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Wheelchair travel forms bond between native and visitor 
When Ryan Chalmers, 24, arrived in Newton on Saturday, it marked the 35th day of his 71-day journey across America in his racing wheelchair.
Although Chalmers planned to continue through Marion County on Saturday, Torey Hett of Marion asked if he might consider staying until Sunday morning and take part in the Challenge Games at Derby.
Like Hett, Chalmers also was born with spina bifida, which is an incomplete closure of the spinal column, and means they do not have complete use of their legs.
With Chalmers averaging 60 to 70 miles a day since starting his journey April 6, one of the first questions Hett asked Chalmers was if he became sore traveling those distances.
“He told me the first week he was, but that now he is getting used to it,” Hett said.
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New dental program may be a first for state’s public schools
Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 23 October 2012 13:50
Marga Ebel wanted her estate gift of about $350,000 for the Hillsboro Community Foundation to be used to help meet the health needs of children in the community.
The former teacher, who lived a conscientious and frugal life until her death a few years ago, likely would be pleased to know that her generosity will provide a new and novel dental-health program for students in USD 410 schools.
About $18,000 per year for the next three years will be designated from the Marga Ebel Fund to identify and address dental issues in students. Hillsboro Dental Care will be the primary service provider.
Superintendent Steve Noble said a committee of education and health-care providers, plus community representatives, was appointed to decide how best to use the Ebel funds. It concluded that dental care was a good fit after considering other options.
“It just tends to get overlooked,” Noble said. “When you think about it, it makes sense because what do we do as parents?
“We tend to put dental care off to the side because medical insurance oftentimes doesn’t cover it, and so you have to either pay out of pocket or get a supplemental dental insurance program—which many people don’t want to purchase.
“So it’s a (financial) hit when you go to the dentist.”
Noble said as the committee was doing its work, the Kansas Health Foundation happened to announce a new initiative focusing on dental health, calling it one of the biggest medical needs in the state.
“We were already down the road on this (new program) and thought that’s pretty cool,” Noble said of the coincidental affirmation of the committee’s work.
USD 410’s new program, where a school district partners with the community and a local dental office, may be the first of its kind in Kansas.
“Let’s put it this way,” Noble said. “We created this airplane as we were flying in the air. We didn’t have any place to go (for direction) but ourselves. We never did identify any other plan doing something like this.”
Read more: New dental program may be a first for state’s public schools
Women repurposing grocery bags into sleeping mats for Haiti
Written by Patty Decker Tuesday, 16 October 2012 13:54
For almost a year, a group of women at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Marion have been making unique sleeping mats for people in Haiti.
Irma Meisinger, one of the women involved in the project, said they reuse between 500 and 700 plastic grocery bags to make one sleeping mat.
“Some ladies cut the bags into two-inch strips, either with scissors or a cutting board,” she said. “Then others take the strips and tie them together.
“Once they get a whole bunch, the strips are rolled up into balls and ready for two other ladies to take them home and do the crocheting.”
Meisinger said the idea for the 3-foot-by-6-foot bedrolls came from a 2011 fall meeting of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.
“They showed us what they were doing and how when the (sleeping) mats were completed they were sent to Haiti or other countries,” she said.
The sleeping mats, according to Meisinger, are “literally” used for sleeping and they are easy to carry, not too heavy and when someone needs a place to lay down, they have the mat with them.
Most of the mats are made for adults, she said, but they would be satisfactory for children, too.
“The way it was explained to us about how the mats are used,” Meisinger said, “is that they can lay them in the water and flip them over and lay them in the sun to dry.”
One woman said she made a mat for herself and washed it in the machine and tumble dried it.
Read more: Women repurposing grocery bags into sleeping mats for Haiti
HCF seeking applicants for Impact Fund support
Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 16 October 2012 13:53
The Hillsboro Community Foundation is accepting applications for grant funds to be distributed in 2013 from the Hillsboro Area Impact Fund.
Organizations may apply that are exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) and serve Hillsboro and surrounding communities.
Application forms can be downloaded from hillsborofreepress.com or cityofhillsboro.net, or picked up from Eileen Unruh at The Insurance Center at 105 S. Main, Hillsboro. The deadline for submission is Nov. 16.
The Impact Fund is an unrestricted grant fund created by the generosity of individuals who have contributed to this endowment. Grants will not be limited to a particular issue or target population.
Successful applications assist the foundation in fulfilling its mission to improve the quality of life for the Hillsboro community.
For more information about the Impact Fund and other non-profit funding opportunities, contact executive director Kathy Decker at 620-947-0170 or by e-mail at director@hcfoundationks.com.
County makes quiet transition to new jail
Written by Jerry Engler Tuesday, 16 October 2012 13:53
Sheriff Robert Craft said Monday at the Marion County Commission meeting that last week his staff moved their offices and all prisoners into the new Marion County Jail.
The former jail still houses Emergency Communications until a tower is installed at the new jail, which Craft said represents an operational inconvenience.
“The jail is completely functional,” he said.
Craft previously said there would be no public announcement prior to the move in the interest of prisoner security.
Commission Chairman Dan Holub proposed that a public ribbon-cutting ceremony be planned for the jail as soon as possible, especially to recognize the volunteers on the jail committee who worked on it in recent years.
The commissioners approved a certification of the jail’s “substantial” completion.
Royal surprise for HHS homecoming king candidates
Written by Hillsboro Free Press Tuesday, 09 October 2012 13:50
The blindfolded candidates for Hillsboro High School homecoming king received a surprise kiss from their mothers during the annual downtown pep rally Friday afternoon. The three candidates shown here are (from left) Lucas Sinclair, Tyler Proffitt and Dylan Jirak. At the crowning ceremony prior to the Hillsboro-Remington football game, Harry Faber was announced as king and Peyton Loewen as queen. Loewen had to miss the pep rally because she was playing in the Class 3-2-1A regional tennis tournament in town.
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