DSNWK Celebrates Success at Awards Luncheon
Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas hosted its annual awards luncheon in Hays on September 23, 2009. Awards were given throughout the afternoon to staff, persons served, and community members. The first awards of the afternoon were given to employees of DSNWK for their years of service. Those staff recognized and listed by location, were:
Atwood: Marsha Eastep, Ellen Horinek, Rebecca Lang, Kimberly Leitner, Penny Loker, Tammy Morton, Stephanie Pelkey, Merry Reeh
Hays: Eileen Anderson, Amy Beckman, Rose Ann Billinger, Valarie Corwin, Mary Dreiling, Jeremy Grizzle, Dixon Hannon, Cindy Harwood, BJ Hiser, Patti Hoffman, Marlene Irwin, Tami Jantz, Steve Keil, Jeannie Komarek, Deanna Leiker, Bettie Meade, Devon Meyer, Dan Miller, Johanna Musgrove, Janet Naegele, Ryan Ruth, Wanda Schlegel, LeeAnn Schmidtberger, Barbara Smith, Leah Sneath, Denise Stritt, Mark Tomanek, Patricia Vine, Maria Whitesell, Paul Wildeman
Hill City: Marilyn Berry, Justin Hrabe
Norton: Mary Ahlemeyer, Teresa Daniels, Sarah Durham, Deanna Gallentine, Lisa Shearer
Oakley: Patricia Lysinger, Josie Weis
Russell: Joletta Cochran, Marsha Niehoff, Dawn Rose, Tess Schmidtberger, Herb Shumaker
Stockton: Laura Kolb, Chantel Snyder, Mary Wise
DSNWK gave special recognition to two former staff members who retired in 2009: Elsie Hendrickson and Vicki Runge, both of Hays. Special recognition was also paid to three staff members for their outstanding work with persons with disabilities. Norma Dorzweiler, Karen Edwards and Monica Roe all of Hays were presented with the Employee of the Year Awards.
Two $100 scholarship awards were presented to Erin Esparza and Kristen Weise of Hays. These awards were given from the Jerelyn Becker Memorial Scholarship Fund for employees studying at Fort Hays State University in a field related to serving people with developmental disabilities.
Several awards were given to individuals served by DSNWK for achievement through employment and independence. Those receiving awards were:
Atwood: Melvin Betzner, Danny Clark, James Goscha, Jayme Sattler, Ginger Reeves
Hays: Jessica Beilman, Marvin Copp, Don Furrey, Gary Harbers, Cheryl Hartzog, Ryan Hoag, Anita Rogers, Tim Rupp, Raymond Smith, Chuck Stansbury, Rachel Stielow, Scott Wiglesworth, Danielle Wittman
Hill City: Lynn Dietrich, Brenda Knouf, Val Stradal
Russell: William Dornon, Wesley Duval
DSNWK presented two Individual Achievement Awards to individuals served by DSNWK. Jacob Houghton and Craig Lewis of Hays were presented these awards which go each year to one adult and one child who have shown tremendous individual progress throughout the year.
Several awards were presented to members of area communities during the afternoon. They were: Hays Airport, who received DSNWK's Employer of the Year Award for their outstanding support of people with disabilities in the workforce. Accepting the award was Brenda Herrman with the City of Hays. The Community Support Award, which was presented to one business or organization in Northwest Kansas who has shown DSNWK outstanding support, was given to The Knights of Columbus. Accepting the award was Scott Maurath, State Program Director. DSNWK's Good Neighbor Award was presented to Clarence Bieker who have shown great natural support to the individuals served in Hoxie.