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Category: Community vitality

Story Headline: Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Jason Wright, Nike designer

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

 

The Los Angeles Rams are unveiling their new uniforms, as designed and produced by Nike, Inc. There is lots of excitement about seeing the new uniforms. This unveiling is an especially exciting moment for Nike’s lead project designer, who happens to come from rural Kansas.

Jason Wright is a lead product designer with Nike, Inc., in Oregon. That’s halfway across the continent from where Jason grew up near Garnett in Anderson County, Kansas.

Jason Wright
Jason Wright

“My dad was an engineer at Wolf Creek, but he also had a metal and wood shop at home,” Jason said. “Dad (also) restored an old ’72 Chevy pickup.

“I grew up with the expectation that, if you’re not doing something else, you’re out there doing something creative,” Jason said. “I owe a big debt to my dad.”

Jason helped his dad in the shop and worked on designing things of his own. He found he especially enjoyed drawing. “I loved basketball, and Kobe Bryant was my guy,” Jason said. Kobe was the most famous player in the NBA, and kids around the world were admiring Kobe Bryant’s shoes as made by Nike. “I tried drawing what my own ‘Kobes’ would look like,” Jason said. He drew sketches of logos and wheels and shoes. Continue reading “Story Headline: Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Jason Wright, Nike designer” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Rick McNary, Shop Kansas Farms

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

A Kansas man was almost overwhelmed by a flood. But it wasn’t a flood of water, it was a flood of interest – specifically, an interest in finding local foods. Now that interest is helping build connections that are benefitting farmers and consumers across the state.

Rick McNary is a writer, photographer, global hunger expert and founder of a remarkable new Facebook group known as Shop Kansas Farms. For 20 years, he served as a pastor of a church in Potwin, Kansas. After going on a mission trip and interacting with starving people in Nicaragua, he organized a humanitarian food relief organization.  Today, he is still involved in such efforts through The Outreach Program, a non-profit that organizes food packaging events across the country.

Rick has published three books.  Many of his articles have been published in Kansas Farm Bureau’s Kansas Living magazine. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Rick McNary, Shop Kansas Farms” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: LeAnn Clark/Laurie Curtis, Ethiopia Reads

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“I cannot see, but I have a vision.” That statement from a blind educator in Ethiopia might introduce a visionary program through which rural Kansans are helping encourage literacy halfway around the globe.

Mobile Ethiopian library supported by Ethiopia Reads
Mobile Ethiopian library supported by Ethiopia Reads

LeAnn and Stan Clark and Laurie Curtis shared the story of this innovative nonprofit organization known as Ethiopia Reads. They told about Jane Kurtz, the co-founder of Ethiopia Reads, who had grown up in Ethiopia where her father was a missionary pilot.  Jane moved back to the United States, married a Presbyterian minister, and became a children’s book writer. Several of her books drew on her years growing up in Ethiopia.

An Ethiopian refugee in the U.S. came across her books and was touched. He contacted Jane and encouraged her to develop literacy in Ethiopia and send children’s books there. That was the beginning of Ethiopia Reads.

Jane Kurtz received a grant from North Dakota Presbyterian churches to gather books and send them to Ethiopia. She and her husband later moved to be near his parents at Moundridge, where they met LeAnn Clark. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: LeAnn Clark/Laurie Curtis, Ethiopia Reads” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Lyndsi Oestman, Loma Vista Nursery

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

From pitches to plants. From hardballs to hibiscus. From the strike zone to the root zone. Those phrases are a way of describing the transition made by a Major League Baseball player who, with his daughter, has developed one of the leading plant nurseries in the nation.

Lyndsi Oestman is vice president of Loma Vista Nursery in Ottawa, Kansas. She shared this remarkable story.

Lyndsi’s dad, Mark Clear, grew up in California where he worked at his best friend’s family’s avocado ranch. Mark enjoyed tree pruning and avocado picking. He also enjoyed baseball. In fact, he was such a good player that he was drafted into Major League Baseball as a pitcher.

While being developed in the minor leagues, he was playing in Des Moines when he met the young woman who would become his wife. He went on to a 17-year major-league career, serving as a two-time all-star relief pitcher for the California Angels, Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers.

Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Lyndsi Oestman, Loma Vista Nursery” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Lea Ann Seiler, Hodgeman County makerspace

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Here comes a package of nasal swabs, important tools in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. These aren’t from some government stockpile or overseas supplier. They were manufactured on a 3D printer, as part of a project inspired by an economic development specialist in rural, southwest Kansas.

Lea Ann Seiler
Lea Ann Seiler

Lea Ann Seiler is the economic development director in Hodgeman County. She grew up near Manhattan, attended Riley County High School and then K-State, where she met and married her husband Gary. They moved to Hodgeman County where Gary became the ag teacher and they started their family. In 2008, Lea Ann became economic development director.

Among many other projects, Hodgeman County participated in the NetWork Kansas Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge. “I saw that our kids, and even our local businesses, needed access to tools and supplies which they could use for projects,” Lea Ann said. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Lea Ann Seiler, Hodgeman County makerspace” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Alicia Boor, Great Bend virtual farm show

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Let’s go to a farm show. We’ll see lots of vendors, hear speakers with the latest information, and learn about various products. But wait, we can’t do that. There’s a pandemic and a stay-at-home order in place.

What if we could participate in a farm show and do so virtually and safely, from the comfort of our homes? Today we’ll learn about a community which accomplished exactly that.

Great Bend virtual farm show exhibit
Great Bend virtual farm show exhibit

Alicia Boor is one of the agriculture and natural resources agents for the K-State Research and Extension Cottonwood District, serving Barton and Ellis counties. She grew up in Dodge City, earned an animal science degree, and got a job as a zookeeper for rare breeds of livestock at the Sedgwick County Zoo before joining extension. Her extension position enabled Alicia and her husband to move to her husband’s hometown of Hoisington in Barton County. Hoisington is a rural community of 2,706 people. Now, that’s rural. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Alicia Boor, Great Bend virtual farm show” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Haley Stratmeier, Tonja’s Toffee

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“That tastes so good, you should sell it!” Perhaps you’ve heard that phrase when someone shares a delicious treat. Today we’ll learn about a family which took that statement seriously, and their product became the basis of a remarkable business. Last week we met Phyllis Cheney, whose flower shop in Chapman sells various products including Tonja’s Toffee. The toffee is delicious, but the backstory is bittersweet. It involves a remarkable product made by a remarkable woman who battled cancer for many years. Now her family is continuing her legacy.

Tonja’s Toffee
Tonja’s Toffee

Tonja, the founder of this business, grew up in Scott County. She met Alan Williams at a church barbecue and the two married. She became a farm wife and teacher, raising four children.

As a little girl, Tonja had enjoyed making toffee with her mother Carrie Marion. Tonja continued making toffee as she grew older and tweaked the family recipe to make it her own.

After Tonja married and became a teacher, she would bring her homemade toffee in to school during the holidays. Her friends raved about it. “That tastes so good, you should sell it,” they would say. Tonja would modestly decline. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Haley Stratmeier, Tonja’s Toffee” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Phyllis Cheney, Phyllis’ Flowers & More

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

 

Let’s go to a beach in Florida. A wedding is taking place on this beachfront location, complete with beautiful floral arrangements. And where do you suppose these flowers came from? They came from halfway across the continent in rural Kansas.

Phyllis Cheney is the owner of Phyllis’ Flowers & More in Chapman, Kansas. Hers is the flower shop which supplied this wedding. As of this writing, her shop is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Phyllis plans to reopen after the pandemic is over.

Phyllis Cheney
Phyllis Cheney

Phyllis grew up at Atwood. She met and married her husband Greg and studied floriculture and horticulture at Kansas State University before going to Scott City where they farmed for many years. They had a daughter named Vickie who especially enjoyed dance as a child. Vickie grew up and moved to eastern Kansas. She met and married Jeremiah Woods, who lived near Chapman. Eventually Vickie’s parents – Phyllis and Greg – decided to move to Chapman as well. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Phyllis Cheney, Phyllis’ Flowers & More” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Hayes Kelman, Boot Hill Distillery

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“If life gives you lemons, then make lemonade. If life gives you coronavirus, then make hand cleanser.” Of those two statements, you may have heard the first, but you probably have not heard the second. But that is a way of describing the strategic change that has been made by an entrepreneurial company in rural Kansas, in response to the current coronavirus pandemic.

Boot Hill Distillery hand cleansers
Boot Hill Distillery hand cleansers

Hayes Kelman is the founder and CEO of this company which is now producing hand cleanser for free distribution to the public. The company is Boot Hill Distillery in Dodge City.

Hayes is a fifth-generation farmer in western Kansas. According to the distillery website, he “has always looked for … new uses for the grain he grows.” Hayes was seeking innovative alternative uses for his corn, other than cattle feeding or ethanol fuel. His solution might be considered coming full circle, given Dodge City’s history as a Wild West town with saloons dispensing whiskey. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Hayes Kelman, Boot Hill Distillery” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Damian and Heidi Hilton, Little Apple Aerials

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Would you like to learn to fly? How about without a plane? If that sounds impossible, meet Little Apple Aerials. This company’s talented staff demonstrates aerial arts and teaches participants to do gymnastics up in the air, complete with a sensation of flying.

Damian and Heidi Hilton are the founders and owners of this remarkable business known as Little Apple Aerials. Damian grew up at Great Bend, where he enjoyed athletics. “I was picking up a friend after my high school basketball practice and he was at the Barton County Community College facility working with the Barton cheerleaders,” Damian said. The Barton yell leaders invited Damian to join the squad also. He tried it and became a Barton yell leader.

Little Apple Aerials
Little Apple Aerials

Damian went on to K-State. One of his Barton cheer partners was on the cheer squad at K-State and talked him into trying out. Not only did Damian make the squad, he went on to become assistant coach and then head cheer coach.

While at K-State, Damian got a job managing the Manhattan Gymnastics Center. He also coached youth sports. The gymnastic elements of cheerleading became a passion and then a profession.

One athlete that Damian was coaching suggested that Damian call her sister Heidi. “Of course, I didn’t do it,” Damian said. But when Damian and Heidi met later on, they made the connection. Heidi and Damian married in 2004.

Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Damian and Heidi Hilton, Little Apple Aerials” →