By Brenna Eller
LYONS, Kan. — The Rice County Community Foundation celebrated the recipients of the 2024 Community Fund Grant on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
The grant dollars were made possible through Legacy Gifts left by Carl Dudrey and Kenny Knight and according to RCCF Executive Director Joy McBee, they were endowed and invested to ensure continued support to Rice County for generations.
“I love to see the support of the community across the whole county,” Joy McBee said.
McBee is just over her three-month hump as executive director and has found it to be an “exciting adventure” so far. “I am loving every second of it,” she shared.
A total of $242,685 was awarded through the Legacy Gifts to nonprofit programs, municipal projects, educational opportunities, church activities and other visionary programs across all of Rice County at The Big Event.
Val Loesch, President of the Child Advocacy Center of Rice County shared about what the organization does, how it benefits Rice County, what the grant received last year have gone towards and what the organization plans for its future.
Loesch introduced others present with the CAC, including board member Stacey Deutsch, Secretary Mandi Beaver and Treasurer Sonya Tipp.
“A child advocacy center helps children who have experienced any type of abuse in their families,” Loesch said. “It may be sexual abuse, it may be emotional abuse, it could be trauma of any sort, even trafficking.”
Their job is to identify families in Rice County who need help and assist them in any way that they can. They work with children up to the age of 18 and then adults 18 and up, as well as those with developmental disabilities.
Through donations, and grants received last year and this year, the organization is getting an amazing start according to Loesch.
“But when we look at why did we start our CAC, we started seeing, and I’m going to give you some statistics that will probably kind of scare you a little bit, but also hopefully it will enlighten you as to how important this project is to us and how passionate we are about it,” Loesch said.
In August 2023, a board was developed, and the CAC was started. Loesch said although there have been backslides, they never gave up trying and have continued to be passionate about their goal. They are at the point of choosing a candidate for their executive director as well.
Between 2019 and 2022, the Lyons Police Department saw a 44 percent increase in the number of cases related to violent crimes, including children, either as witnesses, as victims or as suspects. There was a 44 percent increase just in those three years.
In the past five years, the Lyons police have experienced a 52 percent increase in violent incident related calls from the four USD 405 buildings. In the City of Lyons, where there’s fewer than 4,000 residents, the town has 29 registered sex offenders within the community. And 37 percent of those were convicted of crimes against minors.
“Our child advocacy experts estimate that two out of three of these incidents actually even go unreported because kids do not feel comfortable coming forward,” Loesch said. “That’s one of the things that we are going to try very hard to combat.”
In her 40 years being in the school system, Loesch said there has been a huge increase in cases.
“It used to be, when I first started, that we might get one to two cases a year that we would have to report,” she said. “And now it’s not uncommon to have one to two cases a month that we have to report for some kind of neglect, abuse, anything like that.”
Currently, their services have to be provided either in the Great Bend area or in the Hays area.
Loesch shared that a five-year old who had expressed he had suffered sexual abuse was taken to Hays to a mobile camper, which Loesch said wasn’t very homelike or inviting and when it got to the forensic interview, the boy was unable to share what happened to him.
“We’re hoping and praying that, between all of us, we will be able to provide that kind of a comfort zone for them to be able to come in and try to help so that they do not have to retell their story multiple, multiple times,” Loesch said. “We’re working diligently to try to try to help that.”
Last year, the Rice County Child Advocacy Center was given a $40,000 grant.
“We’re so humbled by getting that dollar amount too, because that has helped us get started and get to where we are now,” Loesch shared, adding, “And then we got another $10,000 this year to help with some salaries. And we are just, we are blessed. We are so richly blessed.”
The RCCAC was able to rewrite a grant that was originally for an SRO for the district to pay for expensive forensic interview equipment as well as help to pay for a year’s salary for a new Executive Director.
“The next thing, we’re just really going to try to raise additional funds so that we can serve more kids and help more families. The biggest thing that we have is trying to find a permanent house for our organization,” Loesch said. “Right now, the police department has graciously allowed us to join forces out there at the police department, and we are going to try to work out of there, but we’re continually looking for a place to move and really, really call home.”
Because the CAC is a 501 C3, they can go into a residential setting, so if you are interested in renting to the organization, let them know.
Loesch concluded by thanking the RCCF once more, along with the Carl Dudrey and Kenny legacy gifts.
“We have been richly blessed,” she said. “We’ve been through a lot, and we’re coming out on the strong side of it, and we’re so happy about that.”
McBee thanked Loesch for sharing and shared her appreciation for all those who helped with The Big Event and made the night possible, including Brew 56, the staff, Joy’s husband-Jason McBee who MC’d for the evening and Taryn Daniels (Sterling native who took photos of the event).
2024 Grant Awardees
Bushton
Bushton Fire Department: $3,500 towards purchase of a thermal imaging camera
City of Bushton: $1,824 for a city sign on Highway 4.
Bushton Proud: $1,476 for signage for the center of Kansas.
Geneseo
Geneseo Public Library: $1,000 For a new computer.
Geneseo Senior Center: $ 2,500 for a front door replacement.
Raymond
City of Raymond: $2,500 for a fire hydrant project
Raymond Community Development, Inc.: $2,500 for facility bathroom upgrades.
Alden
City of Alden: $2,500 for fire truck and greater building.
Valley Township: $2,500 for concrete.
Sterling
Agewise Living-Sterling Village: $10,000 for delayed egress, magnetic loss.
City of Sterling: $15,000 for 5050 sidewalk program.
Cross Point Church: $2,500 funding for youth activities.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes: $7,750 for the SHS and Sterling college huddles.
The Little Cub Childcare: $10,000 for the addition of school age Classroom.
Sterling Child Care Services, Inc.: $2,050 for program expenses.
Sterling College – Love Sterling: $1,000 for the Sterling community and clean up.
Sterling college – Enrollment Services: $5,000 for the Sterling college visit events.
Sterling Fire Department: $4,350 for wildland fire protection.
Sterling Community Thrift: $3,750 for supporting the community closet.
Sterling Food Bank: $7500 for keeping the doors open.
Sterling Housing Authority: $2,500 for Community Technology Center.
Studio 96: $3,900 for our opportunities at Studio 96.
Little River
Little River Chamber of Commerce: $2,555 for the Bureau.
Little River Fire Department: $7,730 for fire attached hose replacement.
Meow Menders TNR Club: $2,500 for trap neuter and return program.
Chase
Chase Community Food Pantry: $6,650 for food for families.
Chase Fire Department: $3,050 for Rapid Response Command vehicles.
City of Chase: $3,600 for city park improvement.
Lyons
Air Force JROTC: $2,500
Central Elementary School: $420 for Scholastic news program.
City of Lyons: $12,615 for public safety improvement projects.
First Christian Church of Lyons: $2,000 for kids Night Out program.
Goodfellow of Northern Rice County: $15,000 for supporting families with stuff.
LHS Spanish Cultural Exchange Program: $1,000
LHS Mental Health Day: $500
Lyons Booster Club: $2,500
Lyons Chamber of Commerce: $5,000 for a mural celebrating unity and intersection of Latin and American culture.
Lyons First United Methodist Church: $2,500
Lyons High School FFA: $2,000 and alumni giveback project.
Lyons Middle School: $1,000 for Reality U program.
The Lyons Veterans Fund: $10,000
Rice County Alliance Fund: $15,000 for the Gathering Space.
Rice County Child Advocacy Center: $10,000 for startup funding.
Rice County Special Services Cooperatives: $1,000 check for Job elevates.
Rice County Historical Society: $4,000 for enhanced safety for patrons and staff.
RCSSC Books for the Blind: $785 Library books for Children who are blind.
Rotary Club of Lyons: $1,180 for new lighting project at the rotary community building.
USD 405 Athletic Department: $31,000 for a new speaker system at the Lyons Football Field.
USD 405 PRIDE Greenhouse: $1,000 for greenhouse activity.
McBee ended the night by acknowledging the Community Fund Grant Committee, a group of eight people who represent all eight communities in Rice County. They spend a lot of time looking at applications and decide how the dollars will be distributed.
“They put a lot of effort into that process. And then we have a meeting where they all come together and have discussions over how we’re going to fund each of the communities,” McBee said. “And I just wanted to say that being my first year, it was super great to witness that they actually, on multiple occasions, said, ‘What would Kenny Knight want, or what would Carl think of this?’ It was a very cool experience for me.”
The applications doubled this year according to McBee, from 32 to 64 and the committee members went through applications based on a rubric. She hopes the eight members stay on the committee next year.
