Many of the 515 or so volunteers at Saturday’s SWIPE Out Hunger food packaging event at Fort Hays State University have families and friends who are Kansas farmers and ranchers.  They can’t imagine what it’s like to be hungry.

They’re assembling 100,000 packages of rice, soy, freeze-dried beans, plus a vitamin blend, for Numana Inc., an international hunger relief organization based in El Dorado.   The package contents, when mixed with water and cooked, feed six people.  The bags are shipped to starving people in the horn of Africa.

“Our volunteers come from the university and the community, and work in one-hour shifts,”  says Kelly Nuckolls, student coordinator of the Global Leadership Project in the FHSU Center for Civic Leadership.

An estimated 25,000 people world-wide die every day from hunger-related issues.  “It’s a big problem,” says Nuckolls.  “This is a fun, hands-on way to make an impact on thousands of lives in a short amount of time.”

 

It’s Tootsie Roll weekend in Hays.  You can satisfy your sweet tooth with a chocolate Tootsie Roll and help keep the Special Olympics Kansas program rolling.

Knights of Columbus volunteers are handing out the candy in front of many Hays businesses through Sunday.

Knight Warren Schmidt of Catherine was stationed near the doors of Cerv’s convenience store on Hall Street Saturday afternoon.  “It’s been really busy the first hour, and people have been very generous in donating money,” he reports.  “Some don’t even take the Tootsie Roll!”

The 71-year-old Schmidt has been a Knight since the age of 18.

80% of the money collected stays in Hays, according to  Rocky Feltis, K of C District Deputy #45.

Last year the Knights of Columbus donated $23,000 to the state K of C Special Olympics basketball tournament hosted in Hays at FHSU Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Trick Or Treat So Others Can Eat.

The Trick was getting all those volunteers into the Community Assistance Center Tuesday night.  The Treat was all the canned food donations they collected from Hays residents.

Hays High School’s DECA Club coordinates the annual project.

This year there were 25 different organizations helping out.  DECA teacher Shaina Prough has been been at the helm for 13 consecutive years.  “We have some groups who help year after year and always want to canvass the same part of town,” says Prough.  “They’re kind of territorial,”  she laughs.

It takes about 300 cans to fill each food section in the pantry according to Community Assistance Center co-director Laurie Mortinger.  “The shelves were pretty bare.  We were down to handing out only six or seven food items per request, and we have a lot of families coming in right now,” she says.

Other communities in Ellis County will participate in Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat food later this month.

 

 

It’s one of the main food drives each year,  filling the near-empty shelves of the Community Assistance Center.

“Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat” has been coordinated by the Hays High School DECA club since 1985.

They, along with volunteers from other civic groups, will go door-to-door in Hays Tuesday night from 6-9p.m. collecting canned non-perishable foods.    If you won’t be home, you can leave your donation alongside your mailbox for pickup.

Other Ellis County communities will conduct their food drives later this month.

If your house is missed, you can bring donations to the Community Assistance Center in Hays until October 31.

 

 

 

If you missed Saturday afternoon’s Fort Hays State University Homecoming Parade, you can watch it this week in its entirety.

Tune in Monday-Friday at 11a.m., 4p.m. and 8p.m. to Eagle Community TV Channel 14 to hear Eagle Communications’ Mike Koerner and former FHSU University Relations Director, Bob Lowen, with the parade “play-byplay.”

Solid Waste Superintendent Marin Honas asks participants to sort the discarded items into four separate piles:

• TREE LIMBS & BRUSH
  

• CONSTRUCTION & DEMO DEBRIS
  

• WHITE GOODS/METALS
  

• MUNICIPAL WASTE

Honas says if there’s something near your refuse collection area you do not want picked up, be sure to mark it as such.

There is no charge for the alley cleanup.  Crews will make one pass only through town, starting with curbside refuse customers, followed by alley customers.

Friday is the 40^th annual Oktoberfest celebration in Hays, in conjunction with the Fort Hays State University homecoming.

Eagle Communications is sponsor of the Oktoberfest, which has expanded this year to include more Volga German traditions to be presented by the Ellis County Historical Society.

While you’re there, stop by the Eagle Communications booth and pick up your official Oktoberfest button. Wear it while you stroll through Frontier Park , and you may win something from the Eagle Prize Patrol!

Each button is numbered and come Monday, Eagle will have a random grand drawing for an Ipad!

2012 FHSU Homecoming bonfire Thursday night east of the Robbins Center

The potential operating costs of a proposed downtown pavilion project will be presented by city staff at Thursday night’s city commission work session.

The pavilion project was unveiled September 15 during the third annual Wines and Steins fundraiser for the Downtown Hays Development Corporation.

Total estimated cost is $576,534.   Executive Director Traci Konrade says DHDC is requesting the city contribute $276,534, which includes a $100,000 cash contribution and $176,534 in site improvement costs.  City staff estimates annual operating costs to the city at $6,000.

The multi-use pavilion would be located at 10th and Main streets near Union Pacific Park, and serve as a location for community functions.

Other agenda items include:

* An update on Larks Park turf.

* Golden Belt 8th Addition replat.

* A pre-annexation agreement for sanitary sewer service at 2807 U.S. Highway 183 Alternate property.

* Vacating an alley in Reservation Addition.