The Post Podcast

FHSU Alumni Association works to keep alums connected year round

On this episode of the Post Podcast Fort Hays State University Alumni Association engagement specialist Carolyn Tatro recaps Homecoming and discusses ways FHSU alums stay connected all year long.

Lt. Gov. Toland praises Ellis Co. Microfactory

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares information about the Microfactory groundbreaking.

Forward Ever: Hurricane Ian Red Cross volunteer Pete Peterson

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times host Gary Shorman speaks with Hurricane Ian Red Cross volunteer Peter Peterson.

Cottonwood extension district offers tips for healthy aging

On this episode of the Post Podcast Cottonwood Extension District Family and Community Wellness agent, Monique Koerner shares information about the Keys to Aging program.

Technology upgrades benefit Holy Family Elementary students

On this episode of the Post Podcast Holy Family IT director Duff Watson shares information about recent technology upgrades in Hays Catholic Schools.

Hays Library continues free tutoring for area students

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Hays Public Library Communications coordinator Callie Kolacny shares updates from the library.

Groundbreaking for Hays microfactory set for next week

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares updates from the Microfactory Project.

Hays Oktoberfest 2022 begins Friday

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Melissa Dixon shares details from the upcoming Hays Oktoberfest.

Ellis Co. Sheriff: Now is a good time to prepare winter safety measures

On this episode of the Post Podcast Ellis County Sheriff Scott Braun shares winter safety preparation tips.

Hays Chamber restarts referral program

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Chamber vice president of membership Rhonda Meyerhoff and vice president of marketing and communication Mariah Legleiter stop by to share information about the relaunched Chamber referral program.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Hays chamber has relaunched their referral program Vice President of Marketing and Communications Mariah Legleiter along with Vice President of membership, Rhonda Meyerhoff stopped by to share the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Some might have heard, we just finished up the coupon book in print.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
Yeah, hopefully in the next few hours. Actually.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Yeah, out in October, later this month. This is October, isn't it?
 
James Bell 
Yeah. We're just getting into it. It's the fourth. I had to look, I had to look, I don't know,
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
I missed the changing the month.
 
James Bell 
How involved you guys were the calendar change? You didn't even know it. Sarah, you're working them too hard. Oh, my goodness. That's gonna be so exciting. Because there's, I don't, you know, as somebody that works in publishing, and now it's digital publishing, so it's a little different. But there's nothing I don't think more exciting than when you hand off something like that to the printer. And you're waiting for it to come back. Because you know, there's gonna be a mistake. There's always a mistake. Yeah. And you're gonna see it. As soon as you pick it up. You're like, dang it. There's my mistake. But then you're also going to be like, Look at what I did. Yeah. Look how cool this is.
 
Mariah Legleiter 
Yeah, I think that was my first my first experience without the Community Guide last year was yeah, it was an amazing feeling. Yeah.
 
James Bell 
About turning, turning an idea into a real physical object. Yeah. You just, I mean, you can do stuff online all day. And it feels good. That's great. But getting that thing in your Yes,
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
yes. Yes. i My first mistake was revealed on my first project back in 1981. And it had gone through several edit things. And like you said, opened up the box, and there was the word that was misspelled. So yeah, I just know that now. I'm not perfect. Try as hard as I made to make everything right. But I think this coupon book may be a first extent. Well, your guide was good. So yeah, I think it'll be great. So we're excited. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, these are some of the reasons to why our members are really proud, James, to belong to the the chamber and be a member of the chamber for these different various opportunities. Because in in our book, if they were not a chamber member, then then they weren't allowed. Yeah, yeah. And, and many of them, they're, they're really so happy about their chamber membership, that they end up talking to other businesses about it, and that it's an opportunity to for them to gain much by by joining the chamber, so we decided that we wanted to revitalize the referral program. Very cool. Yeah.
 
James Bell 
Who doesn't love a referral program? That is like the most effective marketing you can really have? I think,
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
I think so too, is word of mouth. Yeah. Yeah. We know that. That's great. So yeah, if the the business analysts say, what's a business that's not in town, let's let's go CQRS talks to U V. W. And you see, W decides to that they want to join the chamber, and we know that QRS talk to him, then, yeah, there's some referral money in there. And it used to be that that was going didn't have quite the same as a reward as what it is now that we're going to give it's $25 and chamber checks. I realized $25 isn't going to make you rich, but who doesn't like some acknowledgement for their efforts? Yeah. And just the fun of receiving something that maybe you weren't planning on meeting your budget? You know, gosh, we have we have some people that I would anticipate are probably worth quite a bit. And they get tickled pink over a $25. Yeah, chamber check. Yeah. So it's, it's a good way for us to, to acknowledge that our members are doing that, you know, we want them to know, we're paying attention and, and show our appreciation for what they're doing. That all helps the chamber to grow. And also, it's paying them I guess, for some extra work that they're doing or maybe sometimes it was an uncomfortable conversation that they had. That's right. Yeah. So yeah, we're getting bring back that referral program. And, you know, James, there's lots of reasons for people to be happy with a chamber. You know, one of so many times when people think of the chamber they think of all the events that We do. And yes, those of yours
 
James Bell 
do a lot of
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
yes, we do. Yes, we did
 
James Bell 
talk about some of those here in a little bit. Yeah.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
And so that then other businesses will say that they can't go to all those events. So there's no reason for him to belong to the chamber, which is nothing really farther from reality. When you stop and look it, let's just take childcare task force of Ellis County, for example. You know, even though I may not have children that need daycare, if I'm running a business, and I find out that there's going to be more people working through a childcare effort promoted by the chamber, that means more expendable income. And they just might spend money at my store my business. And so it, it's kind of a revolving circle with that. So that advocacy that we're out there, we're doing, we'll go on to Ellis County Commissioner meetings, the city of Hays meetings, school board, the single board meetings, helping Ellis now what we did here in Hays to help advocate for a school bond chatting with Victoria on different things that we might be able to help them with as well. There's a lot of advocating going on. And that's the number one reason why chambers were actually formed was for them to get together as a pool and to advocate for causes that were going to help their businesses. So that's huge. Yeah, that that visibility, then that you get with those free benefits, inviting people to chamber chats, or to the ribbon cuttings, or the groundbreakings or the catching ups, I most always tell our businesses that are going to schedule one of those, please invite the individuals that you want to make sure that are here, you might have some customers that are not directly related to the chamber, that if those are people that you would like to have, send them an invitation column, let them know that you'd love to have them there. Because that celebration, although it's a chamber celebration, it's also the business member celebration. And so it's fun for them to have the people in their lives that were important in making their business what, what it is? Sure. So lots of reasons. Gosh, what's another one where I look here? We
 
Mariah Legleiter 
have a lot of development opportunities, too. So there's there's tons of learning opportunities where you can get a competitive edge over non members with exclusive training opportunities on all kinds of hot topics. I mean, we have one coming up, but Mike Hankey seminar that we have that we've kind of partnered with the I'm going to get that wrong western Kansas Human Resource Management Association, I think. Right. Yeah, it's something that we we kind of approached them about and
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
it was actually Heartland credit. Oh, okay. Yeah, we found out about Mike Hankey through that. Okay, yes. And they said, This is somebody that you need to bring to town. And he's going to talk about setting yourself apart in the job market as an employer that's trying to hire people. So
 
James Bell 
talking about an important skill right now. Yeah. Oh, my God. Absolutely.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
So at the Chamber, we're not just sitting around talking about it. We're actually trying to do things to help our businesses with those different aspects, you know, so he'll do a seminar on Thursday, the 27th. And we'll talk about that probably more with another segment. And then on the 28th, he's going to, he's going to talk to our members at the luncheon about, you got to know how are you going to keep them? You know, that that whole piece, and they're both very, very important pieces, you know, I'm of the firm belief. I'm 63. James, and I'm so proud to say that, that in my career, there's a lot of things I've learned that I think I can always learn more, or sometimes you'd go to those events, and it gives you more energy, again, to go back and, and do or you forgot about something you were doing it worked really well. So maybe this can help you to remember what those things were. And so I think everyone can benefit from from this education experience. And yeah, we have other places where MDC through Fort Hays, there's a special discount on training, if you're a chamber member for any of their training. And so yeah, different opportunities like that.
 
James Bell 
Even here on the morning show yesterday, we were speaking with a couple of the leadership Hayes class guys, they're doing the Green Ribbon haze, which I thought was such a cool program and they mentioned this is a chamber this come out of the chamber. Yes.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Isn't that a great program that they're done? Anyone, man? Is it? Is it going to end up being a podcast or anything?
 
James Bell 
If it is? Yeah, you'll see it on post here. Probably next couple days.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Oh, that's great. I would really encourage your listeners to go and see what they're trying to do. And I think it can help make a difference for things. So to schools. Yeah. And so it is great. And that, yes, like you said, that came out of the chamber. And then we go ahead. Oh,
 
Mariah Legleiter 
I was, you know, something fun that I didn't realize until, you know, working at the Chamber is that we found a statistic from American business magazine that says 63% of consumers are more likely to buy products and services from companies that are members of a local chamber, I think is a super strong and important number. I mean, that just shows you know, the the trust and the the relationship that you can build with the consumers, just by being a member of the chamber by being a member of the chamber.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Yes, absolutely. So yeah. And then you did you talked about that credit, credibility, yeah, members, perks and those learning opportunities, you know, and those connections, we do have opportunities for you to build really strong connections, absolutely. Through those events, that's one of the main things that those events can help you to is for you to build connections, you may have the opportunity to talk with someone that you couldn't get in front of otherwise. And so now, it's just really, really strong.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, I remember from my time in the business world, one of the things that was a huge lesson for me, was learning how many people didn't know what was going on in our businesses, like if we were we'd have a special and we would think that we were saturating, we'd be sending out coupons and doing door knockers, and we thought everybody would know, and then come to find out later, we do surveys, and it'd be like 10% a percent, you can always get that word out there. And again, that word of mouth is so valuable to spread whatever message it is whether you know, it's new specials, or new products, or sales, new opening, whatever it is,
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
on the mouth, and even our newsletters. Members are welcome to put inserts in our newsletters, business connection section is for businesses that have something special going on and anniversary or, you know, some news that they would put in and so, yeah, lots and lots of opportunities to get your name out. Oh my gosh, our team members, actually once a quarter can email all the other chamber members just gets their name out in front of them. And, you know, over 400
 
James Bell 
of them, right, a high, close to 500. justifies
 
Mariah Legleiter 
the 500 real valuable.
 
James Bell 
Oh, my hands on that list. What are we gonna do? We're gonna sign up, right? Well, yeah, contact
 
 
Rhonda.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Yes, absolutely. So, um, I was gonna go somewhere, and it's gone. I guess. That's part of being sick. I know what it was. When I graduated in 1981. James, it took seven touches. So a mailer, a radio, AD, a T TV, whatever, it took seven touches for an individual to even consider doing business with your company. That's for them just to consider. That's not saying they will. That's for them to consider. And that number is now 12. Whoa, yeah,
 
James Bell 
I thought I'd go down.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Look at look at all that's out there. Yeah. That's trying to get people's attention. Suppose
 
James Bell 
that's true. Yeah. We've always got some chirping or beeping at us emails pop in and all kinds of crazy.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Absolutely. And it's good to have a spread of all those mediums. So yeah, we're just one other opportunity for your business to get their name out there.
 
James Bell 
Love it. Well, guys, before we run out of time, we better talk about the weekly events because I'm sure you guys have some going on. There's always some going on down chamber.
 
Rhonda Meyerhoff, vice president of membership 
Absolutely, absolutely. This is you know, low week
 
Mariah Legleiter 
we were used to,
 
James Bell 
it'll be like, Oh, I can see there's like a 404 thing. Yeah,
 
Mariah Legleiter 
it is kind of you know, we were joking earlier about being so busy. We are so busy today that we actually have something going on right now. So we have a catching up event with the USD 489 Foundation for Educational Excellence is going on right now at the Rockwell Administration Center. And then on the fifth, just tomorrow, we have the Hayes young professionals is having a lunch with leaders at noon at Paisley, pear wine bar bistro and market. On the sixth. We are having Earth H yp is having their network and Engagement Committee meeting at 1205 at the Welcome Center. And then on Friday, we'll wrap things up with our chamber chat with options downtown at Union Pacific Park. And now it'll be at 9am on Friday.

Improving mental heath for middle schoolers topic of upcoming event

On this episode of the Post Podcast Leadership Hays 2022 class member Kyle Carlin and presenter Patrick McGinnis share details of the upcoming Green Ribbon Hays events.

TMP-Marian students prepare for future with career exploration programs

On this episode of the Post Podcast Thomas More Prep-Marian counselor David Zachman stops by to talk about career exploration programs in the Hays Catholic Schools.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
Preparing for life after high school is more complicated than ever, for our Catholic schools report, Thomas More Prep-Marian, counselor, David Zachman stops by to share ways that they help prepare kids for the future on this episode of the Post Podcast,.
 
David Zachman 
seniors need to be filling out college applications, it's time to start financial aid that just opened up October 1, so and then the juniors need to be getting ready for that sophomores can be looking into it. So yeah, basically, once they get into high school, we're we're trying to get him directed towards what do you think? And how can we help you get there? Very cool.
 
James Bell 
You know, and one of the things I think that's got to be influencing this is the conversations that are around, you know, the, basically the discovery of do we want to do a four year traditional college degree? Or do we want to go into a tech school? Do we want to do some sort of alternative training, maybe military, there's so many options, and it seems like the schools are just getting better and better at kind of directing those kids into what makes sense for them, rather than a one track fits all kind of function,
 
David Zachman 
right? Well, even even the workforce has changed a number of years ago. A lot of people thought, well, if you just everybody goes and gets a four year degree, that's kind of the way you need to go. But the workforce has changed. But the number of people who have a need degrees from a four year program that hasn't grown, it's still about a third of the workforce. So the middle range, I guess, where students need some sort of technical or other preparation, that is what has really grown. So more than high school, but not necessarily a four year degree. So and getting students to figure that out. That's, that's the trick. That's
 
James Bell 
my bet. So let's talk about this. So one of the ways that that kind of that this comes about is these individual plans of study, and I'm gonna let you just kind of open this up. And tell us a little bit about how this kind of
 
David Zachman 
works. Sure, a number of years ago, the State Department of Education just said, We want all schools to offer and create an individual plan of study for all their students. It doesn't have to be the exact same thing, but we want all of them to have certain pieces, we want it to be an electronic portfolio, so they can access it from anywhere. We want them to be able to take Strength Finders, and to do career interest surveys to find out more about who they are and what their strengths are and how that might fit with a job. And then we want them to be able to kind of plan accordingly with what kind of classes then do I need to take in high school that will help me complete that, and even into the beginning of their college. So those are the four things that the state of Kansas said, we need to do. And of course, we a lot of us were doing those things even before but it wasn't in quite such a uniform format format across the state. So that's kind of a general outline of what we're what we're trying to do.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. Well, let's first talk about these electronic portfolios, because that's, that's something that's come up. You know, since I was in school, we didn't have portfolios at all, we barely had electronic I think we had some some computers computers in the school, but maybe a few handful and that we were fighting over. So let's kind of talk about the details. This starts when they're, again in the freshman level, doesn't it?
 
David Zachman 
Yes, it does, at least a TMP it does. But I know that the electronic portfolios can go down into grade school, also. So they can even start with some very basic, very beginning career things as very young children. Our electronic portfolio is called Zelo X e ll Oh. And at each grade level, the students have certain lessons and they build on each other. So that you know, for the freshmen, they're learning about their personalities and what kind of study skills they can learn different kinds of career things. And then as they work up through high school, they learn more about work values and lifestyle, choosing a college even for the seniors, then we get into job interviews and and maybe career backup plans. Because as we know, the things that we think about and what we want to do that doesn't always work out. So what else can you do? What else are you thinking about? Not quite be so zeroed in on? I can only do this and that's the only thing possible. They're always related things and so we try to try to get them to think about some some variety. Also.
 
James Bell 
It's pretty rare that people stay in one career track through their entire lives at this point, too, isn't it?
 
David Zachman 
Oh definitely. It is You know, it's rare for students to just stay in college, in the original major that they started in, they tend to change two or three times they tend tend to change schools. So let them know that I think that's one of the things that that is my biggest challenge is students think, well, when we're talking about this, I have to decide, and I have to get it right. And it life doesn't work that way. I've had a number of students that kind of had that had their whole lives figured out. And after one semester in college, they changed directions, different major, and, and it worked out very well for him. So it's a it's a process, I guess, not just a checklist.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, then you but you, and I kind of think about back to, again, my school education and the tools that we had. And one of the things I remember was like, you know, the paper, you did the bubble test, and it would kind of tell you, like, hey, this might be a good career track or that one. You know, I'm wondering what the equivalent is nowadays for that?
 
David Zachman 
Absolutely. That's one of the first things that students take with this electronic portfolio is something called matchmaker. And it works just like the Holland or some of the other tests that you took. But instead of bubble sheets, you're clicking on answers on a on a computer. And basically, what it does is the same thing, it takes what you like and what you're interested in, and it matches it up with a career. And the people in that career said, Well, these are the things that I like, and I want to do. And so it just puts those two together. And it really just says, here are some things that are a good fit for what you like, and students. And sometimes parents say, but I don't want to do that. This isn't telling you, you have to do it, it's just saying, these are things that you like, think about some of these kinds of careers. And once we kind of narrow it down, we should be able to find something that's a better fit. So that's the idea of the matchmaker. And then of course, we add to that other things, their personality, their skills, again, all just pointing them into a direction. And it actually even summarizes it forum and says, These are the things the careers that really fit your interests in your skills the best. If you want to do something else completely different, you certainly can.
 
James Bell 
Very cool, you know, and I think you know, even having that, that guidance on that direction, at any point, your life is gonna be really helpful, whether or not you want to go that route, just having that insight is so valuable.
 
David Zachman 
Sure. There are just so many jobs, so many different careers, new jobs that are being created in the future that we don't even know about right now. So how do you prepare for those kinds of things. And I think one of the best ways to career for to prepare for that is just a good education and improving those, sometimes they call them soft skills are transferable skills, just being able to work with people and communicate with them and be assertive, and be organized, all of those kinds of things that will allow you to, to transfer and change and adjust and adapt with the job market.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, well, and it also keys into the educational experience too. Because if you're kind of on a track, you're thinking, you know, I think a specific job, like maybe a welder, for example, you know, if you're kind of have that mindset, you enjoy it, you know, you that might be something you're good at, that's going to completely just shift that educational track, both in the school and then post secondary, right?
 
David Zachman 
I would say so. Once students kind of target in on something, whether it's a welding a technical skill, or something that requires a another degree, they can always diversify and move into related areas. But sometimes we just don't know about those related areas. And so again, broadening that perspective and getting students to look at things, you know, in smaller communities, we see doctors and nurses and lawyers and policemen and teachers, but we don't always see a lot of the other maybe high tech or unique fields that that are great options for students.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that piece of the evaluation of it. So as they're building those, those core schedules, they may be like going back to welding just because it's top of mind now for me, anyway, you know, like, Hey, I saw that, that sounds cool. I should try that out. And then they get in there. And they they have that hands on experience, and maybe in a in the spring class and find out now this is not actually as exciting as cool as I thought it was going to be. And there
 
David Zachman 
are things of course, students can take college credit classes in high school. We have students that go to NC K for classes for several hours a day. And a lot of them experience exactly what you were talking about. I really thought this is what I wanted to do. And some are very happy with it and want to continue on with it and others say this isn't what I thought it was. And so by the time they've get out of high school, they already have some experience And they've already sometimes narrowing down what you don't want to do is as important as what you do want to do. So giving them those experience opportunities, job shadows, being able to go to colleges and and just check those out sometimes even just for a day can help broaden those horizons and experiences.
 
James Bell 
Now, we want to talk about some of these activities that are coming up, that will help them on that track. But before we go, any other things we want to hit on about that? That four piece kind of direction that you're giving them a TMP,
 
David Zachman 
it's really just about giving students information, and then help them them helping them choose their path. Of course, the original idea was students would have this done in junior high, and then they would just follow that path through high school. But, of course, people change their minds and they continue to grow and change. So we've learned that that's just an ongoing process. And we need to be able to adapt and change with the students sinteres. One of the things that we spend quite a bit of time on at TMP, Marion is helping students to choose their classes for four years. And of course, that will change too. But giving them a focus, helping them say, Well, what is it you want to accomplish? What is your goal? What kind of a curriculum? Do you want to choose a curriculum to just graduate from high school? Do you want to choose a curriculum to help you meet qualified admissions? So you can go on to a four year public university? Do you want to meet the scholars curriculum, so you qualify for a state of Kansas scholarship. And once they've kind of chosen, this is my goal, then we can get them in the correct classes, so that they can meet that goal. And we don't have any surprises when they're seniors and say, but I didn't take this class. And I needed it. If we choose the path, and we choose the goal, and we match classes, that should be right on target. Excellent. I think you also asked sorry, I kind of went off the back there. But yes, about some other activities that we do. We start off the year with just goal setting, helping students choose what's most important to you and, and making good goals. We haven't go to college and career conferences, Hays high sponsors, one and they're kind enough to invite us to go to that. So kids can go and talk to a variety of college, military, technical representatives. And they're all right there for them. So it's very convenient, they get a lot done, sophomores do reality you, which is a wonderful experience. And in they get a profile. And in less than two hours, they have a budget, and they have to try to figure out how to make that budget work for him and get a car and pay their bills. All of those kinds of things are just kind of helped the students focus a little bit more and learn the lessons in high school. So they'll be ahead of a game once they get out of high school.
 
James Bell 
Love that. That's another tool that you know, it would have been so cool to have seen that when we were when I was I think you're a little bit older than I am when I was in school, but I see that now. And like what an eye opener every time those kids get to do that reality based training. They're like, Oh, I didn't even know
 
David Zachman 
I think they learn more in that hour maybe that maybe I shouldn't say this out loud. But they they learn more in that hour than I can teach them in an hour's just because it's so real to them. I don't have enough money. I gotta get a second job even though it's just a simulation. It's and child cares, really expensive. And a Kitson thinking about all those real life things that are such valuable

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: Cybersecurity awareness events help locals understand online threats

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Tree Top Security owner Dallas Haselhorst shares information about upcoming cybersecurity awareness training sessions.

Hays High students, alumni prepare for 2022 Homecoming celebrations

Hays High is once again getting ready for Homecoming. From Hays HIgh Stuco Rilee Schwarz and Hannah Eikenberry stop by to share the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.

Imagine Ellis County Committee continues strengthening area communities

The Imagine Ellis County Committee continues their work to strengthen area communities, from Grow Hays, Executive Director Doug Williams stops by to share with us the latest on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Transcript:
EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.
 
James Bell 
The Imagine Ellis County Committee continues their work to strengthen area communities, from Grow Hays, Executive Director Doug Williams stops by to share with us the latest on this episode of the Post Podcast.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
You know, I look back, this group was started back in late 2019, if my memory is correct, and it's a group that was started out of a committee, from the strategic doing process that the Hansen foundation sponsors, and we started this group, not having a name at that point in time, but just trying to look at what we need to be doing as a community to make ourselves more attractive and what people want to have and that kind of thing. And so it started then. And it's grown to about 25 or 30 people on this committee. And we were we started and then that little pesky pandemic came along, and kind of stalled us. And if not, for the good work of Sarah Wah singer with the chamber, we probably wouldn't exist today. But she kept things go into the pandemic, and then post pandemic, we gained a lot of momentum, and have have made a lot of progress so far as I look back.
 
James Bell 
Yeah. And we've, as we've talked about this before, one of the biggest things on this, I think, is that communication piece, it's sharing the haze the story with others, and especially I think in with his that first go around, it was kind of geared towards the front range out in Colorado, correct? Well, it
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
was, you know, we initially, one of the first things we did is we brought in virtually all of the business leaders in the community, the organization leaders, you know, the school district, the university, large, you know, business community, and we asked them to give five minute presentations on what their plans are and what their what they're hoping to do in the future, as well as what their challenges are. And then we had some townhall meetings and Hayes and Ellis and Victoria. And we have produced six videos, one minute videos, promoting our quality of life here and talking to people from Ellis people from Victoria, people from Hays, different demographics, a retired person, a young person, family that bought a business and moved here a family that chooses to live here with the type of jobs they have, they could live anywhere. So we're trying to cover the gambit. And then yes, we've we've engaged Eagle creative services to help us get this message out because you can have the best message in the world. But if nobody hears it, it doesn't do you any good. And so they are doing some marketing for us on the eastern slope of Colorado, we feel like that's fertile ground, to attract people to our community. And, and we've got a lot of good things going on in that area.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, is are those efforts out in that particular area is still ongoing.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
They are okay, they're ongoing. And we'll be through I think next February or March, we were very fortunate to receive a sizable grant from the Schmidt Foundation, and then a partial match from the Hanson Foundation. And then the Heartland Community Foundation gave us some dollars. And so we were able to engage some of these marketing campaigns do some website development, we have a website, imagine Ellis county.com. and produce these videos that this is this has allowed us to try to get this word out and tell people about what we have to offer here.
 
James Bell 
Very cool. I wonder if you want to talk about what's next. Like what's the organization planning? What do you guys got coming
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
up? Well, currently, and many people I hope have received this in the mail, the docking Institute is doing a community survey for us. And they've asked a lot of questions, kind of the things I talked about earlier, you know, what, what about the community? Have you thinks positive? What do you think we have problems with, and we're hoping to get those results back sometime in October. And that will guide us in terms of some of the things we're going to continue to do. But I do imagine Ellis County at this point as a as a recruiting tool for Ellis County, you know, we we have a unique opportunity. And you and I have talked about this before with remote workers and lots and lots of Americans on the move, have the ability to move to other places live where they want to live because of remote work. And we think that we can get our fair share of those if they know about us and if we let them know what kind of community we have. And so we are very actively trying to recruit people. And we plan those, you know, the efforts and eastern slope of Colorado is one area we may focus on some others in the future. But we're gonna let some of this data that we've gotten be our guide and Thus far, we've had some interesting input, most of which we already know, in terms of the challenges, we know that housing is a problem, we know that childcare is a problem. But when you start talking about some of the wants and desires of retail and other activities, it's, it's good to have some validation from the community as to what they'd like to see.
 
James Bell 
I don't know why you have to do a survey, Doug, you just get on Facebook, and they'll tell you, we need an olive garden, we need to target and what's the other one that I hear Dick's will get those things, they're always gonna be happy.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
I think that we solve all our problems. And then, you know, I obviously, retail is always everybody's view of economic development. You know, traditionally, economic development is recruiting the smokestacks, you know, big businesses employ lots of people, that that world has changed. And we're into the world of recruiting people. And we have to go after those remote workers, we have to look at retirees. They're a huge demographic that we believe we have, we check all the boxes. And then I've, I've talked, you and I have also talked about this maintenance, we need to leverage the resources our community has much in the way that southwest Kansas has leveraged their resources, they have water, they've turned that into cattle, grain production, beef, packing, dairy, cheese, the Hilmar cheese going into Dodge City, I mean, all those things come, primarily because they have a natural resource, which is water. We don't have that luxury here. But we have other resources. We've got an interstate highway that 15,000 cars a day go up and down. How do we leverage that we've got a unit amazing university. And you know that how do we leverage that? We've got a tremendous health care facility here. How do we leverage that those are the things we need to be leveraging? Those are the things we're looking at as to how we recruit using those resources in this community.
 
James Bell 
You know, I'm curious, like, how do those imagine Ellis County committee meetings? Go? Are you guys are you talking about those things? Like how do we specifically dialed in? Are you talking more specifics like to make this happen, we need to do this
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
little bit of both. Certainly, there's a fair amount of, you know, tactical things that we're talking about, hey, we need to get our website up to date, we need to do this with our website, we need to do this with our ads. But then also, I think we talk about the greater vision and what we're trying to accomplish. And so a little bit of both happened, we meet monthly. And, you know, we've we've had the it's been a while since we've had an actual event, the last town hall meeting we had, I believe, was in Ellis, back in the spring. And we have tabulated those results. And we've got, we've created the bubble charts, where the things it's mentioned, most is bigger, you've got all these words on a chart, and the things it's mentioned most is, is the bigger so you see the emphasis. And, you know, obviously housing, retail, those kinds of things are are on there. But we've compiled those from each meeting, as well as a county compilation. And then we're obviously going forward with this survey. And we're eager to see the results of that. And that'll give us some guidance. And, you know, I think now we're just in the in the mode where we're trying to execute on some of the ideas we've had and some of the projects we're working on.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, you know, you mentioned that that was meeting and I was lucky enough I get to go to that meeting, and also the one in Victoria and the one inherence. And the last one in Hays. I've already seen so especially in Victoria, they have taken really taken some of those ideas that came out of that meeting and they're running with it, they're ready to go. And they've actually already accomplished one of my things
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
they have, they are very active over there. They've got a couple of local committees looking at the obviously the old rest home is a project over there. And they're they're trying to work on some retail recruitment over there. And the the nature path through town, they've talked about and things. So that's what it takes. It takes a collaboration of a lot of people getting together for a common cause.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, and really, and really, they came out of that meeting. One of the things they talked about was a farmers market. And Betty Johnson from the hazard Foundation was there kind of facilitate that meeting, say, you can do that, guys, don't wait, just get it done. And I believe that they're making that happen. And I just I love that because it was that idea that collaboration that meeting. And it may be never would have been thought of or never really planned out and discussed how to do it without imagining Ellis County in that that particular event.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
You have to start the fire. And it's my co presenter today. Sandy Jacobs, her favorite word is collaboration. But you see a lot of really positive things come from that. And so Ellis is aware of Victoria is a great example of a group of people getting together and just saying we're going to do this and it's amazing what can happen.
 
James Bell 
You know, I'm curious if you want to talk a little bit about for all this work. I was listening to thinking like, Oh, I'm maybe I've got some ideas, and maybe I could help out. Are there ways at this point for them to have their voice heard? And I was or imagine I was kind of committee?
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Absolutely, we would welcome input from anybody. If somebody wants to be in the committee and be an active member of it, they give us a call, send us an email, text us whatever. We would, we would love to have more input and more feedback from people. We feel we've got a good diverse group that cover most of the bases in the community, but there's always room for additional energy and additional ideas. So if anybody wants to be involved and engaged, definitely let us know.
 
James Bell 
Yeah, I like the idea of those diverse ideas, just because everybody's got such a different life experience. You know, we talk pretty frequently see each other at least once a week, but our life experiences are so different from what I do and what you do every day and your your background in history. We're not going to come up with the same things, I'm
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
sure No, that's what it takes. It takes, you know, a lot of different ideas. And some of them might be crazy. I mean, we at grow Hayes, we get people who come in with, with ideas that seem pretty crazy sometimes, but then, you know, you think it through and maybe this makes sense. Maybe this is possible, what would it take? So those are the things we need to be? We need that from people.
 
James Bell  
Cool. So let's talk before we run out of time, the specifics on this luncheon later today. Is that to open to everyone, or was that is that reservation already past.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Its past, I'm sure it's an RSVP event. And so this one is not going to be available, just anyone. But it's today that the Chamber has a membership luncheon each month, and they choose a topic, and they have somebody come in and make a presentation each month. And today, Sandy and I it's our turn into barrel to, to go out and give a presentation on this Imagine Ellis County because I think people are are wondering, I haven't done the best job in terms of keeping it in the public eye. You know, we have a website, we have these videos, we have a Facebook page, we've done all this. But as you know better than anybody, you have to be consistent with your message, and you have to get it out there repeatedly. And so we recognize that and we're trying to get more of Top of Mind awareness of what we're doing.
 
James Bell 
Sure, you know, and but there's so many things to be concerned about. You turn on the news. And there's always it seems like there's always new bad news, always something, something that's going to come up and wreck our lives. And you got to be concerned about that. But this one that this, this is a local effort that really could have an impact on lives. You know, it's easy, I think, to fall into that trap of watching the national news watching hurricane coverage right now. And the political news is always out there. But to getting involved an organization like this, or following an organization like this can really change things here in Ellis County.
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
We can't do a lot about hurricanes. We can't do a thought about national politics, but we can make a difference locally. And so I agree with you completely. That's that's something we all need to focus on and recognize that let's let's focus our time and energy on something that we can have an impact on, and we can all have an impact on this community.
 
James Bell 
Absolutely. Well, before we run out of time, anything else going on down to grow Hayes we want to hit on
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
before we just we just had week three of our think like an entrepreneur class this week. And that's going well. And gosh, we the housing, the housing project Tallgrass second out there off of 22nd. I saw the Earthmovers out there yesterday for the next phase supposed to be done by year end. So we're excited about that. That's a team or lots the first phase of 36 lots are all gone. And so some things going on out there some additional housing will be sometime in the spring or summer
 
James Bell 
starting to look like a real housing development. Before it was in the houses looked great, right but it was like a house here house. They're kind of on that hill and now it's starting to really fill in
 
Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams 
Yes, in spite of all the challenges that contractors have right now with material issues, windows, getting basements done and that kind of thing. They're they're progressing nicely

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