Each Friday, The Gazette salutes those who make Emporia and the surrounding area a better place to live and work. Give these folks a pat on the back ...
ANGIE CLOPTON and the Christian Missions Ministries for establishing the Prom Closet, where teens with a yen for formal fun but a shortage of cash can outfit themselves for formal dances.
• While we’re on the subject of the Prom Closet, a special pat on the back for all those people who responded with clothing donations. The response was so good, Clopton said, that now the ministry has opened a new sideline in helping outfit women who are entering the work force.
• Magistrate judge candidates Douglas Jones, Laura Lee Miser, Julie Whitney, William North and Gerald Ingalls. The five have put themselves forth to serve the people of Lyon and Chase counties. Only one will be selected next month, but all deserve a pat on the back.
• The David Traylor Zoo of Emporia, which helped put the community in a Christmas mood Tuesday with the annual lighting of the zoo’s holiday lights. The display, as always, is beautiful and makes the pretty little zoo look like a fairyland.
• The members of the Olpe High School Eagles football team, who will play this weekend for the state championship.
• A somewhat tardy happy birthday to Catherine Carter, who turned 109 on Saturday.
• Keaton George, the 8-year-old who asked the guests at his birthday party to bring toys for Operation Christmas Child, rather than gifts for him. Keaton, his family and friends managed to fill 12 shoeboxes with gifts for children overseas.
• The students in Rita Bluma’s sixth-grade class at Sacred Heart Catholic School, who are collecting items for gift packages to send to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• The folks at Messiah Lutheran Church for once again conducting the Harvest Home Festival to raise money for good works.
• The Emporia State University men’s basketball team, which made it past Newman over the weekend on good free-throw shooting. Slam dunks may be pretty, but the basics win the games.
• The Emporia Community Foundation, whose grants continue to benefit Emporia and, especially, the city’s children.
• And, as every Thanksgiving, the congregation at Emporia Church of Christ. Once again, they spent countless hours shopping, cooking, serving and delivering to make sure everybody in Emporia who wanted one could have a good, homemade Thanksgiving dinner. The church’s holiday ministry is a gift to the whole community.