ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Temperatures may suggest otherwise, but autumn is here. The season typically brings to mind thoughts of falling leaves of a variety of colors, as well as pumpkins and cool crisp air.
For many years, Liberal’s Friends Church has celebrated fall with its annual Pumpkin Festival in late October, and the event is back for this year on Sunday, Oct. 26.
Organizer Jamie Cook said from 2 to 4 p.m. that day, the Friends Family Center will be filled with cookies as local bakers participate in a cookie contest.
“We’re going to have two dozen decorated cookies in a decorated basket,” she said. “You’ll be judged on presentation and taste.”
Baskets will later be auctioned off to raise money for Liberal’s Stepping Stone Shelter. Cook said a dessert and coffee bar, along with entertainment from the Liberal High School Jazzmen and music students from Seward County Community College will be part of the fun too.
SSS Interim Director Ty Lewick and others will also be on hand to update people on what is happening at the shelter.
Cook said the event promises to be fun, but she did emphasize it is not a church event.
“It’s an event for the community,” she said. “We want to welcome the community to come and join in, bring all their cookie entries. A lot of people think it’s just a church event. We’re trying to get the message out that we want the whole community to participate.”
Cook likewise emphasized Friends Church does not keep any of the money raised, as it is all given to Stepping Stone.
SSS Board Member Robin Harper said the Pumpkin Festival fits into everything that makes autumn great.
“It’s a lot of variety, and everyone seems to be ready for the fall tastes – the apple dishes, the pumpkin dishes, the heavier dishes than you get during the summer,” she said. “In summer, you do ice cream and cookies.”
With the Pumpkin Festival scheduled just less than a week before Halloween, Cook said the event provides the perfect time for people to buy cookies centered on the holiday.
“A lot of times, we’ll have Halloween-themed or fall-themed cookies,” she said. “It’s nice to carry it over to that also.”
Harper said in recent years, the Pumpkin Festival’s dessert bar has extended its line of cakes, pies, cheesecakes, cupcakes and even chocolate.
Harper said Stepping Stone officials have started renovations, but with funding that was supposed to be in place running late, those upgrades were held off until last week.
“They’ve already replaced some of the windows upstairs to double-pane, weatherproof,” she said.
Though the shelter is temporarily closed, Harper said Stepping Stone officials are still fundraising for operating funds.
“We still have to insure and pay utilities and staff,” she said.
Harper said during the temporary closure, a commercial kitchen is being installed at the shelter.
“We’re expanding our kitchen into a commercial kitchen, and we’re doubling the size of our dining room,” she said. “We’re also putting at least two more rooms on the main floor for those who can’t go up and down stairs. We only had one room, and we were always full in that one room. We’re expanding that on the main floor, and we’re putting a laundry room for them on the main floor.”
To make Stepping Stone more cost-effective, Harper said insulation is being increased, and duct work is being done for the shelter’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning units to make them cool and heat better.
“We’re removing carpet and putting in floors we can clean and sterilize,” she said. “The carpet in the hallways, the dining room and bedrooms has just not worked in the two years. It’s hard to clean. It’s a neverending battle.”
Stepping Stone likewise has two employees currently on its payroll through the remodel, and Harper estimated it takes between $15,000 and $20,000 a month to keep an around-the-clock shelter and food kitchen going.
“That’s $180,000 to $240,000 a year,” she said.
Harper said grants do not pay for operating costs, and SSS has not received an Emergency Solutions Grant from the federal government for a few years.
Stepping Stone Shelter, however, was the only Kansas shelter west of Wichita to receive grant funding for a remodel.
“Many people told us we would not be able to get it, and I’m thankful we did,” Harper said. “It wasn’t as much as we asked for. We were hoping to renovate both the south and the north side, but it was just the south side we could do at this time.”
Harper said once the remodel is complete, a telehealth room will be opened to the community.
“We’ve already gotten that through a grant,” she said. “We decided not to push it forward until we had done the remodel. We got some money from the county just to fight opioid addiction. I believe it was about $15,000 for that. That has been set aside for when we reopen in 2026.”
Despite the temporary closure, Stepping Stone still has operational expenses, and Harper said this is why the funding from the Pumpkin Festival is so important.
“Every year, it always helps the shelter with end of the year operational costs,” she said.
Harper said if anyone has any suggestions or concerns, wants to volunteer or donate or be part of shelter fundraising, they can e-mail
Harper said the recent shutdown of the federal government has not affected the shelter much so far, but she said many other local entities are seeing an impact. She added the shelter works with agencies such as the Liberal Police Department, Seward County Sheriff’s office, the Liberal Ministerial Alliance, transient housing, the City of Liberal’s Treatment Court program, Cimarron Basin Community Corrections and Grace Place Pregnancy Care Center to help house people brought to the shelter.
“We do help when someone has a need,” she said. “If we can open a door or a bedroom, we try to do that. It’s going to be a hard couple months here when we’re closed, but I’m hoping it’ll definitely improve in the new year once we’ve expanded.”
As for a permanent director, Harper said that has been put on hold until the remodel is complete.
“There are a lot of things we decided to table until we’ve got the remodel done,” she said. “We’ve tabled that. We’ll be looking for a director. We’ll have openings for employees again. If anyone is interested in that, they can shoot an e-mail and give some information.”
Harper said the funding from Pumpkin Festival is very helpful for Stepping Stone.
“It helps get us from October through the end of the year,” she said. “A lot of people will start out the beginning of the year with their yearly donations. That gets us off, and sometimes, at the tail end of the year, it’s hard to get those donations in. We’re working on Matching Tuesday, but I don’t know if we have all of that. I think we got a little bit of it last year, but we were hoping to expand this year. The year flew by.”
After two years of waiting, Harper said a commercial kitchen has become an urgent need at the shelter.
“We’ve got to have it,” she said. “We’re expanding the use. We’ve had more people with the soup kitchen. We’ve had the families coming in and eating one to two meals every day. You see that when the economy gets difficult, and I’m hoping we’ll have this in place to meet people’s needs next year.”
For more information about the Pumpkin Festival, visit the Friends Church of Liberal Kansas Facebook page. Harper said pictures and updates of the shelter remodel will be available at the Stepping Stone Shelter, Inc. 300 N. Lincoln Facebook page.
Cook said Liberal’s Baker Arts Center is even getting in on the fun of Pumpkin Festival with a coloring contest, with entries to be judged at the festival.
“They can stop by Baker Arts and pick up a color sheet,” she said.
Cook said she is looking forward to the Oct. 26 Pumpkin Festival.
“It seems like we’ve gotten on top of it a little better this year,” she said. “It’s always a fun event every year. We always enjoy listening to the high school band. There’s lots of good food to eat, lots of good desserts, delicious cookies for people to bid on. The coffee bar and the cake is a free will donation. Even if they can’t afford to buy a cookie basket, they can drop $20 in the donation bucket.”
