Youth Crew Christmas Party

Youth Crew is a youth-led task force in Barton County that focuses on community service and substance-use prevention by educating students about local use of alcohol, tobacco, and vaping. The group is made up of students in grades 6-12

**Members of the Youth Crew enjoy games, dancing and food at their Christmas Party;**

**Pilots Amy Ferguson and Vicki Richardson see how many marshmellows they can stack on top of each. They were challenged by Youth Crew members. Pilots help serve the meal and set up for the party.**

Pilots volunteer at Santas Around the Worls to greet visitors to the exhibit. This exhibit is a unique exhibition of 23 individual life size santas representing countries & regions around the world. The santas were handcrafted by local artist Loretta Miller.

**Betty Schneider presents a check from the Pilot Club to Vicki Richardson (left) and Connie Cale (right) to help with the Healthy Families Christmas Party.**

Pilots serve supper to the families at the Healthy Families Christmas Party. Seated: Connie Cale, Santa & Mary Ann June. Standing: Betty Schneider, Linn Hogg, Mary Doherty, Rhonda Knudson and Vicki Richardson.

“Been there, done that.” Amy Ferguson (Pilot member) understands the struggles of turning past “lived experiences” that were less than ideal into something positive. With Rise Up Central Kansas, she is also a liaison to a segment of the community that has often been overlooked. She asked Pilot members to bake 18 dozen cookies, individually bagged and labeled for the Recovery Out Loud event on September 20, 2024.

Pilots donate hygiene products to the Great Bend High School Closet on September. Seated: Marty Aldrich, Rhonda Knudson & Betty Schneider. Standing: Vicki Richardson, Barbara Watson, Daniel Watson & Amanda Staab.

**Diane Call and Rhonda Knudson help gathr supplies for the Sruff Project.**

PILOTS VOLUNTEER TO FILL FOOD BAGS FOR THE ORPHAN GRAIN TRAIN , MARCH 25, 2023

The Orphan Grain Train is a Christian volunteer network that ships donated food, clothing, medical & other needed items to people in 69 different countries including the US. The first Kansas Mercy Meal project was a success. The Orphan Grain Train semi-trailer was filled to capacity when it left the Larned collection center bound for the home base in Norfolk, Nebraska.

Volunteers filled bags with dehydrated soy, chicken base, dehydrated vegetable & rice in a bag, then weighed & sealed the bags for shipment. Our team was called the Crazy Train which incuded Connie Cale, Vicki Richardson, Betty Schneider and Ros Neeland. Ros’s family, including her grand children, husband, daughter & son-in-law completed the team. We filled 16 bags to a box & 14 boxes all total. Each bag feeds 6 people. The goal for the day was 50,000 bags. Nancy Rogers worked all afternoon filling in where there were not enough team member. Celia Well (our newest Pilot) volunteered on another team.

Orphan Grain Train semi-trailer was filled with bags of meals.

Pilots: Betty Schneider, Roz Neeland, Vicki Richardson, Nancy Rogers, & Connie Cale. Celia Wells (not pictured) volunteered at the Orphan Grain Train on another team.

Crazy Train members: (left) Connie Cale, Ros Neeland, (right) Emerson, Oliver, Hillary & Betty Schneider filling food bags.

GREAT BEND PILOTS DONATE $200 TO THE SUMMER READING PROGRAM AT GREAT BEND PUBLIC LIBRARY