The Post Podcast

Holiday eating a staple of annual traditions

On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University's Glen McNeil stops by to talk about holiday eating habits. 
 
Transcript
 
Glen McNeil 
In the McNeil house. Usually prime rib and then either ham, or sometimes a turkey that goes along with it. My wife likes really likes Turkey. But usually and that started with my mother years ago. I mean, I remember growing up that was Christmas dinner and so we've kind of my family side of the family has kind of stayed with that. So we generally have prime rib and either mashed potatoes, real mashed potatoes, not dried mashed potatoes, which are real mashed potatoes, but you know, yeah, it's not the same or twice baked. I love that really preferred twice-baked that takes a little more time and these days times important because family comes home our Christmas is gonna be this weekend. So our kids get to spend actual Christmas with all their in-laws. Last year we got him to share you know, it's kind of one of those trade-off things. They were all here for Thanksgiving. So you know we did that. So we have usually a primary oven then ham. Like I said mashed potatoes or twice-baked potatoes, or my wife makes this really list cheesy casserole, which I kind of liked that more so than anything else. But you know, you always have to remember that. I am the lessor in this when it comes to deciding what we have because the grandkids tell Grandma What they like now. And that's the main one there. We usually have like a seven-layer salad that Terry has made for years and it's lettuce and peas and salad dressing, Manny's based salad dressing and cheese and it's very good from that process. And of course, green bean casserole. You can't have a holiday without green bean casserole.
 
James Bell 
See, I'd fight you on that one. I can't stand this stuff. I can't I can't do it. It's one of those things. I can't even look at it. It makes me kind of cool.
 
Glen McNeil 
See, I love mushrooms.
 
James Bell 
And that's the trick, I think.
 
Glen McNeil 
Yeah, my favorite soup is mushroom soup. So has those in there. The green beans are okay, too. But we generate that and then we do freshly baked rolls. We've always done a fresh-baked bread that goes along with it. And then it kind of depends on you know what, what Terry's thinking about what she may want to do. A lot of times it's fresh broccoli seems to go well and my family likes fresh broccoli sometimes and broccoli cauliflower, carrot mix. You know, we we do that. The kids all get grape juice it also I'll get a glass of wine. Of course, you know how that part goes. And then leading up to that, of course, you know that you're doing all that preparation leading up to that we do like many families do is, is we sort of have our hors d'oeuvres, we don't really lunch, we middle the day, middle of the afternoon Christmas Day, so about 10 o'clock in the morning outcomes the what I was thinking about this morning, which is the summer sausage that sliced the cheddar cheese, the pepper, jack cheese, couple different varieties of cheese, crackers, you know all of those good things. And then of course, you feel guilty. So you also have you know, he also we also have some vegetable plates out and we make a taco dip, we kind of do all of the things around Christmas, based upon and Thanksgiving is pretty much the same way and so's Easter the foods that the family likes the kids like and the foods that my grandkids like It's like most people holiday season tends to congregate around the kitchen. You know and you and you visit while you're fixing meals and doing those types of things. So we try to be reasonable in what we do. And like we've talked about in here a lot moderation. Try to include some of those favorite holiday things that are a little bit high in saturated fat and cholesterol, balanced those out with some of those healthy alternatives. And then throughout the day, I try to work a little bit of all of that into my daily intake. But I think it's important that the holidays that we focus on the foods that bring us together and keep us together and the memories that are around that particular food. My mother's recipes, Terry's mom's recipes, recipes, Terry and I've built together for different things and so it just makes a friendly environment to build the food around. That's the holidays, I think. And we'll slip a little bit in there and we'll use that word moderation. You know, some of the secrets about holiday eating, and I'm sure like most people holiday eating has started for me last week, you know, you go somewhere, and there's snacks out and beverages out. And so it's Christmas. Yeah, and all the parties and all the events and those things and, and so you have to practice that, those little keys that we talked about that when you go somewhere, you know, you, you want to show your appreciation for Westerners. So you want to sample the things that are made. So you start with a small plate, okay, you know, if you had a choice of sizes, you know, different planets, pick the smallest one, and then fill the smallest one, one layer and take your time, support it with a beverage, you know, non-alcoholic beverage is good, you know from that. But if you do that with a small plate, there's less of a tendency to eat large amounts. Because you feel psychologicaly you feel more satisfied as whatever you put on your plate, that you've consumed them, and that plates empty, it's empty. And if you take a large plate, or if you graze, so to say, without a plate, you tend to consume more. And so that plate can help you in that process. Yeah, and what
 
James Bell 
You mean there is your you actually want to put the food on, not just stand there and kind of Munch because then you don't really, your brain doesn't know how much you had.
 
Glen McNeil 
Right? If you've, we've talked about this before, and I'm a watcher, right? I likey nobody will do that. But I also like to watch other people, you know, whether it's in the grocery store, or you go somewhere and, and there's an event and people are eating, you're snacking. And what you really notice is the people that don't use, in essence, a little bit of a crutch, like a plate, or something to put their food on, they eat considerably more, and they continue to eat constantly. It's not like they take a plate and they move away, but they stand there and it's a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and then they're back to this or back to that they're always in action around the food. So you can help yourself with your holiday eating by fixing a plate and then moving away from where the main component of the food is, you can always go back. But a lot of times that moving away helps you feel a little more satisfied, and you're less likely to eat lots of food, so a large amount of food. So you can go back and eat a greater variety throughout the day when you do those types of things. And, you know, we talk about this time of year that we have a responsibility as hosts to offer healthy choices. So
 
James Bell 
You don't feel that responsibility to my house. You're just gonna whatever junk I've got,
 
Glen McNeil 
All right, some of us some of the responsibility. So we generally make sure that we have a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and, and, you know, different varieties of crackers or chips to offer. And you know, like I said before, yeah, summer sausage is great, the cheeses are great, the dips are great. You know, if we have one dip that may be somewhat fatty and rich, we have another one that maybe a salsa bass dip or something like that. So there are always those alternatives that you can offer. I doubt if anybody else, or very few people really ever think of that. When they come to our house, they think oh, yeah, just lots of food. In that process, so I think the holidays in relationship to food are, are very important, and especially what it brings to us in terms of memory and family and friendship.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, and I think too, and maybe you want to speak a little bit to this for for folks that are so health-conscious, and I know some of these folks in my world, you know, they need a rogue cookie without counting it and tracking it and how much do I have to run to burn that off? It's okay during the holidays to maybe not be so conscious, cuz you can always pick it back up in a couple of weeks, you know, New Year new resolutions and, and burn all that off and get back in that prime shape. You know, without experience, throw caution to the wind.
 
Glen McNeil 
Okay, it's it's the time to notice the wind a little bit more so to say which, you know, we had plenty of that yesterday. That was a terrible. But the fact is, yeah, if you're very, very health conscious about what you do, this is not the time to be doing that. Yes, remain health-conscious. Okay, and maybe you do a little bit of the calculations in your head or something, but it's not something to bring up in a group. And it's not a reason not to eat things. You can also do it a lot of times as what we refer to as sample, you can take a small plate, you can put small amounts of things on them. And because typically you don't have to eat the whole cookie. Right? Now you want to be careful in doing that, that you don't take a plate of food and take tiny little bites of everything and throw it all the way in front of your host. That's not a good process, you know, but the fact is that you can take smaller portions you don't have to eat everything you take, you can sample. And this is a time to relax a little bit. And I think what you're saying is relax a little bit and enjoy it. Don't worry so much about, you know, it's got 132 calories versus 108, it's got six grams of added sugar versus three grams of added sugar and all those, this is not really the time to do that. And you're only doing it for a very short period of time. Okay, and you're not going to come back after two weeks of Christmas, and deny yourself all this and exercise extensively hard to burn off everything you consumed. You want to come back after that period of time, continue your exercise the way it was, right, and maybe you for a very short period of time, you watch what you eat very closely to balance yourself back, most people are going to gain one or two pounds over the holidays, it's not going to take very long to get rid of those one or two pounds, once those extra holiday foods are not there anymore. So enjoy the season, enjoy what's put in front of you. Even though you know when you come back at the first of the year or after the first of the year, you're going to really focus on your life plan again. But it's a time to enjoy what's out there. And we should we really need you to know from a health aspect from a food and nutrition aspect with the stresses that have been around in the last year and a half. This should be a time to really sit back and relax and enjoy the types of things that we have always enjoyed. And to me foods at the top of that. You know that it brings in so many memories and so many aspects of comfort. It's really important to take some time to do that.
 

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Hays Chamber awarded leadership grant

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Chamber president and CEO Sarah Wasinger shares details about a recently awarded leadership grant.
 
Transcript
 
James Bell 
A recent grant to the Hays Chamber will help strengthen leadership in the area president and CEO Sarah Wasinger stops by to talk to us about that and more on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
I don't know if you've heard but the chamber was awarded a leadership transformation grant from the Kansas Leadership Center.
 
James Bell 
Oh, very cool. No, I hadn't heard about this. I don't know anything about this. What is it again.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
So it's a leadership Transformation Grant, the Kansas Leadership Center is based out of Wichita, Kansas. And part of their focus is working with community partnerships to really expand leadership principles and concepts across the state of Kansas. And last year, our chamber was successful in receiving 46 spots for from them. And we're very close to utilizing all those spots up this year. And the grant that we wrote for 2022, however, we wrote a grant for 50 spots, and we were awarded those spots, which is very exciting. Nice. So leadership Haze is actually something that many of our listeners might be familiar with. It's a leadership program that was started by the Chamber, the Hays area, Chamber of Commerce, then, um, to really just help businesses and organizations help their folks that are maybe at the beginning of their careers in the middle or, you know, even the seasoned pros, bringing folks together to talk about leadership concepts, how we work together as a community to address issues, or needs, or just in general to kind of strengthen ourselves and better ourselves. One of the things that our leadership, hey, students go through is step one of the KLC process. And that is your leadership edge. And that's a two day course. And normally yours, we actually take the students to Wichita, Kansas for that, that because of COVID. Last year, we did that virtually. But we're excited for this year, because they're going to let us go back to Wichita and take them in person, again, awesome, they'll have a blended approach. So there might be some folks who still feel more comfortable doing things virtually. And that's okay. But we're very excited to have that in person capacity. Again, I can very much tell you that being an alumni of the leadership Hayes class, that the in person experiences I felt to be pushed me outside of my comfort zone a little bit more. And I was probably able to get a little bit more out of my experience with it.
 
James Bell 
Well, sure. I mean, because it's human nature, I think you get uncomfortable and you've got the screen and all you got to do is close it or shut the camera off. And but if you're in the room is hard to you can't scrunch down enough to not get called on sometimes, right,
 
Sarah Wasinger 
I'm not going to hide underneath that chair. But the exciting thing about this is we are actually in the window right now for folks to turn in applications. So I was just actually talking to Joe in the lobby. And this is really significant, because some of these trainings are actually worth $800. Wow. And so we're actually offering them to folks who fill out the grant application form for free, I'm really the only investment that they would actually have outside of of course, their time. And there is a workbook and a guide book that are used in conjunction with the course nicely enough, those workbooks and guide books are the same for all three steps of the KLC path. And so you really had that investment only one time. But December 15 is kind of the deadline that we're hoping folks will fill out those applications. So we've got a little over two weeks now. And it's a very simple application, we're just going to ask a little bit of information from you, kind of what you would hope to gain from the leadership course and why you're wanting to apply for it. And then as long as we have enough spots, we'll grant everybody their application. But if we have a certain amount of spots, we'll of course, look at different things like, you know, maybe putting a cap on a number of people per employer, or things of that nature. And we might also look at a few things to, you know, with this person, I'm taking this leadership course, perhaps set our community up to be a little bit stronger based on what they're doing. And you know, the different organizations that they're a part of. So that will all be taken into consideration. Our hope, then, is to actually have all those spots kind of identified and communicated back out with folks by the end of this year. And then I'm really we're gonna give everybody the opportunity to register for their courses by June 30. Our hope is that if we have them registered by that point in time, if anyone changes their mind and says, Hey, I applied for this, but my schedule has changed. I don't think I'll be able to take a course between now and then that gives us time as a chamber to make sure that we're utilizing all this 50 spots.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. thought of everything. Oh, I get so organized down there at the chamber.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Oh, well, we try. Except for emails not coming through. We'll work on that.
 
James Bell 
Well, that's probably our system. That's yeah. But very cool. Very cool. Well, um, so, you know, for now, is there a like a website? Or do you have more information on your website for this, if people want check it a little bit more detail?
 
Sarah Wasinger 
We do so they can go to Hayes chamber.com. And then our news and announcements page, we've got our resources on the right hand side of that page. And there's a 2022 leadership transformation grant application. And for those folks who also kind of pay attention to our emails and get our news blasts, we'll be sending that out as well as another attachment in our December newsletter. So a couple of different reminders Coming out folks this way, and I do believe will anticipate doing a Facebook post to just to kind of give people another step to apply for that. But yeah, so they arranged like I said, between 408 $100. So it's significant value. And quite frankly, I feel like anytime you have a chance to better yourself, you should do it. A few of the things I did want to talk about is kind of the core concepts and leadership principles that KLC has. So they define leadership as an activity and not a position. And they share that anyone can lead anytime, anywhere, it starts with you and must engage others, and your purpose must be clear. And last, and probably most important, it's risky. So Leadership isn't always easy. And so we have to make sure that we are able to exhibit great patience and understanding with others. So I think those are all different concepts that I struggle with and try to improve on every day. And I'd imagine if I had those considerations and things I need a benefit from, and could improve on that others would, too. And so that's really kind of the why behind why we applied for the grant. And our hope is to continue to apply for the leadership Transformation Grant, year after year. So we can keep moving forward that leadership needle in our community, and give as many businesses and organizations exposure to those leadership concepts as possible.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Yeah. And you know, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about this. But I think for a lot of people, when you when you hear that term leadership, you think about the old traditional style boss, you know, the coming down the mountain, somebody's telling you what to do. And that's not necessarily the entire experience and leadership. It's it can be at any level, it can be a, you know, an on any size of project, right.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Yeah, that's more management actually versus leadership. And there's going to be some great debate and discussion through the courses on that as well. Yeah, well, they're needed just at different times in different places.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, exactly. Love it. All right. Well, Sarah, what else? Well, I think we got to talk about this. The childcare survey is out now. Ready, ready for people to take it? I've seen a couple different places that where you can get to that, right.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Yes. So thank you so much for bringing that up. Yes, we are working with the childcare task force of Ellis County and have constructed a survey that takes no more than 10 minutes, this survey essentially is going to help that task force to be able to collect data that really gives us a good vantage point as to what needs access for childcare in our community, how many spots we need, how many more providers we need, and then that committee will really assess, you know, how do we support the people who are currently providing childcare? And what things must we do to possibly incentivize others to do childcare because we, of course, have people looking for childcare every day. And we know that there's a lot of waiting lists going on. So the survey is important for people to understand, you don't just have to be a parent to take it, you could be a grandparent, you could be an employer, you know, you're going to know the needs of your staff. And if they're not coming to work, because they don't have daycare lined up, obviously, you can express that, you know, you know that this is needed in your community. So the more people we can get to fill that survey out the better snapshot we get, and we'll be able to start then applying for grant funds, which we can use to help incentivize and start identifying and addressing this issue in our community. So it's also critical, I will have that conversation window open through the end of December. So folks can actually go to our Facebook page to find a QR code. If they have a cell phone, they can scan that. Or there's our direct link on that, too.
 
James Bell 
So funny story, I actually went and took your survey yesterday. Oh, thank you. And yeah, you're welcome. I was trying to figure out how I was going to scan the QR code with my phone because I'm on my phone. And I'm like, huh, and then I saw the link. I took me a minute, but they're both both way ways are right there in handy. It just yeah, you got to be smarter than me, I guess, to be able to get there quickly.
 
Sarah Wasinger 
Well, you know, we wanted it to be as readily accessible as possible, which is why we gave folks both options. But yes, thank you for bringing that up as well. And again, our goal is to have about 1000 survey responses if we can, obviously we have about 20,000 people in Ellis County. So we know that there's going to be a need for us to collect data for the whole entire county, not just Hayes, because there are folks coming over from LSE and Victoria getting daycare spots served on here and Hayes and vice versa. We know we have some families that are going out of town to for sure.
 
James Bell 
So everybody if you're hearing this, take a few minutes go find that survey and do it. It's really not a big deal. I think you say 10 minutes I think I did mine in five it's it's quick and easy. It's nothing. No no long form kind of questions. It's just put it that but the having that data is so vital for the green

FHSU impacts extend beyond education

On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University provost, Jill Arensdorf speaks about the direct benefits to the are provided by the university.
 
Transcript
 
James Bell 
Fort Hays State University is more than just an education center for the region. It provides direct benefits to the community. Provost Jill Arensdorf stops by to talk a little bit about some of those benefits on this episode of the post podcast.
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Obviously, the purpose of a Fort Hays State University and really higher education is to educate primarily our student population. However, we also have part of our mission to serve the public good. And many of our outreach programs and impact that we make in Kansas, specifically western Kansas, focus on what you called the impact of teaching and learning. And so I'll share just a few examples. And if you have questions about them, please please ask. But we have the fhsu Literacy Center. And that may be one that people aren't that familiar with, because it's relatively new is a partnership with the Hayes Masonic Lodge, and they're providing virtual and face to face helped area schools that need additional assistance in their reading skills. And this was really primarily due to the COVID 19 shutdown and some of the needs that came from that. And so this Literacy Center has, has risen and been created in the last year or so to provide that assistance that that students may need. In addition, you know, we've got great programs at Sternberg Museum and many people in the community and outside of the community and enjoy those educational outreach activities throughout the year. And then we have a gem in Great Bend with the Kansas wetlands Education Center. And that is connected to Fort Hays and folks might not realize that connection to Fort Hays and the educational opportunities that that provides.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, that's something we talked about the events down there. And and I think that's one of those things. And I grew up near that region. I grew up in Stafford County. It is such a such a jewel down there. And it's really, you know, when you when I think about these events, you think about that drive, but my goodness, it's not that big of a deal, really, in the long run to get down there 45 minutes or so.
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Yeah. And they've got I mean, they've got indoor and outdoor excursion activities and things going on all year. So I really hope that people can take advantage of that. You know, one other thing that if you drive through campus, many days, you won't see the maker van there but many days you will meet the maker van has programs for STEM. And so that maker van allows us to take our STEM show on the road so to speak, and and go into schools and communities to teach students about physics and science and using robots and the mobile planetarium and then our ever popular high altitude blond balloon experiments which go on pretty regularly throughout the year.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, this stuff is so neat. I was I actually got to hang out with one of your Dean's Paul Adams the other day, the who's doing a robot session training session with some middle school teachers and may My goodness, how cool is this stuff? It's just, you know, and I'm pretty tech savvy, I'd like to thank but even the way that this is developing an education so quickly and rapidly, it's just It blows my mind.
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Yeah, if we can get students excited about science at an early age through things like the maker band through things like Sternberg through things like the wetland center, they're more apt to maybe find that as a career path and passion as they choose higher education and a career. So I mean, there's obviously a reason for this outreach. And it's an important part of our mission at Fort Hays State University.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. And that, you know, one other thing in that in that regard, we talked about the weekend center. I don't know that you want to talk a little bit about that one as well.
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Yeah, it's relatively new. So this is a cooperation with USD 489. And the west central Kansas Special Education Cooperative, and several other regional school districts, and the Heartland Community Foundation, so a partnership with many entities. And it is a center where preschool and 18 to 21 year old transition programs occur where students are working with these populations preschool and then the 18 to 21 year olds, adults as they prepare to become teachers. And so it's just a, it's a unique new opportunity that for Hayes's has gotten involved in here in the local community, downtown, at the Hadleys at the Hadley old Hadley hospital, that Hadley building, and it has been a fantastic partnership thus far to create opportunities both for our students to learn but also to impact the community. Very cool.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. And in schools, those economic are about I mean, educational opportunities are there's also some real economic benefits to having the university here and we hear about the Small Business Development Center and you know, Management Development Center as well. And I think that's a huge way that Fort Hays can help and especially right now with so many people going remote work and looking at those kind of things are working for themselves. It's got to have like a tremendous benefit on the area.
 
Jill Arensdorf 
It is and you know, for higher education specifically for Hey, does make an impact on our business and economic development, as you said, and so, through the pandemic, and as we've come out of it, the Small Business Development Center and our management development center, have pivoted, and then they've grown from that and and have expanded their services and expanded the way that they're serving the western Kansas population. So I'll just give you a couple of quick examples. James, the Small Business Development Center for Hayes's the statewide host, but we also have a regional center. And so the numbers I'll share with you our regional numbers, for Hayes, the regional Small Business Development Center establishes and helps startup businesses. So lots of workshops and counseling services that can be done in person, but that also can be done remote now, because of our learning through the pandemic. And so this past year, the center has developed 78 workshops, assisted 124 established businesses in their regional area, which is primarily western Kansas, and then helped 14 new entrepreneurs launch business in this area, which is exciting for the economic drivers that we need to be as an institution and in our in our region. The Management Development Center is housed at Fort Hays State University as well provides lots of public workshops, the focus on customer service, managing people mastering business and communication software and applications. So really serving anyone that has needs in management leadership areas.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, that's we talked about leadership earlier this week on the show and the difference between leadership and management and, and how that works and how it develops. And it is such an interesting field and Fort Hayes has been a leader, I think in in Leadership Studies and how that all not only academically, it comes together, but how it works in the practical world as well.
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Yeah, you're right. Of course, I have some affinity for the Leadership Studies program since it's my home department. But the management development center that I think one of the beautiful things about that center, is that it utilizes expertise of not only our faculty, but business people and other people in the community that have a skill set that they can share with other folks. So they basically contract a facilitator. And then that facilitator uses their expertise to teach others about one of the areas that that we already discussed within the Management Development Center. One of the things I'll quickly mentioned, James, kind of connected to the business and economic development piece is an online bank management contest that the Robins banking Institute hosts each year, in coordination with Robins College of Business and Entrepreneurship. This institute actually engages community banks in Kansas, in this friendly bank simulation competition. So everyone likes a little healthy competition from time to time. And so this online bank management contest has been a fun way for the Institute in our community banks to compete and sharpen their banking skills as they compete.
 
James Bell 
That's very fun. You know, it's one of the things I imagine it is, it is difficult to turn that into a fun activity. But that's a good time. You know, and the other thing speaking of, you know, the activity in the university helping the area, you know, a lot of ways I think the university just kind of generally makes life better out here, right?
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Yeah, no, one of the things that I've always appreciated about living in western Kansas, and specifically now in Hays is that the quality of life is so good here. And our university contributes to that in a way that I'm certainly very proud of. An example of that would be the Herndon Speech Language Hearing Clinic, the clinic, His home is on campus, but the clinic is actually in its fifth year of providing mobile hearing screenings. This is a program sponsored again by the Kansas Masonic Foundation. And so in the last five years, the Herndon clinic, students, faculty and staff have actually provided over 830 free screenings in western Kansas communities, which is an amazing service. And it's amazing learning opportunity for our students who are in those programs. So that then when they're going out into their career, they have experience working in rural Kansas and rural communities and see the need out there and can help serve that need. Another example of just raising the quality of life in western Kansas is our Department of Geosciences is doing some research that's actually been funded by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to test private wells for contamination in western Kansas. So again, a great way for our students and faculty to connect to western Kansas communities and ensure that our water water is of high quality and is safe to drink and use.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, because I mean, otherwise, those resources are harder to find. I mean, I've done some some water testing and I know you have to ship that off and it's, you know, it gonna be a few days where you're doing a locally, just quicker and easier and And again, they're great learning.
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Absolutely. Do we have time to talk about more? Yeah. Okay. So as I, as I came over to the station today, I walked literally walked by the senior companion and Foster Grandparent Program Office, which is now housed in rare at call. These are programs for our local seniors that fill a need on our community for services for our citizens over 55. And so if you're interested in getting involved, we have a director that that would be very anxious to visit with with you if you're interested in getting involved with our senior companion and Foster Grandparent Program. And then we have just ongoing partnerships with the pace Public Library in our downtown art and event venues to host exhibitions and poetry readings and author book signings which all contribute to the quality of life in the community. And so we have lots of students in lots of different departments that are collaborating with downtown Hayes, to to raise, raise our appreciation, maybe for the arts, but also to allow people to participate in a unique way. this coming Saturday is another great event that we have, probably you've probably talked about, in fact, I think I heard about it on the radio on my way up here, the teaming up for Tots toy assembly that will occur this Saturday in the Department of Applied Technology. I can't remember James how many years this has been going on. But it's been going on for many, many years. 200 wooden toys will be assembled from start to finish for children ages two to six. And those will be delivered just in time for Christmas. But if you haven't, if you haven't ever been to that event, it's it's it's really powerful to go in and see the community come together with students and faculty to contribute in a meaningful way and also honor a former Applied Technology faculty member Fred Ruda, the toy, the teaming up for Tots toy assembly is named after him. And he started that program. And it's just a really cool way to get into the spirit of the season, but also to contribute to the community.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. Yeah, I remember even as an undergrad here, I think it was a student reporter for the student newspaper, and I wrote some stories with with Dr. Ruta when he was doing that program back then. Yeah, it's it's cool. And I love that it's been able to continue and even expand and grow a
 
Jill Arensdorf 
little bit. Yes, yes, I and there's, I think they sometimes have more volunteers than they then they have toys, but but it's just because people find the work so meaningful. And so I believe this year, there's a team of students that's working with Big Brothers Big Sisters. And so they're connecting that project into the teaming up for Tots toy assembly as well. Which actually leads me to another example. Our university athletes, many of them serve as Big Brothers and Big Sisters are for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Ellis County programs spending their time with students that need to mentor in their lives. And so that's a way that our, many of our students and many of our faculty and staff are connected to youth in the community through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, that's awesome. Cool program and and even cooler when you got to Fort Hays athletes, you know, leading the charge. Exactly,
 
Jill Arensdorf 
exactly. I think I think in some ways, in some of those pictures, I see I think, impacts probably the Big Brother or Big Sister just as much as it impacts the little already cool. Yeah, very cool.
 
James Bell 
Well, we've just got just about a minute or so left, we got to get over to weather. But any last thoughts before we go?
 
Jill Arensdorf 
Well, James, thank you so much for this time that you afford to us on a very regular occasion to talk about Fort Hays State University. I respect our university and love it very much. And we have a very much a shared commitment to service. President Mason often often refers to this as the ethic of care. That's what makes for hasty different. And I think the examples we've talked about here, show that we really care about our students, our faculty and staff, but also our community and that that mission that we hold as high in higher education of the public good. speaks through these examples of outreach that we've talked about this morning, and we can talk probably for 30 more minutes and not cover everything. But as people get into the spirit of the season, I hope that you find a way to get connected to your community and appreciate the outreach that we all bring in.

Ellis Co. Sheriff shares holiday shopping safety tips

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Ellis County Sheriff Scott Braun shares tips on how to keep safe during the busy holiday shopping season.
 
Transcript
 
James Bell 
The holiday season means increased shopping and increased risk of theft. Ellis County Sheriff Scott Braun stops by to talk to us a little bit about how to stay safe while out collecting those holiday guests. On this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Scott Braun 
You know, there's a couple of things we can do to protect ourselves. One, if we're buying gifts online, go to a reputable site, make sure that you're using some type of card or something that has some security to it, monitor your, your purchases through that. Get on some of those sites that will tell you if you have some things to charge to you is monitored closely. As we know scams go up during this time, this year will be no different than any other year, that will be a large percentage, a large percentage of fraud cases being reported to law enforcement to investigate the pretty difficult for us to do. Typically, they're out of our jurisdiction. But unfortunately, you know, the card companies are pretty good about working with people, but monitor that because they can get away from you pretty quick, cancel those cards, if it happens. Regards to gifts, you know, everybody's going to all of the stores around town or out of our community or wherever they might be. Make sure that when you're parking your car, that it's secure. Try to cover those gifts in the back. You know, it just takes a brief moment for somebody to break a window. Or if you leave that door open by accident, kids getting in and out. We're busy. We forgot, forget to check our doors and our kids. Did you lock your door? Yes, well, we all know that sometimes happens, right? And they take the gifts and it cost you some money. And we have some kids unhappy and so just make sure that you're covering those items up and securing your vehicle. And And ladies, please make sure your purses when you're in the stores that you're not letting them by themselves in the cart while you're trying on something or you're dealing with your kids. I know what happens. But please be cautious. You know, those increase every year also. And if anybody's been watching the news, we've been seeing a lot of that stuff in the eastern and western part of the states. Not in Kansas necessarily. We'll knock on wood on that. But there's been a lot of thefts from from stores, a lot of looting and things of that nature. And so unfortunately, that's a trickle effect. Sometimes we hope that doesn't enter our community, but we just want everybody to be cautious.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. And, you know, I heard a story a while back about some booze, doing some shopping and turned her back just turned her back from home to grab the purse out of the car. And then somebody tried to grab it from her. And more or less.
 
Scott Braun 
Yes, you know, and and that's a good point. I know my reaction is to fight that person or, or the ad and I and I get that I can't say that I would be any different. But you know, it is a purse. And I don't want anybody to be harmed, because there are some people that will harm other people to get that item. So just be careful with that. And you just got to be aware of your surroundings. When when, during this time or any time to be for that matter of fact, just be careful around your surroundings. And if you get that kind of funny feeling. Probably something not right.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, better safe than sorry.
 
Scott Braun 
Yeah. So you know, the last the other thing, and we'll kind of get off because I talked about it briefly of people traveling. Again, and I know I spoke about this a long time ago, but please have some precautionary items in your vehicle. Let's get some blankets in there. And let's make sure we have a you know, charger cell phone might have some type of heating item in there. If you're stuck, watch the weather in, you know, years ago, it may have been more difficult. But now we get weather notifications, they pop up all the time on our phones, if you have a smartphone, make sure people know when you're going to arrive approximately at a location. So if you're extended a significant amount, they can start making some phone calls and say, hey, my loved ones not here. Please keep in contact with them. But travel safe. Take a little extra time if the roads aren't good, because the last thing we want to do is have someone injured and and we do see quite a few accidents. There's a lot of travel during Christmas time. And our weather changes in Kansas as we know 30 seconds from now. It could be snowing, who knows? You know? Yeah. So just take a few extra minutes.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. And you know, I was talking to some friends of mine that are a little bit younger, just the other day about this very thing. And they said well, we have a cell phone failing happens. Let's make a phone call. And I'm like, oh gosh, I remember growing up and you know, we lived in a real small town. So travel was part of our daily life 30 minutes, 40 minutes every day. And we didn't have any way of contacting so those those that like the candle in the can and the blankets and all that you know still lives in my trunk. But these younger folks, I think they rely on the cell phones and just think well if I get in trouble I'm going to call but sometimes in service There's situations, you're going to wish that you had some way of staying warm, at least till somebody gets there. And you know, if you're stuck, pros are terrible, whatever it might be.
 
Scott Braun 
You know, technology fails us. And maybe that cell phone's not working, or you were on an all day, and you're gonna make that last phone call. And for whatever reason, your battery just died and you're in this snowstorm, and you can't make that phone call. We don't know where you are, we can't get to you. So you're absolutely right, we've got to take care of ourselves a little bit. We got to make sure we have some means of staying for a period of time. I remember a few years ago, we had some pretty good it's been a number of years ago, pretty good blizzards where I 70 was shut down and, and we were having a hard time getting to people stranded, we actually had to call the National Guard and they started running up and down the road because they had the vehicles to do it. So those people sat there for a couple hours before we get to him. But the point is, is we've got to gotta have some precautionary things and it doesn't take anything, throw something in a bag and put it in the trunk.
 
James Bell 
And just sit there for multiple years if you're like me.
 
Scott Braun 
Yeah, correct. And you have it when you need it. So yeah, so just a few things to think about. And probably last but not least, I know we're probably close on time. On behalf of the Ellis County Sheriff's Office, we'd like to wish everyone a happy, happy New Year and Merry Christmas and I kind of turn those around but I think you get the idea. We want everyone to travel safely and want everyone to have a joyous Christmas for sure. We've had some tough years and everyone gets together as just a wonderful holiday.
 

Ellis County COVID-19 update: Dec. 3, 2021

On this episode of the Post Podcast Ellis County Health Services Director Jason Kennedy shares recent information about COVID-19 in Ellis County.

Winter Art Walk scheduled for Saturday

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Arts Council executive director Brenda Meder shares details from the upcoming Winter Art Walk in downtown Hays.

Weekend Setlist Dec. 3, 2021

On this episode of the Weekend Setlist host Jeffery Leiker checks in with Wade Richards, who is scheduled to perform in Hays this weekend.

Downtown Hays ready for Small Business Saturday

On this episode of the Post Podcast Downtown Hays Development Corporation executive director Sara Bloom and director of events and operations, Allie Glidewell shares information about Small Business Saturday and more.
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
James Bell 
As the holidays are quickly approaching the downtown Hays Development Corporation is getting ready for their series of events. Executive Director Sara Bloom and director of events and operations Allie Glidewell. stopped by to talk to us about a little bit what's going on this season on this episode of the post podcast.
 
Allie Glidewell 
So right now we have the downtown dollar giveaway, which is going on participating businesses. So what that is, when you when you shop participating stores, whenever you spend their denote $1 amount, it could be $10, it could be $100. Depending on the store, you get a ticket, this ticket enters you to win in the downtown dollar giveaway, which is taking place on December 18, where you could win $1,000 or $2,000 in Downtown dollars.
 
Sara Bloom 
and other great prizes are participating businesses.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Yes, so that's going on that started that first weekend in November the fourth all the way through December 18. So you have so much time to gather bunches of chances to win.
 
Sara Bloom 
And if you want to get at like the top of the pile and earn double tickets, that customer appreciation weekend starts on December 9 10th and 11th. When you shop at those businesses you get not one but two tickets every time you spend that minimum amount which ranges from everything from like $10 It breeds to $50 at Refine and Simply Charmed and 
 
Allie Glidewell 
It's 100 at the Furniture Look it's actually only 25 It's Simply Charmed, Breath, The Gamers Guild there's a ton of places,
 
Sara Bloom 
So and lots of different ways in amounts that you have to spend. So yeah, check that out. coupon books are also happening.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Yep. So many of those participating businesses also are selling coupon bucks or $10. But they have hundreds and hundreds of dollars in saving. So if you're trying to get some Christmas shopping done, but also want to earn tickets, the coupon bucks are great way to do that.
 
James Bell 
Awesome win win win. Yeah, it'll relate. Yeah, and no wait for wins because it's a win for the community. Because you're shopping local. We're gonna talk more about that as well.
 
Sara Bloom 
I mean, I think we promote shopping local all the time, especially in downtown Hays supporting your friends and your neighbors you're supporting the people that are supporting your auctions and your sports teams and your fundraisers, all the things.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Great way to segue into Small Business Saturday, which is November 27, and the day after Black Friday. So we understand that you can't get necessarily every single product in downtown Hays or Hays America, we get that. But also, there's so much that you can't get so remember to keep your very small businesses top of mind this year, we will actually be doing a fun little giveaway the beginning of that week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday on social media where we're giving away a cute little tote bag and coupon books as well. And then Sara is actually gonna be going around on Small Business Saturday.
 
Sara Bloom 
I'm very excited about this nicely. So we have partnered with brief Coffee House in downtown Hays. And if you don't know if you weren't at one of the parade, they have purchased a coffee mobile it's so cute. Very cute. So I get to drive around in the coffee mobile for three hours on Small Business Saturday literally yelling Thank you for shopping small Thank you for shopping downtown Hayes and giving away coffee and hot chocolate and cookies. So watch for the automobile. I'll be wearing a Santa hat and driving around and they will be very big.
 
Allie Glidewell 
It does it reminds me something like a Dr. Seuss mobile. I just keep calling it the put put mobile.
 
Sara Bloom 
We better lighten it up we better make it look pretty fast. 
 
Allie Glidewell 
It's going very fun. Yeah. And then immediately after Small Business Saturday, we have a Giving Tuesday campaign which is gonna start on November 30. So we our office did several things last year or this year that supported small businesses or the teacher program things like that. We want to do something to help the nonprofits as well. So Sarah contacted Redeem Design. If you want to finish those you can sure so.
 
Sara Bloom 
With redeem designs, and basically said we want to sell something really cool that we can you have have support nonprofits so essentially they have created this really unique graphic T design. It has a bison it's a little hard on his chest. It says together we give which is the National Giving Tuesday slogan and then it's got 67601 which is of course our zip code on it. And you can purchase it in three different styles and three different colors so short sleeve T Long Sleeve tee or hoodie in black, navy or maroon. So we've got something for the Hayes Hi Pam, we've got something for P fans. We've got something for generic. We did make it a very simple design so men or women can wear it you don't have to worry about the soft pink. Yeah interview. Good luck. But essentially you can go to downtown hayes.com backslash Giving Tuesday. You can check out the designs now. But then we will the store will open on the 30th it will last for six days through that Sunday, December 5 And then you can select from a drop down every time you make a purchase and it will support a local nonprofit And we did not limit it to downtown nonprofits. Any nonprofit in Hays can get signed up for this. I think we have almost 20 signed up right now they have until November 29. To sign up was like, literally the day before we start selling these T shirts. If you're not on our list, you can still get on our list. And then hopefully, at the end of that week, we can write some pretty large tricks. And we loved getting to support the retailers and restaurants. And now we're excited to support the nonprofits as well. And if it goes, well, maybe this is an annual thing. Maybe we do a GivingTuesday shirt every year. But we're a 501 C three nonprofits reached out to us and asked what are you doing? And we thought, you guys are really smart. We should really do that. We should we should support ourselves, maybe. So we're excited for that. I'm 30th.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Yeah, it'll be very cute. So that will end on December 5. December 3, though, so taking just like a little step back is our annual frost fest. Christmas tree lighting, which is very fun. Last year, our organization tripled the amount of lights on that tree in Union Pacific park next to the pavilion. So it's gonna be huge and beautiful. And they're actually already up. The city took advantage of all the warm weather. So the the lights are there. We're just gonna wait until the third to light it up.
 
Sara Bloom 
Thank your parks department.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Honestly, because they're the best. But we'll have a storytime from the library. There. They're a little chilly mascot there penguin will come down, read a story, his little book that they put out every year. We'll have little carolers Tiger tots are going to Carroll, which is going to be very cute. I'm very excited about that. Santa Mrs. Claus will be their breed again. We'll be giving out hot cocoa.
 
Sara Bloom 
And the sunflower Clydesdales. carriage rides
 
Allie Glidewell 
Are back baby. Nice. Yeah,
 
Sara Bloom 
 
We're excited. That's so popular. Yes. They were excited a lot. We're really excited.
 
Allie Glidewell 
We're always excited. If we aren't excited, we're not doing something right. Because we can't get excited about our own stuff. What are we doing?
 
Sara Bloom 
Yes, but yeah, lots of things happening that night as well. Yeah, so
 
Allie Glidewell 
that'll be from five to seven. But the Clydesdales the carriage rides are going to go until eight.
 
Sara Bloom 
And the tree will actually be lit by our mayor at 6 pm. So make sure you're there before six if you want to see the lights turn on but we'll have activities throughout the night.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Yeah, should be really good. The following day, that Saturday, December 4 Is the winter Artwalk. We are we do not organize, just promoting.
 
James Bell 
We had Brenda on actually this week, Brenda Meder from the Arts Council. we talked a little bit about this. So yes, well, yeah, shouldn't be in tuned in on that one. Hopefully,
 
Sara Bloom 
perfect. But we'll be hosting a winter craft fair and market in conjunction with the artwork that's inside the fox, you can sign up now if you'd like to be a vendor for just $25 runs from 9 am to noon, check it out. There is a Facebook event already. You can sign up with Fox. They're the ones accepting the payments in the forums. Yeah.
 
Allie Glidewell 
So that should be really fun.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, very cool scenarios, super small business. 
 
Sara Bloom 
Those crafters that you know, that's equally as important and also pay. I mean, they're still paying take sales tax as well. They're still supporting the economy and putting money back in our community. So yeah, equally as important.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Yeah. December 9 is our customer appreciation weekend that Sarah was talking about where you get double tickets. Again, just keep shopping local.
 
Sara Bloom 
And if you're listening to this in your business, we highly encourage you to get signed up for the process parade as well. We'll be back on to talk about all of the events happening on December 18, which include the parade and movie nights and stuff at the library. But right now, we need you to sign up for that illuminated parade and get excited that we're back in person this year, because we weren't last year and are back in person. They should again, once again, we're very excited to be back in person and to bring the fastest parade back.
 
Allie Glidewell 
Yeah. Yes. So if you have any questions about registration for the parade, like feel free to go ahead and reach out but it's a story Christmas night is the theme. So it should be very, very live up this year. Very beautiful, very fun. I love that.
 
James Bell 
It's like that's, to me. Frost Fest is like the epitome of living in Hays. When it comes together. You know, it's just it's a beautiful celebration. It's it's not commercial. I mean, there is some commercial aspect to it. But it's just a great way to get the community together. And there's always the hot cocoa and the I don't know, it's just It warms the heart warms my heart anyway, I can't speak for anybody else. I love
 
Allie Glidewell 
We love it too. Also, if you want to volunteer for the frost fest parade, if you want to help guide traffic, maybe judge a float, helped you registration, things like that we have we have corn and a movie night, Movie Night, all sorts of things. Feel free to reach out because we love it when the community gets involved.
 
Sara Bloom 
That's the case. In any event, we are always looking for volunteers whether you want to sit on a board or a committee or just volunteer that day. Get involved. We love seeing you downtown and helping out and we really try to make it worth your while and we do Yeah, we usually have pretty good freebies for our volunteers to try to use. Yeah.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Well, guys, we got to get over the news. Any last thoughts where we go?
 
Sara Bloom 
Shop local, think downtown first downtown, he's calm. We're on Facebook. We're on Twitter, we're on Instagram, all the things check us out and thanks for supporting local Happy holidays.
 
James Bell 
Have you excellent Yeah. So Thanksgiving are all the holidays. Oh, it's ever except for Halloween is gone. My kids very sad about that he doesn't care about Christmas for Thanksgiving he just wants to
 
Sara Bloom 
Trick or treat was amazing. Just thanks for everyone. That was awesome.

Weekend Setlist Nov. 26, 2021

On this week's Weekend Setlist host Jeffery Leiker checks in with Santa and his plan in the area.

Forward Ever: Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times, host Gary Shorman speaks with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.