A Back to School Health Fair will be hosted by Konza Prairie Community Health Center on Friday ( August 9th ) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Junction City Konza location at 361 Grant Avenue.

More than 20 community vendors will be present with agency information and activities for kids, $20 cash or five canned goods for sports physicals, free health screenings, food and raffle prizes.

The Back to School Health Fair is made possible by community partners.  BD4, Express Office Supplies, Smithfield Foods, A&H Farms, Junction City Noon Kiwanis, Intrust Bank, Sonic Junction City, KS, USD 475 Geary Community Schools, 40-8 Military Honor Society, Walmart Supercenter and Walmart Neighborhood Market, B&B Theatre Junction City Little Gem, Waters True Value, Orscheln, Sunset Plumbing, Elite Academy Martial Arts, Discovery
Center, Widgets, Konza Cares, Blocker Hay & Cattle LLC, Power Hits 97.5, Rico Steele Martial Arts Academy and Delta Dental of Kansas.

Community organizations participating in the event include: CASA 8th Judicial
District, Flint Hills MPO and ATA Bus, Girls on the Run Flint Hills, Immanuel Lutheran Early Childhood Center, Junction City Pregnancy Services Center, Geary County WIC, Geary County Health Department, MADD, Pawnee Mental Health, United Way Junction City Geary County, USD 475 Early Childhood Program, Infant Toddler Services, Heart and Vascular Clinics, Dorothy Bramlage Public Library, Junction City Fire Department, K-State Research and Extension Geary County SNAP-ed, Geary Community Hospital, Delivering Change, and Aetna.

The National Weather Service in Topeka has issued a

* Flash Flood Watch for portions of central Kansas, east central
  Kansas, north central Kansas, and northeast Kansas, including
  the following areas, in central Kansas, Dickinson. In east
  central Kansas, Anderson, Coffey, Douglas, Franklin, Geary,
  Lyon, Morris, Osage, Shawnee, and Wabaunsee. In north central
  Kansas, Clay and Ottawa. In northeast Kansas, Jackson,
  Jefferson, Pottawatomie, and Riley.

* From this evening through Thursday morning

* Thunderstorms producing very heavy rain are expected to re-
  develop tonight across parts of the area. Rainfall amounts of 2
  to 6 inches with locally higher amounts will be possible.

* Heavy rain could lead to inundation of some roadways along with
  rapid rises on creeks and streams.

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

Shopping in the produce aisle can take time, if one stops to look and study all the fruits and vegetables on display. If only those fruits and vegetables could be packaged together – maybe even with a recipe to help my family use them. Today we’ll learn about an innovative program which is simplifying healthy food access, using a local food store and community support. Thanks to JoEllyn Argabright of K-State Research and Extension for this story idea.

 

Last week we learned about K-State Research and Extension’s Culture of Health initiative. Here is an example of a local initiative to support healthy eating.

 

Jerad Gooch is the owner of Leoti Foods in Leoti, Kansas. His family has deep roots in the grocery business. His grandfather Harold Gooch opened the store in Tribune in 1948. Harold’s son Dwight joined the business in 1972. Now the family owns three stores and Dwight’s three sons manage one each. Jerad has the store in Leoti.

 

In 2015, some people in Leoti started to participate in a produce basket purchasing program which utilized out-of-state goods. “I noticed these baskets coming into town and I wondered why we couldn’t do that with a local store,” Jerad said. That program ended after a few months, but Jerad met with people who were interested to see if his store could provide such produce baskets.

 

In early 2017, the group launched a program called Simply Produce. This program provides fruit and vegetable baskets to local customers through the Leoti Foods store.

 

Every three weeks, there is a sign-up period from Friday to Tuesday for people who want to get a produce basket. People order the basket and pre-pay, at the store or by phone.

 

On the following Friday morning, the produce is delivered to a distribution point at the fairgrounds. Volunteers then sort the produce into baskets, which customers can pick up at noon. Jerad also delivers baskets to the school and to the elderly.

Typically, the baskets would include 12 items: Six fruits and six vegetables. The baskets cost $15 each. Since the baskets might include up to 22 pounds of produce, this is a terrific value. Purchased separately, those items might amount to twice that in cost, not to mention the time spent shopping.

 

“We’ve had customers say, `Wow, I get all that?’” Jerad said. “Some of our elderly ladies even share baskets.” The store is now offering an additional mini-basket option.

 

Another popular option is the add-on baskets for an additional charge. For example, Leoti Foods recently offered an optional grill pack which includes ears of corn, sweet peppers, potatoes, squash, onions, mushrooms and more. All of these products would be great when prepared on my grill.

 

This makes shopping simple, which means that the name Simply Produce is especially appropriate. “This produce is delivered in the morning and is in the consumer’s hands by noon,” Jerad said. “To get fresh produce in the hands of people that quickly in western Kansas is remarkable.”

 

“Everything about this has been great,” Jerad said. Now their store in Tribune is using the same model. “We’re averaging about 45 participants each time,” Jerad said.

 

“It’s not about the business, it’s what’s good for the community and about getting produce into people’s hands,” Jared said. He also noted the importance of volunteers in assembling the baskets.

 

Aimee Baker, the family and consumer sciences agent for K-State Research and Extension – Wichita County, is one of his key volunteers. “She’s been with us since day one,” Jerad said. “She even makes a recipe card each time which correlates with the produce in the basket.”

 

This is an innovative, collaborative approach to help people get healthy produce while benefiting the local economy. It’s great to find in a rural community like Leoti, population 1,534 people. Now, that’s rural.

 

Shopping for produce can take time. We commend Jared Gooch of Leoti Foods, Aimee Baker, and all those involved with Simply Produce for making a difference with this project to help people utilize fruits and vegetables while utilizing their local store. I think it’s high time.

 

Column by:

Ron Wilson

 

 

The Geary County Sheriff’s Department will join almost 190 other local and state police agencies across Kansas in a crackdown August 15th through Labor Day, September 2nd, aimed at removing drunk and other drugged drivers from the roadways. You Drink, You Drive, You Lose, is underwritten by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

According to KDOT, alcohol and other drugs are implicated in 40% of the crash deaths on Kansas roads.

This enforcement campaign is intended to remind drivers of several things:

1. If you’re going to drink alcohol away from home, do it responsibly by lining up a designated driver before you leave.
2. Check your medications for driving warnings.
3. Think of a family you know – maybe your own – and consider how it would be to wake up every day to the memory of your decision to drive after ingesting something which unintentionally brought injury or death to one of them.
4. A DUI arrest can cost you thousands of dollars and, in the case of alcohol, will result in the installation of an ignition interlock device in your vehicle.
5. All citizens on the roadways are being asked to watch for suspicious driving behaviors.
6. Authorities will enforce impaired driving and other traffic laws, not just during the enforcement campaign but all through the year.
7. Always remember that your best protection against an impaired driver is the use of seat belts and appropriate child restraints on all trips.

The Junction City Commission has voted 5-0 to adopt the city budget for next year.

They are keeping the property tax mill levy for 2020 at the same rate that it has been, at 48.115 mills. The action by the governing body was the final approval needed for the budget by the commission.