
The Kitchen Collective+Collaborative is September 19

Application deadline is now 5 p.m. on October 15
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) is extending the application deadline for the 2024 Summer EBT program, a new federal program designed to help eligible families offset some of the costs of buying food for their school-aged children during the summer.
Summer EBT, also known as SUN Bucks in other states, is a partnership between DCF, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, and the Kansas Department of Education. The program provides families a one-time installment of $120 per each eligible school-aged child to buy groceries over the summer. Applications will be accepted through the DCF online self-service portal, dcfapp.kees.ks.gov, until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. Families will need to use their existing account through the DCF self-service portal or create an account to apply.
Since July 2024, about 117,200 students have received the one-time $120 Summer EBT benefit through an auto-issuance, and DCF has received more than 2,000 applications. For families with children receiving food assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and/or foster care benefits, the Summer EBT benefit was automatically added to existing households’ Kansas Benefits Cards (also known as an EBT card) or loaded onto a Kansas Benefits Card and mailed to the home. DCF estimates there could be more than 100,000 children who did not automatically receive the benefit but may be eligible.
Eligibility:
Children may be eligible for the program if:
Or
“While Summer EBT is intended to help offset the cost of food during summer break when kids don’t have access to the free or reduced-price meals they get at school, even with children already back in class the program can still provide families with a little extra help in putting food on their tables,” said DCF Secretary Laura Howard. “We hope that by extending the application deadline, more families with eligible children will have the opportunity to apply for this year’s Summer EBT benefit.”
Application:
Families with children who did not receive the Summer EBT benefit by the end of July 2024 should apply through the online self-service portal, dcfapp.kees.ks.gov. The application deadline is 5 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2024.
Learn more about the Summer EBT program at dcf.ks.gov.
Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil, according to https://www.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-agricultural-production-systems/hydroponics
“As a teacher, I love this unit because it is an awesome way to get kids involved and to grow a love for gardening and planting their own food,” she said. “I love gardening and this is a neat way to integrate that into the curriculum. I’d love to get a greenhouse going at some point.”
USD 235 was the recipient of a hydroponic shipping container farm through a grant awarded to the Kansas Division of Children and Families, USD 235 Superintendent Vance Eden said in a prior interview.
Hydrophonics is Coming to a Local School System
The Community Green Farms of Pittsburg, KS announced on September 11, 2023, that they would receive over $1,000,000 to bring seven southeast Kansas counties a vertical hydroponic container farm.
Bourbon County Senior Citizens, Inc., which helps facilitate the Meals on Wheels program in Fort Scott and surrounding areas, was awarded $5,000 for repairs to their distribution center in historic downtown Fort Scott.
The funds will go toward the cost of installing helical masonry ties to secure the building’s brick veneer to the structural frame, which had begun separating due to missing or deteriorated brick ties. With these repairs, the facility can continue to serve as a safe base of operations for the staff and volunteers that package and deliver hundreds of meals each month.
The project was among six selected for a total of $29,300 in funding by the Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative Board of Directors through the cooperative’s Concern for Community grant program.
“We had a great batch of proposals this year,” said Mark Scheibe, Heartland CEO. “We look forward to working with some outstanding partners to put these funds to work for the good of Heartland members and their communities.”
As a non-profit, member-owned cooperative, Heartland issues capital credits to members each year, but sometimes those capital credits go unclaimed. Because those monies were intended to be returned to the communities from which they came, Heartland’s Board of Directors decided to use those unclaimed funds for community grants and started the Concern for Community program in 2019.
The Concern for Community program provides grants of up to $5,000 for capital improvement projects throughout the Heartland service area, which covers parts of 12 counties in eastern Kansas. Capital improvement projects are those that involve investment in structures or equipment that will last for many years.
Applications were accepted from June 1–July 31 and selected by the Heartland Board of Directors at their August 23 meeting. Heartland plans to reopen applications in summer 2025 for the next round of funding.
This year, six applications out of 30 received were approved for funding by the Heartland board. The other projects selected are as follows:
About Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. powers rural lifestyles throughout more than 11,000 locations in eastern Kansas. Heartland’s service area includes consumer-members in 12 counties, including Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Cherokee, Coffey, Crawford, Labette, Linn, Miami, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson.
Heartland REC traces its roots back to three original rural electric cooperatives: Cooperative Electric Power & Light Company, Sugar Valley Electric Cooperative Association, and Sekan Electric Cooperative Association. Cooperative Electric Power & Light Company joined with Sugar Valley in 1975 to form United Electric Cooperative; United Electric Cooperative joined with Sekan Electric Cooperative Association in 1996 to form Heartland.
There is a new community liaison with Core Community, a local helping organization that has a mission to engage the community to lift families out of poverty.
Deana Betts, the new Core Community Liasion, moved to Fort Scott this summer and began work with Core Community on July 8th.
Betts moved to the area after her husband accepted the pastor position at Lifetrack Church in Frontenac.
In discovering the organization and the opening for a liaison, she learned Core Community is a faith-based organization that helps people out of poverty.
“I liked that they are leading themselves out of poverty, with support. It’s more than just a class, it’s a pathway.”
The mission statement of the organization is “Engaging the community to lift families out of poverty.”
Classes for this second year of the organization in Bourbon County start on Tuesday, September 10 at the Nazarene Church, 1728 S. Horton Street with 16-17 people enrolled.
See their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/p/Core-Community-Bourbon-County
Betts explained the evening.
Every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. will be a family-style meal provided by different organizations in the community. Following this, children will be directed to the childcare area with Angie Trim, the childcare coordinator and the people from last year’s classes will meet with the coach, Janice Lamb. The new class meets with teachers, Amy Harper and David Goodyear. The evening finishes at 7:30 p.m.
The first class graduated in May of this year.
Getting Ahead In A Just Get By World by Ruby Payne is the book that is worked through, in the 20-22 weeks of the classes.
Fall Festival
Larry and Vickie Shead have agreed to open the Shead Farm on Saturday, October 19 for a fundraiser for the Core Community organization. The farm has an annual community spring festival that has grown larger each year.
“Our childcare coordinator Angie Trim helped the Sheads with their spring festival. I met with them and they said it’s the Lord’s farm. I asked them to pray about it, and they did and said yes,” she said.
The event is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the farm located at 2468 Calvalry Road, Garland, south of Fort Scott.
The cost is $5 per person, for families with over five members it’s $25 and there will be food, vendors, games, and raffles to entertain the family.
To learn more about Core Community or the Fall Fest, contact Betts at corebbco.deana@gmail.com or 785.488. 8411.
The 2024 Old Settlers Picnic had dancing, running/walking, fishing, church, bingo, pickleball, kids games, and rodeos that all led up to the highlight event of the parade at Uniontown on Labor Day.
The community and surrounding areas enjoyed the food, crafts, vendors, car show, and parade on Labor Day. People picnicked in the park, enjoyed the baby parade, recognition of old settlers, kids games and raffles/contests.
The Holt family were the grand marshalls of the parade, with Marilyn Holt, the matriarch, sitting front and center on the float, along with three of her children Debbie Likely, Randy Holt and Susan Eldridge,their spouses,their grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Her oldest son, Kenny, died in 2019, and her husband Kent, “Poke”, died in 2021. The Holts have been bankers in Bourbon County since 1901.
Fort Scottians may have noticed that there is a construction area on the south side of Sharky’s Pub and Grug, 16 N. National Avenue.
A major project is underway by Tina and David Lipe who started the restaurant in June 2011.
“Our facility has everything: a cool designed building, a banquet facility…and we always wanted an outdoor facility,” Dave Lipe said.
He said through the years they have added solar equipment on the roof, all new windows and doors and beginning sometime in September 2024 there will be a large outdoor patio open to the public.
They began the project in June of this year and when completed there will be a bar, pickleball court, TVs, gas firepits and bathrooms.
“It will be a place for people to enjoy outdoor dining, a little live music, and pickleball,” he said. “Hopefully people will come and enjoy it.”
The patio is 50 feet by 100 feet, with a fence around it and is located south of the restaurant. Entry is from the restaurant.
They hired local Fort Scott businesses to work on the patio: PJW Consulting and Ron Hurd Construction. Others were McKenney Masonry, Geiger Plumbing, Jeff Allen Electric, Bill Lalman Fencing, Miller Brothers Welding and Peerless Products, Inc. who made the doors from the restaurant to the patio.
About the restaurant
Sharky’s has 32 employees, mostly part-time and they will be adding more with the patio opening.
Their banquet facility is on the third floor of the historic building and is for birthday parties, wedding receptions, and meetings.
Starting Thanksgiving weekend they open a Christmas-themed pop-up bar on the third floor.
“People really enjoy Sharkey’s North Pole,” Lipe said.
The restaurant also provides catering services to the community.
For information on reserving the banquet room or catering services, contact Lipe at 816.392.2825.
Restaurant hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 2 a.m. and they close at 7 p.m. on Sunday except for some sporting events, he said.
The Lipes have a Sharky’s Pub and Grub in Iola, KS and Nevada, MO and is a true family business, with two of their four children working with them.
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Mmm Flavor Shop owner Emelia Whiteaker is hosting the business’s first Tea Club Tea Party today, Wednesday, August 21st at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Papa Don’s Pizza, 10 North Main in Fort Scott.
“This is the inaugural meeting of the Tea Club,” Whiteaker said. “I started selling herbs and spices in 2021 when a major health diagnosis was made in the family.”
“The Tea Club is a way to bring interested individuals together to learn, socialize, and experience what is out there beyond the box stores, supplement companies, and mass-produced products.”
“This month’s Tea Club Tea Party theme is Iced Teas,” she said. “There will be four loose-leaf teas made as iced tea to sample for free. Everyone is invited to come try tea, ask questions, or just socialize with friends.”
“The health benefits of eating truly natural nutrients in herbs and spices are well documented,” she said. “I added a variety of loose-leaf teas for the same reason. Most of the teas we have offer a wide variety of health benefits along with a delicious taste.”
“This summer we added specialty kinds of rice that have an increase in nutrients due to where they are grown.”
“I have spent hours talking to our suppliers on the phone to make sure the products available are high quality and full of nutrients that the body recognizes and absorbs better. Our suppliers can tell me the exact farm and farmer that each item comes from.”
“I am always researching and taking continuing education courses on nutrition,” she said. “This allows me to continue to work to bring tasty, nutritious ingredients to our rural area.”
She said the business sells its products at vendor’s shows and direct ordering through them.
Follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091059316445