Boyd Koehn, board chairman of the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program, received the Jayne Thomas Grassroots Volunteer Recognition Award during the Community Action Partnership’s Annual Conference in Boston. Boyd, his wife Kay, and three SEK-CAP representatives attended the annual event, which was held the week of August 30th. Steve Lohr, SEK-CAP executive director said, “In my 31 years with SEK-CAP, I have not seen another individual as extraordinarily devoted to helping people and changing lives. It was an honor to accompany Boyd and to watch with pride as he received this prestigious award.” The Jayne Thomas Volunteer Recognition Award was established by the Community Action Partnership in 1988 to acknowledge exemplary achievements in support of Community Action. The award is named after Jayne Thomas, who was an outstanding community action leader from Roanoke, Virginia, and who served as the Community Services Block Grant director for that state. The award is given to an individual each year that has shown outstanding dedication and made extraordinary contributions to a Community Action Agency. “Over 1500 people gathered together in Boston to learn, to share experiences, and to acknowledge a few very special people who are making America a better place to live. Boyd’s caring spirit is representative of the thousands of people who volunteer in community action agencies every day,” said Lohr.
(Left to Right)Community Action Partnership President & CEO, Donald Mathis; SEK-CAP Board Chairman, Boyd Koehn; Boyd’s wife of 35 years, Kay Koehn; and national CAP Board Chairman John Edward, pose together after the awards ceremony.
SEK-CAP Riverton Head Start children are a little more than curious about how to mix up some cornbread and biscuits. The A.M. class helped to cook up the yummy cornbread for Wednesday's lunch and the P.M. class baked their biscuits for Thursday's breakfast. The kids had so much fun cooking that we just had to share. Next up may be a throw down with Bobby Flay!
2008-2011 Community Assessment Update
SEK-CAP, Inc. Services and Service Area (see complete CA document, page 4 for details)
The agency continues to serve 12 counties in the SEK area. The agency continues to offer Early Childhood, family service coordination, housing and weatherization, and transportation services. These services continue to be perceived by staff and consumers as relevant and needed, and consumers provide high satisfaction ratings for all services. Click here for summary.
PITTSBURG
In 2004, the Weir Public Library's DVD collection boasted a whopping 14 movies. Today, through the efforts of Director Stef Arbuckle, that collection has grown to more than 300, a needed improvement in a time when a VCR is harder to find than Waldo in those children's books.
Assisting in the further development of the library's collection is a $2,871 grant from the Southeast Kansas Community Action Program, an allotment from SEK-CAP's portion of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Along with buying more DVDs, Arbuckle has used the money to develop a CD-style audio-book collection and to buy large-print westerns.
The purchases were all necessary, Arbuckle said, to create a more up-to-date inventory and to provide more options to its patrons.
"You can't buy anything on tape anymore and we're the only place in Weir for people to borrow visual materials." she said. "It's easier for people to come to the library than to commute to Pittsburg or Columbus. This has been a wonderful benefit to us."
PITTSBURG