A little history

Pride started by John Goyette about 1992, under the auspices of the State of Kansas.

Operate under by-laws, elected officers, and this mission statement:

The Park City Pride Committee, Inc. is a volunteer organization endorsed by the City of Park City and the Department of Commerce, State of Kansas. Its goals are to provide the Pride members the forum to identify city wide projects that the group can work on that will benefit the entire community.

Kansas PRIDE is a joint state wide project of:K-State Research and ExtensionKansas Department of Commerce

Cities of under 15,000 populationPark City is one of the largest, along withFort Scott, Haysville and Lansing

Who are we?

Mayors, Council Members, Teachers, Executives, Aircraft Workers, Homemakers, Accountants, Engineers, County Employees, Social Workers….

We are your neighbors

•PRIDE has BEAUTIFIED the City by:•Planting and watering 150 trees along Hydraulic and in the parks•Providing City seal signs•Judging and awarding Yard of the Month•Judging and awarding Light Up Park City for Christmas•Painting roller hockey rink, planting shrubs through partnership with United Way and Wichita State University Latter Day Saints

PRIDE has helped KIDS/FAMILIES through:

•Holding Christmas parties for kids•Providing Thanksgiving food and vouchers•Stuff the Bus every December for abused women and children•Stuff the School Bus to provide supplies for Chisholm Trail Elementary

•Operating a Tutoring Program that achieved Center of Excellence in Math the second year with 75 children in tutoring•Easter Egg Hunts (with mixed results)•Halloween in the Park•Kids Voting USA 2002•GED Classes•Fishing Derby•Street Dances

Park City PRIDE Food Pantry•Jardines ran small emergency PRIDE food pantry•In 2003, Scott and Kris Lewis expanded•Food Pantry has two sheds, $1,000 worth of shelving, three freezers (thanks to Chamber of Commerce and Food Bank) •Distribution on fourth Friday of month, serving 15-25 families•Guidelines match those for government commodities plus must be Park City residents•Christmas boxes contain food, vouchers for perishables, toys for kids – Thanksgiving also•Donations from postal workers, Boy Scouts, public•Purchases from Kansas Food Bank

Kathleen Woodard Skate ParkKathleen saw the problem: kids on skateboards in the streetsPRIDE adopted the skate park as a projectPRIDE volunteers provided over 1200 man-hours at the poker tournament at the Kansas Coliseum to raise $25,000PRIDE skate park cash contributions total $35,000

Finally, it’s finished!

•Started the Park City Post, hanging 2,200 papers on every door in Park City for the first 18 months•Started Park City Alive! Humanities series with the Kansas Humanities Council, now in its 9th year•Put on a Surviving Hard Times seminar•Provided computers to library through Greyhound Park Charities grant

Starting the Park City Public Library Accumulated books in Oldhams’ basement Engineered referendum election which lost Started lending library in Pride Community Building with

Donated booksShelves (dirty ones) from Hutchinson LibraryVolunteer staffing

Walked streets with referendum petition, knocking on the door of every registered voter in Park City to get 3 mil levy passed 2 to 1

Transferred all Pride Library books, computers, shelves to new library and helped move them

Continue to support the Park City Public Library

PRIDE has provided these SERVICES to the residents of Park City:•Published the Park City Phonebook•Represented Park City at the Kansas Sampler•Promoted Bluegrass Festival and helped with it•Started the Park City Ring of Clowns to provide entertainment for children in hospitals and residents of care homes•Conducted Candidate Forums: ’93,‘97,’99,’01,‘05, ‘07•Salute to Freedom Fourth of July Celebration 2002 – 2008

•Adopt A Soldier/Operation Homefront•City Wide Surveys•Citizenship Awards•Relay for Life, MS Walk•Welcome Bags•Obtained Zip Code recognition for 67219, 67204•Community Visioning 1998•Operate the Pride Community Building – refinished floors, bought furniture, sheds, wipe-off boards – available for use by community groups

Famous Flops

Surviving Hard TimesCommunity StageGrant WriterEaster Egg HuntAttracting Minorities/Youth

All of these projects cost money – here’s where it comes from:Most from ads in the Park City PhonebookParking cars at 81 SpeedwayPoker TournamentHOG RallyGrantsContributions – individuals, local businesses

How does one join PRIDE?Show up! Meetings are the second Saturday of themonth at 9:00 am. We feed you breakfast.Are there any dues?No. Just no.Does everyone have to participate in every

project?Members help with projects they support. This

is avolunteer organization – there are no

requirements.Where do new projects come from?Members or guests bring ideas – then they get

electedto chair that committee. Not always joking!

PRIDE can’t do all this alone. Our partners sometimes help us; sometimes we help them:

Park City Chamber of Commerce, Youth League, Lions Club, Chisholm Trail Seniors, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, TOPS for Teens, The United Way, Chisholm Trail Elementary, Postal Workers, the City of Park City, Park City Public Library, Friends of the Library and others

Awards, HonorsFrom State PRIDE:

Community Achievement Award: ‘92, ‘93, ‘94, ‘95Community of Excellence: ‘01, ‘02, ‘05, ‘07Star Awards: ‘99, ‘01, ‘02, ’05

State PRIDE Board of Directors: Charlie Jardine, Dee Stuart, Scott Lewis,

Good Apple Awards, USD 259: ‘04, ‘09

What’s next for PRIDE?

Working more from a business model – SWOTPlanning session for 2010 resulted in changes: Phonebook, Halloween in the Park may be gone

Working on: public image, new fundraisers, getting kids involved with projects, capitalize on support from county agencies, promote community unity, obtaining grants for projects such as city beautification.

Contact Information:

Pride Building 6512 E Parkview Pride Center phone 744-8685 www.parkcitypride.org