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Janice has worked for years to advance the cause of equal rights for women. As a member of the Great Bend chapter of the League of Women Voters, she serves as the State Voters Service Chair. Janice is active in the Barton County Chapter of women for Kansas. She is also active in Pilot promoting their mission to improve the quality of life in her community. Janice encourages everyone to vote their hoice in the coming election, November 3rd.
Janice
Great Bend Pilot, Betty Schneider, Helps Sister Annette Winter carry a plasma TV to the trailer. Catholic Charities of Southwest Kansas collected old electrical appliances and electronics. The money earned from this project will be used to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was amazing to realize all the components that could be used from a computer tower. Another collection date is scheduled for next year. Betty is encouraging members to save old electronics, phones and electric appliances for the next collection date.
WARM EMBRACE PROJECT
A total of 40 quilts and blankets of varied colors & textures were donated to DCF for the foster childeren in the communities they serve. Pilots have made over 460 quilts & blankets over the past 10+ years.
Great Bend Pilots display their sign plus the bike helmet give away sign. Pictured are Marilyn Kopke, Ros Neeland, Mary Cramer, Vicki Richardson, Billie Bonomo, Jari Marietta and Betty Schneider.
Displayed on Pilot’s table are give away bags with water bottles with infusers donated by Hoisington Hospital, a cup, Bike Barton County Kansas and a Kansas Bicycle Map from Be Well Barton County Central Kansas Partnership, Inc. and multiple colors & sizes of helmets.
Jay Knudson, an avid cyclist, gets ready to adjust a helmet for Jeremy Laurin
Ros Neeland adjusts the strap on her grandson’s new helmet.
Jay Knudson explains how to adjust the straps on the bike helmet before fitting it.
Aiden Lopez models his new Helmet.
Jay Knudson explains how to adjust the straps on Matthew Riley’s helmet.
Lakin Rowley is all smiles after receiving his helmet
Pilots and Donna Krug answering questions about helmets, bike safety and bike trails in Kansas.
Donna Krug, an avid cyclist, joined the Pilot Club to talk about bicycle safety at the bicycle give away.
Brian Steinert”s helmet after being struck from behind by a fast moving pickup. He received body injury, but NO HEAD INJURY. NOTE DAMAGE TO HIS HELMET.
Vickie Richardson adjusting a blue helmet for Jaspe. He was the first person to get a free helmet.
14 Pilot members participated in the helmet give away. Pictured are Mary Cramer, Jari Marietta, Joyce Beadles-Fry, and Renee Johnson.
Pilot International promotes brain health & safety with its Helmet Initiative. Pilot Club of Great Bend received a grant for 10 helmets from Pilot International & purchased an additional 18 helmets to distribute to children in our community. Last April, Donna Krug had planned to visit each of the elementary schools in Barton County & share bicycle safety rules, while Pilot Club members talked about the importance of wearing a helmet while bicycling. Helmets were to be given away during the presentations. School closings due to the COVID-19 Pandemic derailed this plan.
Pilot Club will give away helmets during the open-air Farmer’s Market Thursday Summer Street Stroll on July 30th from 4-6 pm at Jack Kilby Square. John & Donna Krug (avid bicycle enthusiasts) will join Pilot Club to discuss bicycle safety and importance of proper size of helmets. Helmets will be given to children ages 3-12 years old. Pilot will provide bicycle safety information and maps of bike trails in Kansas at their booth.
The Helmet Initiative supports Pilot International’s mission: to educate children about safety, promote awareness about injury prevention and provide support to those who have suffered traumatic brain injury. The Pilot Club of Great Bend joins and supports other local efforts in these endeavors concerning brain injury and safety education practices in areas specific to children and teens involved in team sports, biking, skateboarding and texting while driving.
Betty Schneider worked the morning shift at Walmart stuff the bus site. Rhonda Knudson & Betty show some of the backpacks filled with supplies that were donate by the Pilot Club members. Masks were worn by all members participating and the people who entered the WalMart Store. Masks were provided for people who came without a mask.
A Pilot Pop-Up Project was spear headed by Rhonda Knudson to collect items for the Stuff the Bus Project. Backpacks (6) were purchased & filled with school supplies & donated to the Stuff the Bus Project.
Rhonda Knudson (center) and Billie Bonomo from the Great Bend Pilot Club present a basket with a mascot bear to Melanie Lewis at UMKC. The basket was organized by Rhonda & Billie sewed the mask & scrubs the bear wore.
A basket with a bear mascot was presented to the nurses at Hoisington Hospital by Vickie Richardson & Betty Schneider (Not Pictured) from the Great Bend Pilot Club.
Ellinwood nurses holding the bear that was presented to them by Marcia Johnson & Carol Hawks (Not Pictured) from the Great Bend Pilot Club.
Betty shows the bag she crocheted from plarn and Billie models one of the cinch bags she sewed during the program meeting.
Billie Bonomo explains how the cords can either be crocheted or braided for the cinch bags being made for the homeless project.
Betty Schneider explaining how to make plarn out of plastic bags instead of throwing the bags in the landfill, which takes years to deteriorate.
Billie Bonomo models one of the masks she made for hospitals and nursing homes.
Some of the over 250 colorful masks sewn by Billie Bonomo.
A variety of some of the masks in multiple colors & styles (some with elastic and some with ties) made by Betty Schneider.
Betty Models one of the fitted masks she sewed.
Bear mascot dressed in scrubs & mask sewn by Billie for the baskets given to the nurses at 3 local hospitals to remind people to wear their masks.
Due to the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic and in alignment with local, state and federal recommendations, the Pilot Club practices wearing masks while unloading and sorting the geraniums. Pictured behind the masks are Janice Walker, Marty Aldrich, Renee Johnson, Betty Schneider, Vicki Richardson, Ruthann Friedrich, Mary Cramer and Barbara and Daniel Watson in the back. Rhonda Kndson took the photo.
Pilot members at the Chamber coffee are Judy Fox, Nancy Sundahl, Ruth Friedrich, Rhonda Knudson, Vici Richardson, Barbara Watson, Daniel Watson, Betty Schneider, Nicci Henderson, Renee Johnson, Ros Neeland and Nancy Schuetz. (Not pictured: Joyce Beadles-Fry, Nancy Rogers and Julie Stuhlsat)
Information about Pilot Club is presented by Rhonda Knudson, president-elect Great Bend Pilot Club.
Community members attending the Chamber Coffee.
Perkins Resturant & Bakery, a Pilot Club sponsor, provided the refreshments for the Chamber Coffee. A video depicting the activities and charities the Pilot Club is involved in played throughout the presentation. Information about Pilot Club and their involvement in the community was presentated by Rhonda Knudson, president-elect.
Rhonda explained who & what Pilot Club is and where the name was derived from as well as our colors and motto. Pilot organization will be celebrating 100 years of service to their local & global communities next year. Our local club has been in existence for over 30 years. Rhonda introduced the pilot members who were present at the coffee.
A proclamation was signed by Mayor Cody Schmidt designating March 16-20 as Brain Awareness Week. A picture and article will appear in the Tribune that week.
Rhonda invited anyone in the group who was interesting in joining Pilot to our March 17th meeting. This is Share Pilot month and lunch will be provided to anyone new who attends.
Rhonda invited all to our second Autism workshop on April 18 at BCC. Brochures about the workshop & Great Bend Pilot were available on the table for people to take.
Pilot Club members: Daniel Watson, Rhonda Knudson, Barbara Watson, (Nancy Sundahl and Judy Fox, not pictured) provided the desserts for the meal.
Pilot Club provided pizzas and dessert to members who participated in the Barton County Core Community program. Members meet on Thursdays to share a meal before the start of the program. Program director, Jamie Baldwin commented“poverty is the root cause of many of the participants’ struggles. Jamie stated the entire community, especially those who are experiencing poverty, are encouraged to become involved and to help solve this problem. “Our program is a great vehicle for healing lives.”
She also commented that “poverty overwhelms people and institutions.” “The experience of poverty is often painful with a sense of powerlessness and isolation.” Jamie stated they look forward to increased community support as they created a safe space for families to emerge from poverty and claim the lives they deserve.
Santa was in attendance when Pilots presented a check to Debbie Stephens, Director of GPS Kids Club, at the GPS Kids Club’s Holiday Celebration. Present were Vicki Richardson, Debbie, Betty Schneider, Rhonda Knudson, Nicci Henderson and Nancy Schuetz.
Vicki Richardson helps a young child make a reindeer headband while his mother watches.
Betty Schneider helps a small child decorate his sugar cookie.
GPS Kids Club is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit “At Risk” after school and supplemental care facility for children, ages Kindergarten through 6th grade. GPS is located in Hoisington in the former Barton County Annex Building. Their mission is to provide quality supervised care, in a safe and nurturing environment, during the non-school hours when parents are working. GPS provides a character focused, faith based program, providing daily character lessons, academic enrichment, recreational activities, healthy meals, and snacks.
Pilots enjoyed working with the children and their families at the GPS Christmas celebration and fun day. Games were played, cookies decorated, Christmas headbands and ornaments made and kids played in the bouncy house.
PILOTS SERVE MEAL TO CLIENTS OF HEALTHY FAMILIES
Kathy Davis, ( carved the turkey), Betty Schneider, Mary Cramer, Barbara and Daniel Watson served a delicious dinner consisting of creamed corn, green beans, cheesy potatoes, turkey, ham, and rolls plus delicious Perkins pies donated by Pilot Club mebers.
Vicki Richardson asked for pies for dessert and volunteers to help serve the meal to the clients of Healthy Families and Pilots answered her call for assistance. Healthy bodies make healthy minds.
Rhonda and Daniel and Barbara Watson serve pies at the meal at the Healthy Families celebration.
International Care & Kindness Week is a week-long public awareness campaign meant to bring awareness to how simple acts can change a day, a life or the world by simply showing somone you care. International Care & Kindness Week encourages people to “Take time to Care and Be Kind.” Pilots mission is to influence positive change in communities throughout the world by coming together in friendship and service, focusing on encouraging brain safety and health and supporting those who care for others.
Winter gloves and Hersey Candy Bars were wrapped with a Care & Kindness sleeve with The Pilot Club of Great Bend logo on it by Pilot members to give to people they wanted to acknowledge with a special treat…an unexpected…and random act of kindness.
Carol Hawk, PIFF representative of Great Bend Pilot Club, gives our waitress a Herseys Candy Bar in appreciation for being an exemplary waitress. Christy is always cheerful and professional at all times. She honors last minute requests for table changes, additional tables for members to sell fresh garden produce and anything extra we require during a meeting.
Body Venture is a unique educational program designed to involve 5th grade students in learning the skills and choices for a healthy lifestyle. At each of the BODY VENTURE’s eleven stations, a Pilot volunteer presents information using a written script and engages the students in a five-minute activity focused on healthy food choices & being pysically active. Body Venture is about learning to EAT SMART, PLAY HARD. Follow the studen’t journey through the body in pictures and scripts about each station.
Pilots volunteering for each station: Carol Hawk, Joyce Beadles-Fry, Sharon Mauler, Ros Neeland, Mary Cramer, Barbara Watson, Betty Schneider, Daniel Watson, Marty Aldrich and Jari Marietta.
Students start in the school lunchroom. Jari Marietta introduced students to Power Panther and the EAT SMART, PLAY HARD message. She gave each student a food tag bookmark with a food on it. Using a large MyPlate poster, students learn about how important it is to EAT SMART by choosing foods everday from each of the groups on MyPlate.
Students enter the large, free-standing, domed Brain Station through one ear and exist through the other ear. Inside the brain, students sit on a “squishy” foam material that is designed to resemble brain matter. Students learn that you use your brain everyday to make important choices in your life. One of these choices is about how much food to eat. Betty Schneider showed food models to demonstrate the correct portion of some foods. Two battery-powered strobe lights in the brain dome simulate “brain impulses.” Each flash is like a message from your brain being sent to parts of your body. Healthy food choices from MyPlate and vigorous exercise help jump-start your brain.
Students enter the main body structure through the mouth and sit on stools shaped like teeth. Ros Neeland discussesssss the importance of eating foods with calcium to build strong teeth. Ros helps a student floss the teeth the correct way. “Mr. Gross Mouth” is a hands-on prop that emphasis the importance of avoiding tobacco products and drugs.
Food is swallowed through the esophagus and moves into the stomach. In this stomach station, Joyce Breadles-Fry teaches students about digestion. The stomach is like a stretchy bag that holds food after it is eaten. When the stomach is empty, it shrinks like a balloon without air. As you eat the stomach gets bigger & bigger. This station includes a sandwich-building activity that reinforces the important concept of choosing foods from MyPlate. The food then travels into the small intestines.
Mary Cramer tells the students that digestion begins in the mouth and stomach and then continues in the small intestines. Foods are broken into tiny particles called nutrients which are then absorbed into the blood. The nutrients then travel to the heart, lungs, bones, muscles and skin. The interior of the small intestine has “villi” hanging from the ceiling. These villi absorb the nutrients. The small intestines are 20-foot long.
Carol Hawk tells the students about the four chambers in the heart. They learn that too much fat in in the diet may cause clogged blood vessels. A pulse stick is used to emphasize the importance of physical activity to keep the heart healthy. A student puts his hand on the pulse stick to show how fast his/her heart beats. After jumping up & down, a student uses the pulse stick to show how fast his/her heart rate has increased.
Sharon Mauler shows the students the lungs of a smoker. PLAYING HARD is an important concept learned in the lungs Physical activity, PLAYING HARD, is good for the lungs just like it is good for the heart. Students participate in an activity to learn what breathing is like if you have emphysema or asthma.
Mary Aldrich teaches the students the importance of having three servings from the MyPlate milk group everyday. Our bones are called the skeleton and our bodies have 206 bones. Some of the bones are long, short, round, flat, big or little. About 100 of our bones are in our hands and feet. Kids are shown a real wild pig bone which resembles a human bone, but are much smaller.
Nancy Schuetz is getting ready to set up her station on the muscles. A replica of one pound of fat and muscle is shown. Muscle is much more compact than fat making it healthier in the body. To provide fuel when kids are PLAYING HARD, muscles need carbohydrates from grain, vegetable and fruit groups. To keep muscles strong, students learn they need protein from the meat, bean and milk groups. The students participate in a stretching activity to emphasize the importance of stretching their muscles.
Barbara Watson teaches the importance of taking good care of your skin on the inside and outside. The skin is a protective covering for all the other body parts. It is important to take care of any injury to the skin. Clean cuts with soap ad water and keep the cut covered. In this station, “pretend germs” are placed on a child’s hand and everyone can see them under a black light. The child then shakes hands with another child. Then everyone looks at both hands of both children under the black light to learn how easily germs are spread. Students leave the body through a cut in the skin and proceed through the Panther Power Pathway to Life.
In the Pathway to Life, Daniel Watson reviews all the important concepts learned in all the other stations. The Pathway has many graphics of Power Panther engaged in various activities.
Jari Marietta rings the bell every 5 minutes to let the students & presentors know it is time to proceed to the next station. It takes each group of students about an hour to complete the Body Venture journey.
On October 16, 1921 the forty Charter Members of Pilot International came together to sign the origional Pilot Charter. From that day on, Pilots aroung the world celebrate & honor this historic day, October 18, as Founders Day, the birthday of Pilot. Pilot International Founder’s Fund was estabilished to support the community-based work of pilot clubs by helping to underwrite the club efforts to serve in the areas of preparing youth for service, encouraging brain safety & health and supporting those who care for others. Pilot International and it’s clubs are able to improve the lives of others through education, volunteerism and financial support and research.
Barbara Watson, Mary Cramer, Mary lou Stewart, Sharon Mauler, Daniel Watson and Rhonda Knudson (not pictured) set up the display for Founder’s Day (October 18th). October is also membership month. It is the second year for the Pilot display at the library for the community to learn about our local Pilot Club and Pilot International and their mission and projects.
One of the tied fleece blankets for the children in foster care is on display at the Great Bend Public Library.
The items on display are the club’s banners, information about pilot club and their story, and a scrapbook of activities and projects. Pilot Club hopes to encourage others to join their club.
THe PROMISE GARDEN is a hands-on, mission-focused experience that allows particiapnts to raise flowers representing their promise to remember, honor, care & fight for those living with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. Together, the PROMISE flowers create a dynamic, colorful and meanful “garden.” The color of the flowers represent: BLUE - I have Alzheimers/dementia. YELLOW: I am supporting or caring for someone with Alzheimer’s/dementia. PURPLE: I have lost someone to Alzheimer’s/dementia. ORANGE: I support the cause & the Alzheimer’s Association’s vision of a world without Alzheimer’s/dementia. Particiapnts can write a name or a personal message on their flower to further show their dedication to the cause.
Participants unite for a heartfelt opeining ceremony prior to the commencement of the Alzheimer’s walk. Note the Pilot members among the group.
Participants group together at the start of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. The walk was held in the High School Panther Activity Center in Great Bend on October 5, 2019. Walkers include people of all ages, young and old. Some of the walkers are dealing with Alzheimer’s or dementia, others are caregivers of people with the diease while others have lost family members or friends to Alzheimer’s. Everyone was their to support the cause & vision of the Alzheimer’s Association, which is a world without Alzhemier’s..
Rhonda Knudson, vice-president of Pilot Club, set up a booth with Pilot information. She donated a “Warm Embrace Quilt” with the colors of the Promise Garden flowers for a drawing.
Co-captain of Pilot Club of Great Bend team, Betty Schneider, stands in front of the banner with the names of the donors for the Alzheimer’s Walk. She is wearing this year’s shirt for the fight against Alzheimer’s. The Pilot team surpassed their goal of raising $1,000 for Alzheimer’s. Great Bend Pilot Club is a major sponsor of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s for the past 5 years.
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Concussions are suprisingly common in sports injuries especially football, ice hockey, soccer and even volleyball. Concussions do not always involve being “knocked out” or a loss of consciousness. A concussion occurs whenever a child’s mental status is altered as a result of trauma (usually a blow to the head). A child who shows signs of mental confusion or is “dinged” by a blow to the head has suffered a concussion. Concussions often result in mental and physical symptoms such as inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, headaches, fatigue, and dizziness. Most sysptoms disappear in 10 days. Concussions are managed according to the severity of symptoms. If a child losses consciousness he should be evaluated immediately after the concussion occurs to rule out other injuries, loss of consciousness and his vital signs. REMEMBER NOT ALL BRAIN INJURIES HEAL THE SAME.
Blankets for Warm Embrace Proect for Children in the Foster Care System
Darlene Mathers, Sharon Mauler and Nancy Schuetz tie a fleece blanket for children in the foster care.
Supplies, cash and Visa cards collected by Pilots and donated to Arrowhead West. Pictured are Shelia from Arrowhead West and Faye Kuhn, govenor of Heartland District Pilot Club.
Arrowhead West, Inc is a nonprofit organization serving children and adults with developmental disabilities. They serve 14 counties and have offices in Dodge City, Medicine Lodge, Pratt, Kinsely and Wichita. they have touched the lives of more than 1,000 clients and emplay 235 members.
Arrowhead West’s mission is to employ people to live meaningful and productive lives. Their vision is to provide outstanding service that leads to making informed choices about independence, employment, community participation and healthy lifestyles. They provide day services, community integrated employment, targeted case management, transportation for their clients and opportunities for volunteering.
Great Bend Pilot Club - PO Box 503, Great Bend, KS 67530