BELOIT – Grant funding for equipment and training for instructors of senior exercise classes at the NCK Wellness Center regularly benefits more than 120 seniors in the Beloit area.

With the purchase of equipment such as weights and stairs, instructors could work with seniors on balance and everyday activities. Certifications helped the instructors improve their skills and better prepare exercises for their class participants.

There were more than 2,300 visits to the center during 2020 and even more virtual classes were taken. The center focused on community outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic and classes were televised. Some of the new equipment was made available for home use.

Grant funds also paid for an automatic door opener for the center.

PHILLIPSBURG – Visitors attending cultural, educational and community events at the Huck Boyd Center in Phillipsburg will now benefit from a new 30-space concrete parking area.

The facility also upgraded HVAC systems and added two iPads for use in operating systems and training staff.

GOODLAND – Students of the Computer Graphics Technology program at Northwest Kansas Technical College have a new piece of equipment to assist their learning about video production and filmmaking.

Grant funds paid much of the cost of the 6k cinema camera and a wearable camera mount stabilizer kit.

Students planned to collaborate with the Goodland Regional Medical Center to help market the hospital, as well as producing a video project featuring creation of the Goodland Topside Trail.

Students were also to assist with filming a series of videos as part of curriculum for a Groundwater Management and Precision Ag certified irrigator program.

QUINTER – Sixth-grader Miley Pennington started raising money in 2019 to replace outdated playground equipment removed from the Quinter school playground after an insurance company refused to provide coverage for it.

Her class raised about $3,000 by holding bake sales, putting out donation jars and selling homemade jewelry. Miley assisted in the design of the playground and was part of the construction team when two new pieces – a two-story slide and a jungle gym – were installed last summer on the elementary school playground.

Three businesses donated seven workers, as well as skid steers, a dump truck, a cement mixer and a fork lift to get the equipment installed. Fifteen parents and 17 students volunteered their time to the construction of the playground.

Grant funds paid a portion of the cost, but student volunteers are continuing to solicit donations for the project.

Construction of a new kitchen was exciting to watch for residents of a rural Catherine home for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The project also increased living space at the Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas facility, adding rooms for two additional residents. Funds from a grant also covered most of the cost of replacing roofs on the Frontier Developmental Center in Norton and an administrative/support building in Hays.

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