By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Epworth Towers will begin a $7 million renovation of its 90-unit senior and low-income housing complex in July.

The complex, 2800 Augusta Lane, was built in 1980. Tax credits from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation will allow for a top-down renovation of the building. Completion of the project is anticipated in October 2020.

The renovation will address mechanical and interior issues at the complex. This will include a new heating and air-conditioning system and mechanics for its elevator as well as new paint and decor for the common areas of the complex.

All of the apartments will be painted and receive new appliances, carpet and windows.

Debra Staab, Towers manager, said the complex provides clean, affordable housing, but the building is aging and needs updating. The Towers has made cosmetic upgrades to carpet and other aspects of the facilities over the years, but this will be the first major overhaul in the facility’s 40 years.

Staab gave the example of the windows, which are a crank style and do not function well during high Kansas winds.

In anticipation of the renovation, the Towers stopped renting to new tenants. As vacancies occurred, some tenants were moved to create a block of empty apartments in the southeast quarter of the complex where the renovations will begin. Once the apartments are completed, the Towers will move the tenants back into their original apartments.

Parking will remain the same for tenants during the renovation. Additional parking will be added as part of the project toward the end of the construction. The Towers office also is being enlarged.

Epworth Towers is a nonprofit entity for renters who are 62 or older or disabled and who meet income requirements. Rents are based on 30 percent of the renters’ adjusted incomes. Once the renovations are completed, the Towers will open rental applications again.

“Epworth Towers has a long history in the Hays community and is very excited to be able to complete these upgrades for the residents,” Staab said in a news release. “These improvements will allow Epworth Towers to continue to provide quality, affordable housing for many years to come.”

Staab said low-income housing is needed in Hays.

“We go specifically to the elderly and low-income,” she said. “They need to have places that are clean and in great condition. We needed to get the bones of the building up to standard. We never have a vacancy issue.”

Epworth Towers Inc. is working with Wichita developer Investment Resources Corp. and Accel Construction Co. to assist with the redevelopment.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center has added a new medical mobile unit to its fleet.

The WKCAC serves 33 counties in western Kansas, including Ellis County. Although the WKAC has brick-and-mortar offices in Hays and five other Kansas cities, it does not have offices in many of the communities that it serves.

WKAC provides forensic interviews for children who authorities believe have been abused. The center can refer child survivors and their families for follow-up services. Some children return to the WKCAC for therapy services when needed.

The WKCAC already has a fleet of RVs that have been equipped to serve children and their families in the rural areas of its coverage area. The WKCAC Mobile Child Advocacy Center is the first mobile unit accredited in the nation.

The new medical unit includes a family area, where children can meet center workers. These “family rooms” are decorated in bright colors with kid-friendly decor and equipped with toys to help children feel at ease, said Victoria Brady, forensic interview and child and family advocate.

In the rear of the RV where sleeping quarters would be, the RV has been outfitted with an exam room. Nurses affiliated with the WKCAC perform head-to-toe wellness exams for children in the unit.

https://www.hayspost.com/2019/06/28/%F0%9F%8E%A5-hays-wastewater-treatment-plant-rebuild-ahead-of-schedule-and-under-budget/

“A lot of times that is healing for a kid to hear that their body is OK,” Brady said. “We find that is beneficial.”

The Department of Justice provided a Violence Against Women grant to support both the purchase of the mobile medical unit and the ongoing wellness exams.

The medical unit can also be used for sexual assault exams. In some cases, the exams are used to collect evidence.

In some cases no injury is found, but Brady said that does not mean sexual abuse did not happen.

In addition to the new medical mobile unit, which went into service in April, the WKCAC also has mobile interview units and mobile therapy units.

The mobile interview units are outfitted similarly to the medical unit, however, instead of an exam room in the rear of the RV, there is an interview room. The interview room is equipped with cameras, so law enforcement officials, officials from the Department for Children and Families and the county attorney can listen and watch the interview from behind a curtain at the front of the RV.

“There is a TV screen, so they can monitor the child’s body language,” Brady said. … “when they are answering my questions, if they are hesitant.”

The therapy mobile units allow therapist to travel to the children in need of services. They can park at a school or other location, so the child has minimal disruption in his or her routine.

None of the mobile units are marked to give families more anonymity.

Throughout its coverage area, the WKCAC served more than 500 children last year. Brady estimated the majority of the children were served through mobile units.

“I think it is important because we live in such a rural area,” Brady said of the mobile unit fleet, “and not all the families that we see have the means to come to us physically, so we are able to come to them. Parents are more likely to participate in services when you actually come to them.”

Brady said using mobile units or one of the CAC brick-and-mortar centers, is much less traumatic than having to go to a police station for children to be interviewed about their abuse.

“All of our CACs are very bright and colorful, and even the mobile units are just a very kid friendly environment,” Brady said. “They are greeted by myself and an advocate and when the mobile medical unit goes out there is an advocate with the nurse.”

The WKCAC accepts specific donations for bags of gift items the children can take home with them. It also accepts donations of office supplies and has tasks that require volunteers.

See the WKCAK wish list and volunteer needs by clicking here.

You can also find child safety resources on the WKCAC website. If you believe a child has been abused, contact local law enforcement.

“We’re still open. It is not going to affect us. Come on out to the park.”

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post 

Although the Kansas Department of Transportation closed the bridge over the spillway at Cedar Bluff State Park on Wednesday, Park Ranger Kyle Burgoon said he did not think the closure would seriously affect the operations of the park.

He said Kansas Highway 147 will be closed over the dam and the spillway. However, park goers should be able to route around the closed section of the road to still reach the south side of the park via K-147 using chalk roads. The detour is about 10 miles one way.

The detour would route people east on U Road about 3 miles to 370th Road then south about 4 miles to Y Road and then back west another 2.5 miles to K-147.

The south side of the park can also be accessed via U.S. Highway 283 and Kansas Highway 4.

The road over the entire length of the dam will have to be closed, Burgoon said because there is no turnaround point on the dam.

The park is still expecting about 10,000 people over the Fourth of July holiday next week. All of the camping sites with utilities have been reserved, Burgoon said.

“Really, I would say have patience with it,” he said. “It may take a little bit longer to go from one side to the other, but in the long run, it is for everybody’s safety to basically get a brand-new bridge put in and it will last a lot longer.

“We’re still open. It is not going to affect us. Come on out to the park.”

Sport Haven is a convenience store, bait and marine shop at the north entrance of the Cedar Bluff State Park on K-147.

Sydney Parker, Sport Haven store clerk, said she is being optimistic about how the bridge closure will affect the store’s business. She said she thinks people will be able to route around the closed bridge, visit the business and enjoy the park.

“I know we are going to have a few unhappy campers, but once they spend some time here, it’ll get better,” Parker said.

Burgoon also urged people to not go around the barricades as the bridge at the spillway has been deemed unsafe.

Plans are being developed for an emergency bridge replacement project to be completed in 2020, according to KDOT.

— Cover photo courtesy KDWPT

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

First Call for Help kicked off a fundraising drive Friday to raise $250,000 to remodel a portion of its building into a transitional housing unit.

First Call is calling the project First Step. It will include creation of a four-bedroom housing unit with a small kitchen/common area, as well as a laundry area. Each room will be able to house up to three people. One of the rooms will be handicap accessible.

The program is designed for women, families and couples living in Hays who are temporarily without permanent housing for a variety of reasons.

First Call hopes to begin construction in August with completion in early 2020. The goal is to raise an initial $250,000 by the end of the year.

“First Step Housing is about providing people a place to live temporarily while they try to get back on their feet, and we want to offer them all the support that we can,” said Linda Mills, First Call for Help executive director.

“If they are having trouble finding a job … if they have trouble budgeting their money, whatever the obstacles have been for them, we want to try to help them work through those. So once they have been there for six months, or earlier if that happens, they will be able to transition into their own place. They would be able to stand on their own two feet by then.”

Although First Call for Help will continue to aid the transient population that comes through Hays, those individuals will not be eligible for the First Step program, Mills said.

Laura Allen, client service specialist, said she talks to several families a week who are from Hays who don’t have a place to stay.

“There just isn’t anything. If they don’t have a friend to stay with, then they look for a shelter in a different city,” she said. “Some of them don’t want to do that because they have kids here or they have family here or they may have a job here.

“When a lot of people live paycheck to paycheck, they don’t have the money to come up with first month’s rent plus a deposit. Giving them the opportunity to have a place to stay while they work on that really gets them to the longer-term goal of not being homeless again.”

Mills said much of the homelessness in Hays is “found in the seemingly ordinary.”

“You may think they are in their car because they are waiting for someone to come out, but they may be living there,” she said.

People who spend time at the library or who sit at a convenience store, may also be homeless, Allen said. Mills added families might also be staying on people’s couches or doubling up with another family.

“I have talked to four people in the last two weeks,” Allen said, “one who needed to get out of his home situation because there was drug use and some physical violence there. He had nowhere to go, and I believe he is still there.

“One who is working on some mental health issues and lost her home, so now she is trying to figure out what she is going to do tomorrow as she goes through that process. Both of them had nowhere else to stay because they were at the mercy of somebody else where they were living.”

In advance of the capital campaign, First Call for Help has developed an application process as well as policies and procedures for First Step, Mills said.

First Call for Help already works closely with the Job Service Center and will continue to do that with this program. Program officials hope to work with extension to offer participants instruction on grocery shopping and meal planning on a budget, as well. First Step will also help participants apply for assistance programs, such as food stamps and Medicaid if they qualify.

Once the First Step program is established, First Call would like to offer some of these skill-building services to the First Call for Help’s other daily clients.

First Step has been in the works since 2015 and was the result of a strategic planning process, Mills said. Although the community has transitional housing for domestic violence survivors and Oxford House for those experiencing addiction, it does not have transitional housing for those who do not fall into either of those categories.

Mills told the story of a young mom who was temporarily without a permanent home. The family was living in a hotel, and the husband was watching the children while she worked. Her husband left the family. She was in the office talking to Mills about her situation, when school counselor called and said her daughter had been in the counselor’s office very upset and crying because she didn’t know where they were going to spend the night.

“That was kind of hard to hear, because there was not a lot we could do for her,” Mills said.

Mills said First Call can refer families to the Housing Authority, but that agency has a waiting list of up to two years.

The nearest traditional homeless shelter is in Salina. Allen noted members of the transient population will still likely be referred to Salina.

“I think one of the difficulties in rural areas is helping communities to recognize there is an issue with homeless or at high risk of homelessness,” Mills said. “I think that is true not just of Hays, but other rural communities as well. We can see it in the big cities pretty easily. We can drive downtown and you see it, but here not so much.”

Mills said this project will benefit the community as a whole.

“Those people who we are being helped through the short-term housing will be able to contribute to the community,” she said. “They will have a place to live. Their children will have some more stability in their lives. Living with housing instability — kids worry about where they are going to spend the night.”

First Call hopes to raise an additional $250,000 for future expansion.

“We don’t see this necessarily as the end nor the only thing we are going to do,” Mills said, “because we know there is still going to be more need out there. We are only going to be able to serve a small part of the population who needs (help).”

Listeners will be hearing regular messages about First Step Campaign on Eagle Radio of Hays stations through at least Thursday.

You can donate by calling First Call for Help at 785-623-2800, online on First Call for Help’s website or in person at the First Call for Help office, 607 E. 13th. The office is open from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. This week, First Call for Help will also have people available to take donations via phone during the evening.

You can learn more about First Step or First Call for Help by attending informal discussions called Mugs in the Morning form 9 to 11 a.m. Thursdays at the First Call for Help office.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

One hundred twelve bicyclists silhouetted against swaying prairie grass and golden ripening wheat rode the back roads of Ellis County Saturday to tour the region’s majestic Volga German chapels.

This is the first year for the Tour De Kapellen, which is German for Tour of Chapels.

Cyclists could choose from anywhere from a one-mile fun ride in the city of Hays to a 100-mile tour that took the cyclists to six historic churches in the area. The stops included St. Catherine Church in Catherine, St. Fidelis Church, Basilica of the Plains in Victoria, Holy Cross Church in Pfeifer, St. Francis Church in Munjor, and the Antonino and Schoenchen churches.

The first four stops included tours and live music. The Antonino and Schoenchen stops on the 100-mile route were self-guided.

The 785 Jeep Club volunteered as SAG vehicles and the Downtown Hays Development Corp. offered a German meal at the Union Pacific Plaza Pavilion at the end of the ride.

Most of the churches on the route were built in the early 1900s.

St. Fidelis Church, Basilica of the Plains

Ivan Werner, St. Fidelis tour guide, said besides family, religion was the most important aspect of the Volga German settlers’ lives. This is reflected in the love, care and great expense that was lavished on the settlers’ churches.

Construction on St. Fidelis was begun in 1904 and finished in 1911. It was the fourth church that was constructed in the community since its settling in 1876.

Not only did the parishioners want a church that was beautiful, Werner said, but they wanted something large enough to hold all of their parishioners at one time. The four-story limestone chapel holds 1,100 people.

The towering, colorful 48 stained glass windows, including the iconic circular window at the front of the church, came from the Munich Stained Glass Co. No cranes were available at the early date of the church’s construction so the windows were installed by hand using scaffolding.

The chapel’s columns are Vermont granite. The builders rigged an old thresher and with the effort of 41 men pushing and pulling hauled each of the columns, which weigh 4 to 5 tons each, to the church site. The bases of the columns and carved capitals are Bedford limestone from Indiana. The carvers name has been lost to history, but church records indicate each capital took a month to carve and the carver required in payment a pint of the priest’s good whiskey at the conclusion of each work day.

The main altar is made from Italian marble from the same quarry from which came stone for some of Micheal Angelo great sculptures. The marble was given to the church from the parishioners in 1986 on the church’s 75th anniversary.

Austrian wood carvings depicting the stations of the cross hang on the walls of the church. The original inscriptions on the carvings were in German, but were later changed to English.

The original cost of the construction was estimated at $85,000 to $100,000. Today the church’s stained-glass windows alone are valued at $1 million for insurance purposes.

Holy Cross Church

Holy Cross Church in Pfeifer was built in 1918.

The altar at Holy Cross was hand-carved from crates, which was the only material the parishioners had at the time. The mosaic on the front of the church was created by a Venetian artist and was paid for with the parish children’s pennies. It depicts the Judgment Day. The scroll in the angel’s  hand reads in Latin “Behold the Light of the World.”

The church is still maintained by a non-profit organization, but has not had a parish or regular services since 1993 when the parish was closed because it had dwindled to 40 people.

The church today hosts weddings and funerals and an annual mass in September. The church is maintained through the gracious donations of patrons like Carol Billinger, who can’t bear to see the majestic building deteriorate.

“There is so much history in this building. It is not because we love it or we grew up here, this has to be saved,” she said.

The non-profit’s next big challenge is replacing the chapel’s roof.

St. Francis Church

St. Francis Church in Munjor was built in 1889, founded by Capuchin priests.

The church was destroyed by fire in 1932. Although the majority of the church was rebuilt, the parish never had the funds to replace the steeple after the fire.

Today the church is home to 90 families and has mass three times per week, said Lilly Binder, St. Francis pastoral associate

Like St. Fidelis, the walls of the church feature the stations of the cross, but in paintings instead of carving. The painting here are inscribed with the original German.

When the church burned in 1932, the sisters were alerted to the fire when children from the nearby school who were playing at recess saw smoke coming from the chapel. The statues, stations of the cross and original pews were saved from the burning structure.

The limestone for the church was all quarried locally, with local farmers bringing in loads for the construction.

“That was their contribution to help build the church back in the day,” Binder said.

The names of the families who donated funds for each of the stained-glass windows are still there along with the names of the saints the windows depict.

“We are blessed to be living in this remote area and have such a beautiful church that we have out here and we are still able to have mass and to have it open,” Binder said.

Although some of the cyclists said they had lived in Hays for years, several said they had never been inside the churches on the tour.

“It’s been a beautiful day, and the churches are just gorgeous and the music is totally awesome,” said Shelly Schmidt from Hays.

She and her friend Lori Pennock of Medicine Lodge at the Pfeifer SAG stop said they were considering going the full 100 miles.

“I ride with the Friends here in Hays, so it was a great opportunity to see all of the churches,” Pennock said of her visit to Ellis County.

 

 

 

 

 

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Most people are not in the best of moods when they meet Patty Wolf for the first time.

They are usually paying a fine or facing the challenge of a legal matter.

But for 35 years, Wolf has met that challenge with kindness and grace, as she served the Hays Municipal Court.

Wolf, 62, retired from her clerk position last week.

Wolf said she really enjoyed being able to help people better understand the court and their options. The clerk is one of the first people in the court system people deal with. She said being able to help people was her biggest reward from her job.

“Sometimes people get in a position and they don’t know they have options available to them,” she said. “While we can never give advice, [we can] explain options to people to let them know there are other ways to possibly remedy their situation. It was gratifying being able to help individuals.”

In 1984, Wolf had been recently laid off, when she heard there was a position open with the city. She was initially assigned to work as the the Hays PD secretary before being transferred nine months later to the municipal court.

“The city is a great organization to work for,” she said. “They take care of their employees, have great benefits and it was just a fit for me.”

She said she has dealt with some diverse cases over the years, but said she did not want to relate specifics for fear of embarrassing anyone involved. However, she said it did keep her job interesting over the years.

“I really enjoyed working with the patrol,” Wolf said. “They are an amazing group of dedicated, courageous young men and women. I watched as their families made sacrifices to protect me and this community, and I am grateful for their service.

“I have also made a lot of friends along the way,” she added. “There are some great people who work throughout the city of Hays — staff at city hall, our IT department, animal control, dispatch, so I had a lot of contact with them, as well as our judges and prosecutors, attorneys I have met along the way as well and worked with.”

As a clerk of the court, she collected money for tickets, dealt with attorneys and created reports for the court.

Wolf said the biggest change at the court in the last 35 years has been the introduction of technology.

When Wolf started working at the court in the ’80s, the court had hand-written ledgers. The court would eventually make the transition to computers and a large amount of data had to be entered to get that system off the ground.

Now that she is retired, Wolf plans to travel, spend more time with her grandchildren and her mom, go fishing and volunteer.

“I truly enjoyed my work at the city and everyone I worked with — the ladies in the office,” she said. “It was a great work environment. It was like a family there. Everyone was very supportive. That I will truly miss, but I’m on to my next adventure. ”

 

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

A Hays teen got a break last week from the rigors of cancer treatment when a group of celebrities visited her at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Sophia Linenberger’s visit included an interview with Al Roker that appeared on the “Today” show on June 10. She was also visited by Selena Gomez, Adam Scott, Paul Rudd and Zachary Levi among others.

Levi, who voiced the character Flynn Rider in the movie “Tangled,” serenaded Sophia and the stars with a song from the movie. Levi’s serenade featuring Sophia also appeared on “Entertainment Tonight.”

The star treatment was all a part of a fundraising effort by Children’s Mercy called the Big Slick. This year was the 10th anniversary of the Big Slick. Children Mercy set a goal to conclude the event with $10 million raised over the 10 years of the event. The hospital was able to raise $2.5 million just this year, pushing it past the $10 million goal.

Jenny Linenberger, Sophia’s mother, spoke for her daughter and said the visit was a break from all Sophia has been through during her recent cancer treatment.

“It took her mind off of the cancer. … It took her mind off of the chemotherapy. It took her mind off of the radiation. It took her mind off of the whole Ewing’s Sarcoma cancer and the whole thing for just a little bit, and that meant a lot to her,” Jenny said.

Sophia, 15, a soon-to-be sophomore at Thomas More Prep-Marian, has a rare form of cancer — Ewing’s Sarcoma. Less than 1,000 people per year are diagnosed with this type. The cancer grows in bones or in soft tissue around bones. Sophia’s cancer started in her spine and her mother said it spread like “bind weed.”

Sophia has had two surgeries, just completed six weeks of radiation and is well into an eight-and-a-half-month course of chemotherapy.

The family drives back and forth to Kansas City for treatments that take between one to six days. Although she was home Wednesday, Sophia’s last trip to K.C. this week was via ambulance.

Jenny said seeing the stars rally around her daughter also meant much to her personally.

“There are times where Sophia will say, ‘I wish I could be normal. I wish I could do stuff with my friends. I wish I could go swimming … do summer things,’ ” Jenny said.

“She gets kind of frustrated at that because she can’t do the things that kids do because she is on a walker and needs a wheelchair for distance. For them to do what they did meant a lot to me — to just let my kid to be a kid again — just to see her smile, the face beam up.

“She said she felt normal again, and that was gratifying to me. It was wonderful. She always has a smile on her face, but to actually see her be a kid again, a teenager, it meant a lot.”

Children’s Mercy has been integral in Sophia’s care, her mother said, but not just in the treatment of her cancer. The staff care for her as a whole person. The hospital has child life specialists who organizes activities for the children while they are in the hospital. The hospital also has a therapy dog named Hunter. When Sophia can’t leave her room, someone comes to her sometimes just to talk.

“Children’s Mercy has been like a dream to me, because without them, I don’t  know where we would be,” Jenny said.

Unfortunately, Sophia’s illness is not all the family is dealing with. Jenny’s husband ended up in the ER five weeks ago and has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.

“My life is pretty full,” Jenny said.

However, Jenny said she and the whole family have been very thankful for the community’s support during Sophia’s illness.

Anthony and the Animals had a benefit concert in Hays for Sophia, and TMP and Holy Family have also spearheaded fundraisers for the family.

“We have had a lot of prayer from the community, and we are grateful, believe me,” she said.