Consumers and staff of KETCH performed volunteer “good deed” on behalf of local legislators

From left: Good Deeds Food Drive volunteers and KETCH clients Chris Washington, Daniel Schmidt and Kyle Straub help donate more than 1,300 pounds of food to the Kansas Food Bank. The donation will provide 2,034 meals.

Wichita, Kan. – Staff and consumers of KETCH as well as several other local agencies that serve individuals with disabilities donated 1,354 pounds of food or 2,034 meals to the Kansas Food Bank on behalf of local legislators on April 20. The food drive kicked off a state-wide volunteering effort, titled “166 Good Deeds”. The goal of the “166 Good Deeds” is to perform volunteer activities in communities around the state in the name of legislators as a “thank you” for their hard work.

“Our staff and the people we serve worked incredibly hard for the last two weeks to collect food for the 166 GoodDeeds Food Drive,” said KETCH president Ron Pasmore. “They raided their cupboards for canned goods and even made special trips to the grocery store to insure that the donation was a success.”

“166 Good Deeds” is sponsored by InterHab, a statewide association of disability service providers. The goal of “166 Good Deeds” is that 165 individual volunteer efforts will be performed by persons with developmental disabilities, and staff who work with them, on behalf of each Kansas legislator. The 166th “good deed” will be performed in Topeka on April 27th when InterHab hosts its annual “Push Day” on the south steps of the State Capitol in Topeka. The event annually draws 600 to 800 persons with developmental disabilities and professionals who work in the disability service field. This year’s event in Topeka will feature a volunteer activity on the Statehouse grounds that will complete the “166 Good Deeds” state-wide volunteer effort.

For more information, contact Sarah Heiskell at 316.383.8889, 316.461.7846 (cell), sheiskell@ketch.org.

KETCH, the Kansas Elks Training Center for the Handicapped, Inc., is the major project of the Kansas Elks Association. KETCH is a not-for-profit organization that provides services to over 1,100 Kansans with disabilities each year.