A Monthly Newsletter for the GBT Communities and Patrons

www.gbta.netHelp Desk: 800.432.7965

St. John OfficePO Box 86 • 602 N US Hwy 281

St. John, KS 67576620.377.5555 • 620.377.5556

Hours:11:00am - 5:00pm

Mon-Fri

Rush Center OfficeP.O. Box 229 • 103 Lincoln

Rush Center, KS 67575800.432.7965 • 785.372.4236

Hours: 8:00am - 5:00pm | Mon-Fri

Ness City Office114 W. Main

Ness City, KS 67560800.966.5186 785.798.3100

Hours:8:00am - 5:00pm

Mon-Fri

Ellis Office101 W. 9th • Ellis, KS 67637

800.966.5183 • 785.726.3200Hours: 8:00am - 5:00pm | Mon-Wed-Fri

Closed for lunch 12:30pm-1:30pm

Larned Office122 W. 5th

Larned, KS 67550800.432.7965 • 620.910.7676

Hours:8:30am - 11:30am &

Noon - 5:00pm Mon-Fri

ConnectionConnectionMay 2019 | Vol. 24, No. 5

March Mania Winners

Follow Us on Social Media

Every year the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) brings over 100 high school students from rural America together for an exciting experience in Washington D.C. This year GBT invited students from our area to apply for this great opportunity. Several applications were submitted, and the lucky two students chosen were Amber Pate, a Junior from Macksville and Bailey Baalmann, a Junior from LaCrosse. These lucky ladies will be heading to Washington in June to experience an inside look at the telecommunications industry, learn more about the legislative and governmental process, experience the nation’s capital, visit historic sites, and develop leadership skills. We are excited to sponsor Amber and Bailey on this amazing opportunity!

Youth Tour Winners Announced

GBT Offices will be closed May 27th

GBT is pleased to announce the winners of the Pick-It March Mania college basketball contest. Out of over 304 participants in the community, Kelsey Pechanec from Otis earned the most points in the contest and was awarded a $100 GBT Bill Credit. Kimberly Borger from Ness City came in second place and received a $50 GBT Bill Credit, and Gary Kohl from Ellis finished in third place and won some Nex-Tech Wireless goodies. We also chose a random winner from all eligible contestants to win a $50 GBT Bill Credit, and that winner was Carol Bartlett from LaCrosse.

Contest participants were invited to pick who they predicted to win the NCAA men’s college basketball championship tournament games, and earned points for each game they picked correctly. The contest was conducted online and sponsored by GBT. The March Mania contest ended April 8th after the Virginia Cavaliers beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders to win the championship game with a score of 85-77. Thank you to everyone that participated as we look forward to playing next year!

ALBERT (620) Peyton Johnson 923-4202

BAZINE (785)Cory Betz 398-2221 Lynda J Smith 398-2112 Dakota Braun 398-2159

BISON (785) Nicholas & Manu Tague 356-2007 Tamiko Schroeder 356-2032

BROWNELL (785) Joey & Tiffany McDonald 481-2206

ELLIS (785)

2

Caleb Lewis 726-2686 William P Ring Sr. 726-2421

LACROSSE (785) Loren & Phyllis Wright 514-5047 Rush County Emergency Preparedness 514-5149 LEWIS (620) Thairapy Salon 324-5145

NESS CITY (785)Ema Almeida 798-2348 L Vogel 798-2065 Tyler Minor 798-2333

RANSOM (785)Reid Kester 731-2305

RUSH CENTER (785) Center Ag And Convenience 372-4955 Kevin Lee Kershner 372-4034

May

Directory Updates

GBT HuntingButterfly Hunting

Judith Werth - LaCrosse

April’s Newsletter had a total of 13 black butterflies! Judith won a $10 bill credit from GBT just for playing!

Count this one too!

It’s time to count... throughout this issue of the Connection there are many Black Graduation Hats. Can you count them? When you find them all, e-mail us by the 10th of the month at marketing@gbtlive.com with the total number of Black Graduation Hats, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a $10 bill credit on your next GBT bill!

3

Happy

Mother’s

Day

SundayMay 12th, 2019

Annual Meeting RecapOn April 1, 2019, our GBT Annual Meeting was held at Western Plains School in Bazine. The meeting started at 7 pm when members heard several reports of the company’s business from 2018. Office Manager Debra Tuzicka gave the financial report, followed by a report from General Manager Beau Rebel. Mr. Rebel discussed several items happening in the industry today and how those will affect GBT and its members. He continued his report with some of the year’s highlights, including the fiber upgrade to the rural Ness City and Ransom exchanges and the new StreamIt TV launch. Mr. Rebel introduced the members of the Board and employees. He recognized the following for years of service: Steve Amerine, 25 years; Annetta Fellhoelter, Debbie Tuzicka, and Eric Wilhelm, 20 years; and Rick Dechant, Aaron Grumbein, and Aaron McGaughey, 15 years. Members of the Junior Board were also recognized: Clay Beutler, Sheridan Ewy, Lane Fischer, Luke Higgason, Cashe McVey, Ashlee Miller, and Landon Reinhardt. A video produced by the 2018 Foundation for Rural Service Youth Tour recipient Cashe McVey was then shown. All attendees received a door prize in addition to several drawings. The grand prize winner of a 48” Samsung Smart Curved TV was Lowell Foos; Desktop PC -Evelyn Beltz; Retirement of $250 Capital Credits - Don & Donna Stejskal; $50 Internet Gift Certificate for 3 Months – Kenneth Baker, Kirk Miller, Wally Thornburg; Firestick and 1 Month Free StreamIt – LoRay George, Bill Price, Lynn Schmidt; $25 Cellular Accessories Gift Certificate and Wireless Charger – Mennonite Church of Ransom; EBill $100 Credit – Martin Brack. The meeting concluded with the announcement that Cinda Flax, James Jecha, and Brian Hammeke were re-elected to another term as trustees. We want to thank everyone who attended the 60th GBT Annual Meeting and helped us celebrate our 66 years in business!

4

Banana Sour Cream Bread

If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share to be featured in an upcoming newsletter, send it to marketing@gbtlive.com.

If you have questions or comments about this newsletter or any of our services,

please email us at marketing@gbtlive.comKelly Baalmann, Editor

Kyle Bahr, Editor

Ingredients:1/4 cup white sugar1 teaspoon ground cinnamon3/4 cup butter3 cups white sugar3 eggs6 very ripe bananas, mashed1 (16 ounce) container sour cream2 teaspoons vanilla extract2 teaspoons ground cinnamon1/2 teaspoon salt3 teaspoons baking soda4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1 C. Chopped Walnuts (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans.Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

KANSASLIFELINEPROGRAM

Save up to$17.02 off yourtelephone bill!You may be eligible to receive up to $17.02 off your monthly local telephone bill through the Lifeline Program.

You are eligible if you receive any of the following:

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, Supplemental Secu-rity Income (SSI), Federal Public Housing Assistance (FHPA), Veterans Pension & Survivors Pension Benefit, Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribally Ad-ministered Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Head Start Tribal Programs (only those meeting its income qualifying standard), the Food Distribution Program on Tribal Lands, or 135% of the federal poverty level*. A consumer must provide THREE CON-SECUTIVE MONTHS of statements as documentation of income, or provide a copy of their tax return for the previous year.

For more information about Kansas Lifeline, call your local telephone company. The number is on your telephone bill or in the front part of the telephone directory.

*2019 Kansas Poverty Level GuidelinesNumber In Household Maximum Annual Income 1 $16,862 2 $22,829 3 $28,796 4 $34,763 5 $40,730 6 $46,697 7 $52,664 8 $58,631

Each additional person in household $ 5,967

The Kansas Lifeline program is 135% of the 2019 federal poverty level.Information prepared by the Kansas Corporation Commission

1-800-662-0027

Toll blocking is available at no charge for low income customers that qualify.If you have any questions regarding this program or you want to apply for low in-come telephone assistance, application forms can be obtained at any GBT office in Rush Center, Ness City, Ellis, Larned or St. John - or on our website at www.gbta.net, under Services > Phone tab.Lifeline is a gov-ernment assistance program, the ser-vice is non-transfer-able, only eligible consumers may enroll in the program, and the program is limited to one discount per household.

Welcome to the GBT TeamGBT has recently welcomed an addition to our Full-Time staff. Kolin Klozenbucher joined our GBT Team as the Operations Specialist at our Rush Center location. Kolin has been a Summer Intern with GBT the last two summers. He is a life long resident of LaCrosse. Kolin graduated from Fort Hays University in 2018 with a Masters in Biology and studied at K-State for a short time after. We are very excited to welcome Kolin to the GBT team!