Two and a half years ago we received word from the Kansas Attorney General’s office that the Cottonwood Extension District #17 had been approved. Months of hard work by our Extension supporters preceded the formal announcement. Our board, consisting of four members from each county, has held monthly meetings to stay abreast of the business of running an Extension District. At the end of this month we will say goodbye and thank you to two of our outgoing board members and welcome two new faces to the board in January.
Rhiannon Corn from Ellis County and Steve Tustin from Barton County will both be stepping off the board and I want to publicly say “thank you” for your support and hard work on the board. Allen Roth from Ellis County and Kathie Rondeau from Barton County were re-elected to another term on the executive board. Tatum Kimsey from Ellis County and Dick Dougherty from Barton County were elected on Nov. 5 and will begin their four year terms in January 2020. Four additional board members will continue to serve through 2021. They include: Nathan Leiker and Ramie Wasinger from Ellis County and Deanna Essmiller and Natalie Fullerton from Barton County.
The Cottonwood Extension District includes a staff of seven agents and two office professionals. Our goals include providing research-based information to help improve the quality of life of the individuals we serve.
I hope you have had an opportunity to utilize our services. Perhaps you have worked with one of our agriculture agents, Alicia Boor or Stacy Campbell, to learn about wheat varieties that do well in our region or about details of the Farm Bill. If your family is involved in 4-H or after-school programs, you have two experienced agents, Susan Schlichting and Michelle Beran, leading the youth development program in our district.
Take time to introduce yourself to our horticulture agent, Lauren Fick. Lauren divides her time between the two counties and is excited to provide leadership to a successful Master Gardener program and to answer yard, garden and tree questions you may have. And finally, Berny Unruh and I are committed to bringing Extension educational programming related to nutrition, health and wellness, food safety, family resource management, aging issues, and family life in general. I also want to mention our two experienced office professionals. Brenda Walton, in the Great Bend office, takes the lead with the finances for the district while Theresa Meis, in the Hays office, focuses on communicating our efforts through newsletters and our web site. Both Brenda and Theresa handle a multitude of other duties that keep our offices running smoothly. We’ve also appreciated having Kory Ridnour, our intern, help us with media and the marketing of our programs.
It is great news that K-State Research and Extension has answers to many of life’s questions, typically at no or low cost. Unlike what you might find through a Google search, the answers we provide are research-based and non-biased. I hope you will take a look at our Cottonwood website. We have tried a different format for our newsletter that I think you will like. We hope to see you at some of our upcoming programs.
Donna Krug is the Family & Consumer Science Agent with K-State Research and Extension – Cottonwood District. Contact her at 620-793-1910 or dkrug@ksu.edu.
