HOISINGTON — The grand opening of the Kans for Kids Fighting Cancer Foundation’s new office at 169 S. Main, Hoisington, will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 27. There will be hourly giveaways (need not be present to win), cookies and bottled water.
Also featured will be the unique work of Jeff Clawson, Larned. Butterflies, angels and snowflakes cut by a press from aluminum cans and made into magnets will also be available for a $3 donation to Kans for Kids.
The 501-c-3 organization, founded by the Duane Reif family in 1994, has operated out of the Reif home for the past 25 years. According to director Debbie Reif, the organization had outgrown the small space in their home.
“The time had come that we needed to find a space for Kans for Kids to continue to grow and thrive in. The opportunity arose to purchase the old Subway building from the City of Hoisington. It’s absolutely the perfect place for Kans for Kids,” she said.
The new office is very inviting and welcoming. “We want this to be a place where our families can come at any time just to get away from the challenges of having a child with cancer. Not only is this a place for our families but we would encourage anyone, especially those currently living with cancer or cancer survivors, to come in to relax and unwind a bit. We hope everyone will stop by and take a look at our new place,” said Reif.
Play and coloring activities are available for children with adult coloring offered for grown-ups. Beverages are also available for a 50 cent donation to Kans for Kids.
The building at 169 S. Main has a rich history and housed a bakery in the early 1900s that later became Tindall’s Bakery for many years before becoming Daylight Donuts in the late ’70s or early ’80s and then Subway in 2012. The upstairs was once a portion of the Opera House that was the center of entertainment in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“We are firm believers in preserving as much of our history as we can,” said Reif. In light of that, Cecelia Conrad, Hoisington artist, has graciously volunteered her time and talent to repaint the word BAKERY on the upper part of the building. The second-floor windows contain paintings of children battling cancer and the words, “FAITH AND HOPE FOR A CURE,” painted by Reif.
The bottom windows were painted with handprints of 5-year-old Kayley Bricker of Oberlin to represent all children who battle cancer.
Kans for Kids Fighting Cancer Foundation (kansforkids.org) provides financial and emotional support to families of children in Barton, Russell, Rice and Pawnee counties in central Kansas. Since its inception in 1994, the organization has provided assistance to 35 families living with childhood cancer.
It is currently working with four children: Anna Fisher, 19, Ellinwood, was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2018 and is currently in remission; Ayden Bronson, 5, Larned, was diagnosed with Adreno-cortical carcinoma in 2018 and is currently being treated at Wesley Children’s Hospital in Wichita; James Galloway, 8, Lyons, was diagnosed with leukemia (AML) in February of this year and is undergoing treatment at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis; and Layd’n Hinderliter, 11, Chase, was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in 2017. He recently relapsed and is undergoing treatment at Wesley Children’s Hospital and Children’s Mercy in Kansas City.
For more information on Kans for Kids, call 620-653-2210 or 620-617-6888. Send letters to Kans for Kids, P.O. Box 178, Hoisington, KS 67544.
