-6490.

May is Historic Preservation Month as observed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Park Service, and preservation advocates across the nation. A cemetery headstone cleaning workshop, led by Amanda Brown of Stones of Honor and Nicole Beck, will be from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the St. Joseph’s Historic Church and Cemetery on Lower McDowell Creek Road in Manhattan. Registration is open and is limited to 50 registrants. The cost per participant is $25, which covers the cost of supplies and lunch. This program is a collaborative event put on by the Riley County Historical Society & Museum, the Geary County Historical Society, and Stones of Honor. To register, go to rileychs.org under “upcoming events.”

The RCHM will host a Fireside Chat — “This Place Matters! Historic Preservation Month” from 5:30-7 p.m. on May 14. This program is free and open to the public.

The exhibit, “Remember Me Fondly: Funerals in Victorian Era Riley County,” will remain at the Wolf House until May 26. The Wolf House is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 2-5 p.m. or by appointment and is free and open to the public.

The museum and RCHS hosted a quarterly meeting of the RCHS on March 25. The program was a tour of Wareham Hall, given by Blade Mages, with information about how the hall will be restored and re-imagined.

Kansas Pharmacists Association

The Kansas Association hosted its March Madness membership drive including stories of members.

In the recent accomplishments for KPhA is our new director Jared Holroyd who started in October 2023. Jared comes from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment where he served in the role of Director for the Health Promotion, and Public Health-Medicaid Liaison with a robust background in health-care centric roles including health-system administration, skilled nursing facility administration and, experience with grant-based programs along with a vision for Kansas Pharmacy including bringing together all pharmacy stakeholders to stand in solidarity with one vision and once voice as we move the pharmacy profession forward across the State of Kansas.

In relaunching our Governance Committees with new energy as a result of the downtime during the pandemic and the KPhA governance committee is much needed and a intentional effort to connect engaged members with their personal mission and story, the recruitment of professionally diverse committee members was accomplished resulting in the once dormant committees being now represented by more than 55 pharmacy professionals laying the foundation during a transition year for the Association.

In new lobbyists representation by partnering with a top-notch lobby group Watkins Public Strategies in November 2023 (watkinspublicstrategies.com) Our lobbyists Jason Watkins and Jessica Lucas have brought a wealth of experience and have proven to be a much needed guidance for our Government Affaris Committee (GAC) and Professional Affairs Committees (PAC) to create a strategic plan that includes a robust legislative agenda in 2025.

Upcoming KPhA events include the Clinical Pharmacy Pathway Program: Training designed to educate pharmacists on how to best implement interprofessional collaboration within the clinics and the local providers to better care for patients with chronic conditions. This year, focus will be on many of the skills that are needed to effectively work with chronic conditions, with a few clinical session thrown in as well. Learners may take one or all of these courses but completing the full series (8 classes for 8 hours of CE) will earn them the 2024 Clinical Pathway Certificate from Kansas Pharmacist Association. Choose the date/time option for each module that best fits your schedule — each course will be offered once as a live webinar then, available on demand as well. Registration is free at Kansas Pharmacists Association.

The 2024 KPhA Annual Meeting & Tradeshow is on Aug. 22-25 in Manhattan. Registration will open soon.

Sunflower Pilot Club

Launch Learning Clinic, located in Manhattan, is a program serving children with reading disabilities such as dyslexia. The clinic is to receive a $2500 matching grant from the Pilot International Founders Fund in Macon, Georgia. An affiliate of Flint Hills Neuropsychology, Launch Learning Clinic opened in Manhattan in May 2021. The purpose of the clinic is to serve children with learning disabilities related to reading. This new grant will be used to expand the clinic’s program into working with children with learning disabilities in math such as dyscalculia. The clinic will use Marilyn Zecher’s Multisensory Math curriculum which is a structured and sequenced program using manipulatives to help children better understand and visualize/internalize math concepts and numeracy. There is a great need for this type of service in Manhattan as well as surrounding areas. According to data reported to KSDE, the average elementary school in Manhattan has approximately 20% of students who are identified as showing a limited ability to understand and use the mathematics skills and knowledge needed to be academically prepared for postsecondary success.

The Sunflower Pilot Club of Manhattan, chartered in 1994, submitted the grant request on behalf of the Launch Learning Clinic and matched the Founder’s Club grant of $2500. The goal of Pilot International is to promote and create awareness for persons with brain disorders and disabilities. The mission and purpose of the Launch Learning Clinic mirrors both the local and international initiative. To learn more about the Launch Learning Clinic, go to their website at https://flinthillsneuropsych.com. You may also email them at launch@flinthills.neuropsych.com. For additional information about Pilot Club, go to their website at www.pilotinternational.org. Information about Sunflower Pilot Club may be found on Facebook at Sunflower Pilot Club Manhattan.

Manhattan Rotary Club

President Mitzi Richards thanked Mike Haddock for greeting and welcomed Rotarian Michelle Sink, along with her guest, Skyler Wikoff, operating partner at Nico’s Little Italy restaurant. Past president Steven Graham introduced new member, Jerome Miratsky, owner and funeral director of the Irvin-Parkview Funeral Home. Bob Ward provided the 59 second Rotary Foundation update including the club’s recognition as a 2023 Gold Star club and for reaching our Polio Plus annual fundraising goal. Looking ahead, Club members have contributed 90% towards the Foundation goal for the year and 70% towards the Polio Plus goal. Volunteers are needed for the Homestead Spring Clean-Up on Saturday, April 20 at 9 a.m.

Steven Graham introduced our speaker, Kris Bailey, co-director of the Wonder Workshop Children’s Museum. This year is the 30th anniversary of Wonder Workshop founded by Richard Pitts. Kris shared the museum’s mission, which promotes education in various subjects like arts, sciences and humanities through interactive activities and exhibits for children. Wonder Workshop caters to K-5 grade youth and their families, offering after-school activities, summer camps, field trips, and Pre-K STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) programs aimed at engaging children and teens. In his honor, the club contributed the children’s book, “The Brand-New Never-Used Perfect Crayons” to the Oliver Brown Elementary School library.

Manhattan Solar Kiwanis

We had one club members with a birthday before our next weekly meeting: Charlie Sargent on April 10.

Our clubs’ highway cleanup is April 20. The pickup will begin at 9 a.m. and should be completed by 11 a.m. The meeting place is the Key Realty parking lot at 3620 Legion Lane in St. George (southwest corner of U.S. Highway 24 and Legion Lane intersection).

Nominations for Solar Kiwanian Of The Year (SKOTY) closed on March 19. An election form was mailed to all Solarians on March 25. The voting deadline was April 9. Ballots were to be sent to Charlie Sargent in the envelope provided or email your votes to sargentcharlie37@gmail.com. The Solarians nominated for 2023-2024 SKOTY are Phil Anderson, Jim Bach, Doug Denning, Ed Herde, Chad Tepe and Vera Williams.

The April Solar Kiwanis Board of Directors meeting will be at noon on April 17, at the Bluestem Bistro in Aggieville. Vera, Charlie, Doug Denning and Doug Ackley had an interclub with the Junction City South Kiwanis Club on April 8. The Greater Manhattan Community Foundation Grow Green Day is on Monday, April 22. Donations made to Solar Kiwanis of Manhattan will be matched 50 cents for each $1 donated. President Dean called on Solarian Karen Medlin to give the program. Medlin is a bail bondsman and indicated that she has been one for over 17 years. If a bail bondsman is used, the bail bondsman will pay the bail fee and secure the arrested individual’s release. Before the bail is paid, the bail bondsman will charge the arrested individual or their co-signer a percentage of the bail fee as the initial fee. When a bail bondsman writes a bond, the bondsman is telling the court they have the assets to cover the entire bond amount should the defendant forfeit. This is a large financial risk, which is where bail bond insurance companies come in: If a bail agency wishes to post more and more bonds and grow their business, they’ll need to work with a bail bond insurance company to back them. Medlin related some of the many situations she has had over the years. She said that Fake Patty’s Day is very busy for her. She said she wrote over 50 bail bonds this year and was up for 28 hours.

Solar Kiwanis meets at noon at the Blue Hills Room next to RC McGraw’s in the Blue Hills Shopping Center.

Our next meeting will be April 16, and Solarian Pat Pesci or Solarian Warren Prawl will have the program. Contact Secretary Doug Ackley (rda@ksu.edu, or, 785-539-4945) if you have any questions.