Four students from Cheylin participated in the Rawlins County Regional Entrepreneurship Fair in Atwood on April 5, 2012. There were a total of 18 projects entered from Rawlins County JH & HS students, and Cheylin HS students.
Cheylin participants included:
Michael Barnett – Hunter’s Hotel
Austin Cobb – Austin’s Landscape Design
Nakita Schneider – Nakita’s Kitchen
Jessie Smith – Papa Charlie’s Cornmeal
The students represented Cheylin well as they placed 1st, 2nd & 3rd at the Regional E-Fair.
Award Winners were:
Jessie Smith, Papa Charlie’s Cornmeal – 1st Place – $1,000
Michael Barnett, Hunter’s Hotel – 2nd Place – $500
Nakita Schneider – 3rd Place – $250
As “Top Entrepreneur”, Jessie Smith also won $500 on behalf of ‘Bison Rx Compounding and Therapy, Inc’ to go to Cheylin Schools, which will be used for entrepreneurial purposes.
A great job by all who participated!!
Bird City Century II Development Foundation hosted the 3rd Annual Cheylin Entrepreneurship Fair
(E-Fair) on March 13, 2012 in the HS gymnasium.
There were 15 participants with a total of 13 projects from students in the 7th – 12th grades.
The 13 entries included:
C.J. Antholz – Antholz Trailer Clean Out
Michael Barnett – Hunter’s Hotel
Bergan Bock & Haleigh Rucker – B & H Candle Making
Heath Churchwell – Wonderful World of Corgi’s
Austin Cobb – Austin’s Landscape Design
Kevin Estrada – Walking the Dog
Thomas Frisbie – Hungry Harvesters
Jorge Gonzalez – Jorge’s Lawn Mowing
Elizabeth Keltz – Elizabeth’s Pigs
Ivan Kemp – Kemp’s Klean Kut Lawn Care
Nakita Schneider – Nakita’s Kitchen
Jessie Smith – Papa Charlie’s Cornmeal
Crystal & Stephanie -
Participants have been working on their projects since January; creating their own ‘businesses’, finalizing business plans, financial projections, marketing plans, and ’designing’ their booth for the judged competition. The Foundation hosted a Kansas Small Business Development Center Business Plan Development Workshop for the participants to give them additional tools to assist them with their projects.
The morning of the E-Fair, the students were judged on their overall business plans, research and marketing strategies. They also had a short five minute interview with the judges. There were some very good projects entered, so the judges had a tough job cut out for them. The following were the top winners:
1st Place – Michael Barnett, Hunter’s Hotel, $500
2nd Place – Jessie Smith, Papa Charlie’s Cornmeal, $300
3rd Place – Ivan Kemp, Kemp’s Klean Kut Lawn Care, $200
This year three additional awards were given from the Bird City E-Community Fund, a fund established as a revolving loan fund for startup or expanding businesses in Bird City. The winners of these awards were:
Elizabeth Keltz, Elizabeth’s Pigs, $100
Nakita Schneider, Nakita’s Kitchen, $100
Heath Churchwell, Wonderful World of Corgi’s, $100
The speaker this year was Kody Krien, a 1992 Cheylin graduate and owner of ‘Krien Pharmacy’ in St. Francis. Kody was very personable with the students, relaying stories of his own trials and successes, and how the positive influence of his family and mentors played a large part in his journey to where he is today.
Cheylin will have four participants competing in the Regional Entrepreneurship Fair in Atwood on
April 5, 2012.
(Cleaning up our website and wanted to transfer a few posts over to the blog that weren’t yet on here.)
Happy Birthday, Bird City, 1885 – 2010
Members of the community worked hard to prepare for Bird City’s 125th Celebration, which took place the weekend of June 11, 12 & 13, 2010.
The events that took place on Friday afternoon included: Golf Tournament, Cajun Boil Dinner (sponsored by Cheylin Spirit Squad), and a street dance.
Saturday, events kicked off early that morning with a Mini-Triathlon, followed by Bed Races, Parade, Sidewalk Art Contest and Car Show downtown. Various vendors were set up through the lunch hour. The afternoon activities included: 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, Horseshoe Tournament, Co-Ed Volleyball Tournament, Turtle Races and Blind Golf Cart Races. Inflatable Bounce ‘Toys’ were available all afternoon for kids of all ages, including: Bungee Basketball, Velcro Wall and a Scooby Doo Bouncer. A historical play, re-enacting the early years of Bird City, was performed in the park.
Later that afternoon, there was a ‘Ping-Pong Ball Drop’ where numbered ping-pongs were raised in the air by a bucket-truck and dropped onto a target below. The ping-pong that landed closest to the bulls-eye was the lucky winner of $200. Drawings were held for a commemorative 125th Rifle and commemorative #125 Belt Buckle. And last, but not least, a Beard Contest was judged, featuring several men who chose to participate in this ‘hairy’ event.
The night ended with a free barbeque, serving approximately 830 people; followed by a dance at the park.
Sunday morning, Pastor Dan Carson led an old-fashioned community church service, complete with a ‘fire and brimstone’ sermon. A potluck dinner followed. It was a great finish to a full weekend!
Special visitor’s who chose to partake in the weekend festivities, were descendents of Benjamin Bird, founder of Bird City. A total of 9 family members, (2 Great-Great-Great Grandsons, 1 Great-Great Granddaughter, 2 Great-Great Nephews, and their families), traveled from Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas to help honor and celebrate our community turning 125 years old!
We are excited to kickoff another successful Entrepreneurship Fair at Cheylin.
This year’s E-Fair will be held on Tuesday, March 13th in the Cheylin High School Gymnasium. Students from Cheylin in grades 7th – 12th are eligible to participate. Entrants create their own business, write a business plan and compile their research, financial data (yearly projections – profit/loss) and create a business booth the day of the E-Fair.
Bird City Century II Development Foundation is once again giving $1,000 total in scholarship awards to the top 3 places ($500, $300, $200).
We continue to communicate and offer assistance to our previous years’ winners to make their projects an actual business opportunity for them. Our hope is to ‘plant a seed’ in the students which will at some point ‘grow’ into the realization that their projects can become reality. We encourage students to go to college and further their education, and remind them that they have the opportunity to come back home when they’re ready to plant their roots.
This year we have a total of 12 entries. We are looking forward to seeing the students’ projects as there are some good business ideas that have been entered.
The following is the schedule for the morning of the E-Fair:
7:30 am Set-up booths
8:15 am Judging begins
9:30 am Classes & Public Tour Booths (9:30-10:25)
10:30 am Speaker & Presentation of Awards
11:15 am Dismiss
Article Re-Print Approved by Ron Wilson, Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
Oh, there’s the doorbell. Here’s your delivery. No, it’s not UPS or the pizza man, it’s groceries. Here are milk, juice, cereal, meat, fruit, and fresh vegetables, all delivered to your door. What a remarkable service, having groceries delivered to your home. Service to customers has been a fundamental part of the success of this home-owned grocery business in a rural community.
Brenda Johnson is owner and manager of Hometown Market in Bird City, Kansas. Hometown Market is one of those surprising stores which has been able to survive, in spite of the many challenges facing rural grocery stores.
Bird City is a rural community of 472 people. That’s rural – but there’s more. Brenda grew up at Hill City. Then Brenda lived at McDonald, where her aunt had a grocery store, and Brenda worked for her there. When her aunt retired, Brenda took over the store.
Then the grocery store in nearby Bird City closed, and Brenda was asked to take it over. The Bird City Century II Development Foundation remodeled the store and Brenda stocked it and opened it as Hometown Market in 2003. It is supplied by Affiliated Foods Midwest.
At a time when many rural grocery stores are struggling and closing their doors, how in the world does a person manage to open and sustain a store in such challenging times?
“They know we’re here for them,” Brenda said, as she greeted customers by name. “Be personal with them.” Over time, the store has diversified and innovated to respond to its customers.
Hometown Market offers a full range of typical grocery products, including meat, dairy, frozen foods, snacks, household needs, health and beauty products, and produce. An in-store meat cutter still cuts and grinds fresh meat products daily.
The store offers other features such as video rental, greeting cards, gifts, and helium balloons for special occasions. There are t-shirts for sale, promoting Bird City and the local school. In the back corner of the store is a cluster of chairs around a table, coffee pot, and a television set.
Hometown Market has now launched a rewards card, through which frequent shoppers can accumulate points toward free items. The store also serves lunches at noon.
Remarkably, this rural grocery store is online. Not only does this site include a video greeting from Brenda, there are links to customer request and customer comment forms, weekly ads, a printable shopping checklist and a link for an online order form.
Online order form? Yes, this innovative store offers a printable store order form on the website. That form has space to list the products that the customer wants to purchase, plus a place to mark whether the customer will be picking up the order at the store or if the order will be delivered to home or to work.
Delivered to home or work? Yes, Hometown Market will deliver the grocery order to the customer’s home or workplace. The printable form includes a place to list item, size, price, and quantity, plus a delivery address. This form can be mailed, faxed, or phoned in to the store.
“We have several customers that we deliver to weekly,” Brenda said. “They just call in a list every week. I bought a golf cart so I can run around town making my deliveries,” she said.
Brenda’s store now places orders for five other stores in the region: One in Nebraska, one in Colorado, two in St. Francis, and one in Brewster, population 280 people. Now, that’s rural. These rural stores can help sustain themselves by placing group orders wholesale.
“When I had the store in McDonald, other stores let me place orders with them, so I’m glad to do this for other stores now,” Brenda said. “I love helping out others.”
There’s the doorbell. Sure enough, it is your grocery order, delivered right to your door. We commend Brenda Johnson and the people of Hometown Market for making a difference by offering this personal service to their customers. Not only is this market in these customers’ hometown, it is virtually at their doorstep.
——— The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves. The Kansas Profile radio series and columns are produced with assistance from the K-State Research and Extension Department of Communications News Unit.
For those living in Bird City, and those who have visited in the past few weeks, have probably noticed things ‘happening’ around town. One of the current projects includes the old Security State Bank building which is undergoing construction. The exterior of the building hasn’t seen much change, however, the interior remodeling is moving right along.
In March 2011, both Bird City Century II Development Foundation and the Bacon Family Foundation, purchased the building. The building has since then been named the “Robertson~Griffin~Bacon Memorial Building”. (The former Security State Bank building was where Edgar Robertson & Rosemary Griffin spent many years working; and E.L. Bacon had purchased the building in 1929, owning it for many years prior to becoming the Security State Bank.)
The building is being remodeled to serve as a business incubator, to offer low rent to business start-ups or expanding businesses. Various office spaces will be available once the construction is complete (applications for interested businesses will be available soon, watch for details).
In July 2011, the Kansas Small Business Development Center Outreach Office relocated their office into the north part of the building. The Bird City Historical Association will also be housed in one of the new offices after completion.
Photos of the remodel:
Updates on progress will continually be posted so keep checking back! 
CONGRATULATIONS to the Cheylin Football and Volleyball players selected to the Western Kansas Liberty League All-League Teams!
Cheylin players selected for the All-League Volleyball Team:
Stephanie Busse, Jr
Shayla Hubbard, So
Dani Passamai, Jr
Cheylin players selected for the All-League Football Team:
OFFENSE
First Team:
Running Back-Jeremiah White, Sr
Tight End/Receiver-Ethan Young, Sr
Second Team:
Center-Noah Jones, Sr
Guard-Joshua Keltz, Jr
Honorable Mention:
Quarterback-Kenan Reeh, Jr
Running Back-Austin Manners, Sr
DEFENSE
First Team:
Defensive Line-Ethan Young, Sr
Defensive Back-Noah Jones, Sr
Honorable Mention:
Defensive Line-Ruben Razo, Jr
Defensive Back-Jeremiah White, Sr
Defensive Back-Austin Manners, Sr
Discussion of building a wellness center in Bird City has been ongoing for the past several months. Through meetings with the Cheylin community, it is agreed that the wellness center project is wanted and members wish to move forward with making plans.
Rod Klepper, board member of Bird City Century II Development Foundation, has been working closely with the school, the community and the Foundation, organizing the essentials to make it a successful community project.
The Cheylin construction and carpentry classes, along with community volunteers will be doing the basic construction. This will provide the Cheylin classes an excellent ‘hands-on’ learning experience, along with keeping the total cost of the project to a minimum.
Current plans show the building to be 40’ wide x 80’ long with 10’ ceilings, frame construction, cement siding and a metal roof. The location of the building will be on the open lot north of the elementary school.
Bird City Century II Development Foundation is granting $20,000 to help with the cost of the Cheylin Wellness Center. The Cheylin Recreation Commission and the Cheylin Schools (Capital Outlay – Building Fund) are both adding an additional $20,000 each. And recently, a grant was received on behalf of the Bacon Family Foundation for $20,000 to help fund this project.
The Cheylin Wellness Center will be designed so citizens of all ages will have access to the facility, and can benefit from the exercise equipment in a clean and friendly environment.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help with this project can contact Rod Klepper
at 734-2003. Monetary donations for this project are being accepted at Bird City Century II Development Foundation , PO Box 593, Bird City, KS 67731. Make checks payable to Cheylin Schools Foundation Fund (memo: Cheylin Wellness Center).
The mission of the KSBDC is to increase economic prosperity in Kansas by helping entrepreneurs and small business owners start and grow their businesses through professional consulting, training and resources.
The Fort Hays State University KSBDC is a REGIONAL resource and support center for the small business person. Any individual interested in starting a small business or existing small business firm may receive assistance from the KSBDC. There are no charges associated with one-on-one consulting.
The KSBDC Outreach Office in Bird City was opened in 2010, with their temporary location being in the upstairs office of Frontier Ag. In July 2011, the Outreach Office moved downtown to their permanent location at 313 South Bird, north portion of the old Security State Bank buildings. The Bird City Outreach Office oversees a 9 county region in Northwest Kansas.
Bird City’s KSBDC Consultant is Megan Horinek. Stop by the office or give her a call at 785-734-2592.
Bird City Century II Development Foundation is searching for a part-time (20-25 hrs/wk)
Program Officer for Community Development.
For a full job description, check out http://www.birdcity.com/foundation.html, review of applications
is ongoing until the position is filled.
