Thrive! begins every Tuesday night with a meal. If you regularly eat meals with your family or friends, you know how important that time is to build relationships and make connections. The same is true of our Thrive! family. 

Several groups support Thrive! by regularly contributing cooked meals or by providing donations for meals and bringing dessert. We are looking for more church groups, service groups, or businesses to invest in our community by providing meals, particularly on some second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Organizations or groups are welcome to sign up for a one-time effort or for a monthly commitment. 

We hope you will join our Thrive! family. Part of providing the meal is helping with setup, serving, and cleanup, so you will get to know our families and volunteers. We know you'll love seeing their smiling faces! 

Susan Wendland welcomes your questions at youth.thriveflinthills@gmail.com or 785-293-2355. 

Seventy bicyclists joined us on Saturday, August 25 for the first Thrive! in the Heat ride. Riders had a choice of a metric century (100 km or 62 miles) or a fun ride (up to 35 miles) through the beautiful Flint Hills. Riders were treated to homemade goodies from Aimee’s Kitchen at each of five stops (or SAGs, to use bicycle terminology — SAG stands for support and gear). Aimee is one of our Thrive! Leaders who is starting a home bakery business — riders raved about her treats!  (You can find Aimee’s Kitchen on Facebook!).  

Many riders asked if we will be hosting this ride next year and vowed to bring friends with them. We are hoping for 100 riders in 2019. We were pleased with the number of families riding the fun ride, a great opportunity for parents and children to enjoy time together.  

Special thanks to Dave Colburn from The Pathfinder for his help in organizing the event and marking the route and our Youth and Development Coordinator Susan Wendland for her organization of the volunteers and food. We had many volunteers driving the route, sitting at SAG stops, and helping the start and finish at Long’s Park. Thanks to Maryanne Pittman, Ron Wendland, Nicholle Schiebe, Keith Schnug, Thomas Booth, Debbie and Demetre Evangelidis, Tara Roberts, Paige Roatch, Tanya Baruth, Steve and Elaine Johannes, Tana Wagner, Natasha and Amissa Self, Karla Hagemeister, Milo Kelley, Sarah Hancock, Brian Hardeman, and Richard Baker for volunteering!  

We deeply appreciate our sponsors:

• CivicPlus
• Briggs Auto.com
• Bayer Construction
• Central National Bank
• Coldwell Banker Real Estate Advisors
• Dannenberg Jewelers
• Larry and Ellen Brockson

Thank you to the following businesses for donating food:

• Eastside and Westside Markets
• Little Caesar's Pizza
• Mr. Goodcents
• Olive Garden
• Panera

We made more than $3,000 for Thrive! We can't wait to do it again next year!