The Iola Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting Friday night was an upbeat event liberally spiced with superlatives.
— Duane’s Flowers and Allen County Community College were honored as 2010 businesses of the year.
— Ed O’Malley, director of the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita, talked about engaging Iola-area people to provide direction for the future.
— Abby Works encouraged participation in Earth Day 2011.
— City Administrator Judy Brigham outlined how Iolans can live more energy efficiently and help win $100,000 for city energy-savings projects through the Take Charge Challenge.
— Jon Marshall recognized members of the first Allen County Together leadership class, after comments from its originator, Fred Heismeyer.
DUANE’S FLOWERS, 5 S. Jefferson Ave., was recognized for businesses of 25 or fewer employees.
Other nominees were General Repair and Supply, 1008 N. Industrial Rd., Tholen’s Heating and Cooling, 824 N. Chestnut St., and TLC Garden Center, LaHarpe.
Duane and Judy McGraw have had the business since 1976.
The McGraws and daughter Kristina DeLaTorre are hands-on owners and managers who provide the epitome of hometown service, for which Iola businesses are well known.
They frequently attend seminars and conventions to stay well-versed in the latest techniques and trends in flower arranging for wedding, funerals, holidays and other special occasions.
Allen County Community College, 1801 N. Cottonwood St., was founded in 1923 and is one of the fastest growing of Kansas’ 19 community colleges. It has a satellite campus in Burlingame and 14 outreach sites.
After accepting the award, ACCC President John Masterson said ACCC worked with a wide range of students including recent high school graduates; high school juniors and seniors seeking to earn concurrent credit and get a head start on their college educations; non-traditional students looking for a path to a new career; professionals who want to enhance their abilities and earning potential; and retirees with an interest in exploring new learning opportunities and to enrich their lives.
Course work completed at ACCC meets all higher education requirements of the Kansas Board of Regents for transfer as general education credit to all six Regents universities, as well as most other colleges and universities in Kansas and elsewhere in the nation.
Other nominees in the 26 and more employees category were Herff Jones, Inc., 2503 N. State St., and J & J Contractors, 1645 1600 St.
O’MALLEY said a key determinate for progress for the country and for individual communities, such as Iola and Allen County, was quality of leadership.
Kansas Leadership Center was funded by a $30 million grant from the Kansas Health Foundation four years ago with the challenge to grow community and state leaders.
Three questions reveal what is needed in a community, O’Malley said.
— Looking to the future, what concerns you most? Is it globalization, the economy, immigration, or loss of population? Leaders come up with answers and ways to help with the toughest issues, O’Malley said.
— What makes progress difficult? A problem in Kansas, O’Malley said, “is Kansans often don’t know how to talk together about tough issues. They’re too nice to either other,” which begs a need to knuckle down and tackle problems head-on.
— What type of leadership is needed to make progress? “People have to learn to articulate what leadership is needed,” he said, and then be bold enough embrace it.
O’Malley praised Allen Countians for their recent passage of a sales tax to support a new Allen County Hospital.
“That’s the work of leaders,” he said.
ABBY WORKS, an Iola High School senior, last year put together an Earth Hour observance in Iola, in which many people in the community turned off lights and turned on to the realization that energy consumption could be curbed by concerted, cooperative efforts.
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 1.2 million people turned off lights in their homes and businesses for an hour, Works recalled.
“This year more than 1 billion participants in 400,000 cities and 120 countries will observe Earth Hour,” Works said.
Earth Hour will start at 8:30 p.m. March 26.
Works said last year’s gathering of more than 200 on the downtown square — “I hope we’ll have better weather this year,” she said — and many others in their homes were the largest number of participants of any city in Kansas.
“One person, one community can make a difference,” she said, and the event will be counted in Iola’s efforts in the Take Charge Challenge, a sponsor this year.
IOLA IS in competition with Chanute, Fort Scott, Parsons and Pittsburg in the Take Charge Challenge, which encourages residents to switch from incandescent to CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs, as well as other energy-saving measures, Brigham said.
“We got $25,000 to develop energy-savings projects and events to encourage public participation,” she said.
That seed money, and the $100,000 prize money, came from federal stimulus funds sent Kansas’ way last year, and administered by the Kansas Energy Office.
“The Chamber Business EXPO was our first big public event and we’ll also be at the Charlie Melvin run and at activities throughout the community this year,” Brigham said. “‘Make the switch’ is Iola’s motto. We started with 5,000 CFL bulbs to trade for incandescent bulbs. We won’t run out; more have been ordered.”
Those attending the Chamber meeting each was given an CFL bulb. People who get bulbs are urged to register their participation on the easily negotiable Take Charge Challenge website, takechargekansas.org, so Iola gets credit in the challenge.
FRED HEISMEYER lauded the successes of the Allen County Together leadership program.
He recognized steering committee members: Jana Taylor, Chamber executive director; Ashley Croisant, an academic adviser at ACCC; Jody Grover, Iola High School counselor; David Toland, executive director of Thrive Allen County; and Jon Marshall, vice president for academic affairs at ACCC. He also announced a new member, Jason Kegler, director of student life at ACCC.
Marshall then said members of the first ACT class provided an expanded leadership base in Allen County of individuals who were educated in public and private enterprises, equipped with lifetime leadership skills and had had experiences that would benefit the county.
Members of the first class were Heather Curry, Citizens State Bank; Jessica Peters, ACCC; Dan Willis, Gates Corporation; Kathryn Gant, Allen County Hospital; Jim Huskey, a citizen; Katy Donovan, Community National Bank; Cody Hager, Iola High instructor; Ruth St. Clair, Thrive Allen County; Chase Vaughn, an USD 257 and ACCC student; and Kris Weide, Emprise Bank.
Another class will start soon.
TAYLOR opened the annual meeting by noting that the Chamber had 175 members and during 2010 hosted 5,000 visitors at its office, 208 W. Madison Ave. She said 500 people requested informational packets about Iola, either in person or otherwise.
Among highlights of the year, Taylor said, were the expanded leadership program, pending expansion of the Allen County Young Professionals organization and many workshops and tourism activities that in one way or another have helped boost Iola and all of Allen County.
