Northland residents changing lives for better | News – mycouriertribune.com
John Mills
In 2021, hundreds of people throughout the Courier-Tribune’s coverage area made an impact on their local communities. To honor some of those deserving of the spotlight for their efforts, the CT asked locals to nominate the neighbors they felt changed lives and made a positive impact in 2021. The following is a list of these individuals in Kearney, Liberty and Smithville.
Kearney
Lisa Lee
Lisa Lee is a school counselor at Southview Elementary School in the Kearney School District. Before coming north, she taught for six years in Shawnee Mission. She also spent a year teaching in Kearney before taking on the role of elementary school counselor, which she has held for 26 years.
Throughout the years, she strove to learn the entire school population by name and meet kids’ needs as best she can, working with the Kearney Family Foundation to help combat food insecurities around the holidays.
“It’s about helping kids not just through academics, but helping them when they are struggling,” she said. “It might be talking with them and getting them through COVID, friendship conflicts and to feel safe. I have always wanted kids to be at school, wanting to learn, while feeling the love and care of the teachers and staff. I help greet car riders and when (students) leave. I always ask them about what made the day good. That’s critical.”
Lee said getting to know students and their families and being part of their lives is important.
“I have always wanted to be a positive role model,” she said. “In schools, we make an impact; it may be subtle in some ways for those who struggle and may not have a positive role model. It’s my last year as I am retiring, but I love doing my job and it’s hard to leave. Making an impact is about finding a job to love.”
Kim Thorne
Kim Thorne, founder of Kearney Family Foundation and co-founder of Fulfillment House with her husband Steve, enjoys volunteerism. The family foundation provides Christmas gifts, hygiene items and food to struggle families around the holidays. Fulfillment House provides meaningful employment to those with disabilities.
“I ran the foundation for 17 years, but have stepped away for family,” she explained. “I truly believe a lot of people will give of their time and resources. The opportunities in a small town unify people in service and really go beyond ethnicity or religion. We become one in purpose. It was fun for me, working hard to help others. It creates unity.”
Thorne said she is moved and humbled by people’s generosity.
“We help families anonymously through the foundation,” she said. “It’s fun to listen to those who make purchases for the families they help. … They get into the spirit of it. When we started doing this, we heard there was no need in Kearney. I have learned a lot doing this and from the people who help. I’m humbled to be thought of in such a way.”
Kathy Meinert
Kathy Meinert manages the Kearney Senior Center, making sure those who come three days a week find fellowship and food. She is also the coordinator for Meals on Wheels, directing three routes and the drivers.
“Senior housing has been built by us so we make sure they are seated as well,” she said. “I make sure the center is decorated for the month or holidays. I have volunteers who work hard, too.”
Meinert, who is a retired school teacher, said she enjoys her niche job. Her husband first did the role and then his health changed. Meinert said the senior center is an ideal place for him to go, too.
“As a teacher, you always want to do more,” she explained. “Being here is similar. I want others to find their place here. I love doing it. My dad was a generous person and I was taught it’s better to give than receive.”
Shaney Othic
For Shaney Othic, executive director of Northland Therapeutic Riding Center in Holt, volunteering is critical. She started as a volunteer at the riding center about six and half years ago. The center provides equine therapy to adults and children with disabilities.
Growing up with horses, Othic said she understands the power and the restorative nature of the animals.
“I worked in social work and I love working with kids,” she said.
Othic also helped with fundraisers and other special events at the center, and two years ago, took over the lead role.
“I quit my full-time job eventually,” she said. “Now I get to see how the old adage about how the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man. I have seen kids speak for the first time ever and they are talking to the horse. Horses are very intuitive. For the riders with challenges, horses offer confidence, bonding and independence for an hour or so.”
Currently, NTRC helps 85 riders weekly.
“My passion for this keeps growing,” Othic said. “I was definitely meant to find this place and this job. Being thought of highly means a lot to me.”
Smithville
Eric Craig
Eric Craig Real Estate owner Eric Craig likes to share appreciation for any impact he makes with those on his team.
“It’s not just me because my team is a big part of that,” he said. “I am blessed to be surrounded by like-minded individuals. … I am committed to the community personally and professionally.”
Craig, who was nominated for recognition by many in Smithville thanks to his efforts to bring family movie nights and FestiVille to the city, said he also tries to support school athletics and academics, including putting on a Smithville Warriors watch party when the football team went to state.
He said he likes to focus on the kids in the community as well as supporting other businesses and community outreach efforts such as the First Christian Church food pantry.
“I’m hoping to bring a big headliner in for FestiVille,” he said of the annual musical festival. “I like to showcase our community. Our town square is awesome and I have some developments going on downtown.”
Charlene Bruce
Charlene Bruce wears her community hat in Smithville and her nurse’s hat at North Kansas City Hospital. Six years ago, she came up with the idea for the Smithville Christmas lighted parade.
“I want to help create good memories for kids,” she explained. “I have lived in Smithville my whole life and know that people want to add to those positive memories. It’s a parade that has grown each year. People seem to like it and come back year after year.”
Bruce is also on the Smithville festival committee, the ambulance board and is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary.
“I believe in giving back,” she said. “I really want to encourage more people to get involved. It’s a good way to get to meet new people.”
Angela and Johnny Viebrock
Angela and Johnny Viebrock helped create Larson’s Cruise for a Cause and both are active in agriculture, music and education in Smithville. Larson’s is an annual car show that raises funds for Smithville children dealing with medical issues.
“It’s roughly once a month that we make a donation to help a child and a family,” Johnny said.
Angela is also the middle school choir director and teaches speech and drama. She has directed school plays and helped with community service days for seventh and eighth-graders while Johnny teaches agricultural science at the high school and serves as Future Farmers of America advisor. Through FFA, Johnny has students work on community service projects that include food drives that aid Smithville Christian Church’s food pantry and Harvesters — The Community Food Network.
Angela also serves as the Lion’s Club representative for the city farmer and makers market and Hot Summer Nights, the summer concert series. Johnny is also a Boy Scout leader through the First Christian Church in Smithville and a youth leader at the church. Both are also elders at the church. Johnny is also the area Farm Bureau president while Angela serves on the board.
“We also raise produce and have chickens,” she said. “If we have extra eggs and produce, it goes to the housing authority.”
Johnny said he was raised by a single mother who worked two to three jobs but still needed help so he knows what it is like to be in need. The experience is part of why he gives back.
“We were on the receiving end so when I was able to, I knew I wanted to give back,” he said. “You never know when someone needs a hand. I can think a lot of people in Smithville who make a difference so it’s nice to be considered one of them.”
Angela said the couple works to instill in their own sons to bed down to help others up.
Gini Fite
Gini Fite works as Smithville High School’s athletic trainer. She is also currently president of the Smithville Community in Action group, which puts on kid-friendly events downtown.
“I have been a trainer since 2002 and I worked in various settings, but never wanted to work at high school,” she said, chuckling. “Then in 2011, I came to fill in and here I am. I found a calling. Being at Smithville is a being part of a family-oriented community.”
The CIA came about when Fite started listening to students. Fite, who grew up in Brookfield, Missouri, said she understands the needs of a smaller community, which is why she chose to stay in Smithville a decade later.
“It ties into helping kids’ mental health and getting them away from substance abuse,” she said. “What drives me is helping them find coping mechanisms and getting the education, rather than being chastised. With the CIA, we partner with other organizations like the Main Street Association and Smithville Parks for movie nights and the 5th Quarters, which gives kids something else to do.”
Barbara Lamb
Barbara Lamb and her daughter Allison are active in the Smithville Legion Auxiliary and with local veterans causes. Barb runs the Wreaths Across America group in Smithville and catalogs all of the vets in the cemeteries in Smithville. Her other roles include serving as president of the Smithville Memorial Cemetery nonprofit board, treasurer of the Smithville American Legion Auxiliary and secretary of the Smithville Lake Festival committee.
After retiring from working for the federal government years ago, Lamb, a longtime city resident, said she focuses on helping others because, “I like it.”
“I like doing it. I would lead a boring life otherwise.” When she’s not volunteering her time to make her neighbors and veterans’ lives better, Lamb said she is lovingly “chasing around three grandkids.”
Liberty
Jodi Capps
Jodi Capps has been quietly devoted to the Liberty Parks and Recreation department off and on since 1990.
During the development of the Liberty Community Center in 1990, Capps was instrumental in the $700,000 fundraising effort to expand the planned 400-seat auditorium to a 700-seat performing arts theater. Six years later, Capps was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Board, which serves as an advisory committee to staff, and served in that role through 2002.
In 2015, she stepped up when asked to serve on the Liberty Parks and Rec Foundation Board, established in 2006 to create a parks expansion fund for neighborhood parks, green space and to provide financial assistance aiding low-income youth and families in gaining access to programs through scholarship assistance.
“It’s a blessing to work with the parks department,” she said. “We level the playing field for those who want to play sports due to the scholarships. The kids make friends, learn teamwork, good sportsmanship and learn a sport that may become a lifelong activity for them. There are benefits to green spaces and kids. Being honored like this means others see what I am doing for our kids.”
The 2021 annual campaign has raised $82,951, which will be used to support the scholarship fund to help pay for fees for those who cannot afford them, install shade structures at the baseball and softball fields in Capitol Federal Sports Complex of Liberty and add a multiuse trail in Ruth Moore Park.
John Mills
Fire Chief John Mills has been chief for two years. In late January and early February of this year, Mills joined other leaders from Liberty and North Kansas City hospitals, Clay County Public Health, Cerner, William Jewell College and the cities of Liberty, Gladstone, Smithville, Kearney, North Kansas City and Excelsior Springs to provide eligible locals a COVID-19 vaccine.
Mills served as incident commander for the Operation Safe mass vaccine site at Cerner and as emergency manager for the city. He is also director of Region A for the Missouri Fire Chiefs Association.
“I would say that 100% going into this line of work you are there to help others,” he said. “Being part of the coalition really proved that private and public sectors can come together for the best of the county.”
Beth Farr
Beth Farr and Karen Rogers started a Facebook group called Liberty Parents for Liberty Public Schools in late August of this year. The effort began for Farr when the world of virtual learning started in 2020 and Farr started looking for like-minded parents who are supportive of schools’ COVID-19 policies.
“The Facebook community pulled in families and students who wanted to safely have things like movie nights outdoors,” she said. “We had teachers and parents from every school. I ended up thanking the central office. That’s what we are still about with the pages, realizing there are different ways to give back. We have been speaking out about supporting masks and vaccines, but it’s also about not feeling alone. There’s a huge community of like-minded people.”
While the group has spoken in favor of retaining mask wearing, the group also wants to lean in and add to the Liberty school district support system.
“Teachers and school staffs are going above and beyond for our kids,” she said. “We are trying to focus on the positive. At the end of the day, it’s about our kids thriving at school and the schools being successful. We are looking at the well-being of the staff such as thank-you notes for district staff members. The kindness program will be more important as we continue to lift people up.”
Shelton Ponder
and Harold Phillips
Longtime Liberty resident Shelton Ponder and Liberty Councilman Harold Phillips are leading the charge in local diversity efforts in Liberty as co-chairs of the Liberty African American Legacy Memorial. The Legacy Memorial is a project in a local cemetery that will feature a granite structure listing the names of more than 750 Black men and women buried mostly in unmarked graves in the potter’s field in Fairview Cemetery in Liberty.
The memorial will include five story panels and 15 granite boulders along a walkway contained within an abandoned roadway. The unveiling will be Juneteenth 2022.
“We have the best people from different backgrounds and different expertise,” Ponder said. “Then there has been the community support either financially or through words of support. Those who have given a few dollars to thousands, we are grateful.”
Ponder said his position in the community obligates him to do something.
“This has been one of the most important things I have done,” he said of the memorial effort. “I was supposed to do this as my family’s history stretches back to around the founding of the city and the county. Being in the mix of this company means we are doing the right things.”
Phillips said the project has been one that is unifying.
“Everybody we have talked to has asked how we can help,” he said. “It’s all working together to celebrate within the bicentennial year of the county and the city. My deepest love is history and I have been part of the Martin Luther King celebration committee for a long time. It’s been a very selfless organization that has brought people together while doing something good for the larger community.”
