The Holden Chamber of Commerce honored two local women for their volunteer efforts at the groups annual end-of-the-year banquet held Monday night at the Community Activity Center.

President Dennis Mason presented the presidents award to Sandy Roberts. Roberts has been instrumental in working toward the completion of the history book, is a member of the local economic development committee and has served on the board of directors.

Sandy is someone who knows how to get the ball rolling, said Mason.
Roberts is employed as office manager at Holden Manor Care Center and is also an agent with Sturgis Real Estate.

Bevy Fletchall was also honored with the groups horizon award presented by Holden R-III Superintendent Scott Slava.

The award is presented each year to someone who is committed to improving the community through their volunteer efforts. Fletchall has volunteered many years at the local schools, served as PTO president and remains an active member, serves on the economic development committee and is the chamber treasurer. Fletchall and her husband Chris own the local Sonic Drive-In and are co-owners of Godfathers Pizza in Holden.

The group also installed new officers which remain the same as last year. They are as follows: Mason, president; Jenny Sollars, vice president; Pat Zvacek, secretary and Fletchall, treasurer. Cindy Reynolds and Mike Terry were also named to this years board of directors.

Speaking at this years event were Rep. David Pearce, Mike Downing of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Carolyn Corson of Administration Enterprises and Tracy Brantner, executive director of the Johnson County Economic Development Corporation.

The theme of this years banquet was Looking Toward Tomorrow. The meal was catered by Tiger Jacks, music was provided by Larry Timme and the high school jazz band and the Octagon Club volunteered as servers for the dinner.

 

A local business joined others in the community to lend a helping hand to Holdens senior citizens.

Angels Home Care, owned by Brenda Stumpff, held a garage sale, silent auction and bake sale on November 19, at the Hallar Building.  All proceeds from the sale went to the Holden Senior Citizens Center and will be used for their in-home meal delivery program, according to center director Joyce Lagud.

The sale was a success raising more than $800 for the center.  Stumpff credits the 35 families who donated items as well as Walkers Variety, J & J Flea Market, Q-104 and other businesses who donated to the event.  She would like to thank all of those who were involved with the sale including M & G Photography who helped create a large check for the presentation to the center.

This is the first annual sale, Stumpff said.  We plan to have one every year, so please be thinking about items you can donate for next years sale.  We hope to double our profit in next years sale.

The few items left over that didnt sell were donated to the HOPE Center, according to Stumpff. 

The sale enjoyed large crowds and did a brisk business.

When asked what prompted her to want to hold the sale for the center, Stumpff said, The senior citizens do so much for the community, its time for the community to give back to them.  For questions about the sale or Angels Home Care, contact Stumpff at 732-3535.

Lagud said, This money is greatly appreciated and we look forward to putting it to good use with our home delivery program.  Its really a worthwhile program; it allows people to stay in their homes and gives us a chance to check on them each day.  Its important to the community and to the seniors.
Lagud and Stumpff both say they do what they do because the work is so rewarding.

By Dana Neubert
News Staff

Results of a library survey were presented to the Trails Regional Library Board of Trustees on November 16 at their regular meeting.

Mark Ellickson from Opinion Research Specialists gave a presentation summarizing the results from the library survey.  Over 800 telephone interviews were done, according to Ellickson.  They analyzed each of the eight branches individually and as an aggregate.

Some of the highlights included: satisfaction rate with the hours of operation - 94 percent; percentage of respondents who checked out library materials - 94 percent; percentage or respondents who asked staff for help - 89 percent; staffs willingness to help rated very good and good by 99 percent; friendliness of staff rated very good and good by 98 percent; staffs knowledge of library services rated very good and good by 97 percent; overall quality of childrens programs rated very good and good by 94 percent; overall impression of the librarys website rated good and very good by 85 percent; overall satisfaction with the Trails branch most frequently visited was rated very satisfied by nearly 80 percent.

The entire document can be viewed on the librarys website at www.trl.lib.mo.us under staff and board information.  The results from Trails compared to similar libraries were very favorable according to Ellickson.

In other new business, the library received 17 entries for the logo contest which was held through October 31.  The programming staff reviewed the entries and selected the top three for consideration by the board.  Gift certificates will be awarded to these three entries.   The library staff will also obtain cost estimates from a professional graphics artist on producing a logo for the library system to use.  Alicia Morgan and Leslie Petrie researched similar contests and provided the above information to the board.

In the directors report, the board was told, at the branch managers meeting, Karen Hicklin led a discussion to determine the topics on which they most desire training.   The top three areas selected were research tools, computer software and marketing.  Then they suggested specific items in each area.  The administrative staff has met and developed priorities among the specific items and the first training session has already been scheduled.

In other directors business, Hicklin reported that a new version of the LISTEN card catalog should soon be available.  The new LISTEN will enable patrons to see a copy of the book cover when they select a specific item.  Clicking on the cover will take them to a book review.

In a monthly circulation review it was reported the total circulation for October of 2006 was 30,796.  During that time Holden had a circulation of 3,394, compared to Concordia with 2,140, Corder with 664, Knob Noster with 2,014 and Warrensburg with 11,814.  Holden showed an 11.9 percent increase from October, 2005.

By Dana Neubert
News Staff