Foundations such as the Meade County Community Foundation receive much in the way of funding throughout the year, but in the season of giving, Director Cheyenne Federau said she does not see much in the way of donations.
“We get a few little holiday gifts, but we don’t have a lot,” she said. “We have a few monthly donors who come in during the holidays, but we don’t get a lot specifically on the holidays because a lot of people give during our Match Month, which we had in September and October.”
Events such as Match Month are what Federau said feed MCCF’s grant cycles more so than Christmas donations.
Today, Christmas presents are being opened in homes across the country, and locally, the Western Kansas Community Foundation presented an early holiday gift to one Liberal non-profit last Friday.
As part of its Christmas grants program, WKCF leaders presented a check to Liberal Senior Center Director Tanya Rivera for $1,500.
Foundation Program and Marketing Director Stacie Hahn said Christmas grants are a surprise funding opportunity the WKCF board tries to do every year after reviewing grants given out in November as part of the fall grant cycle.
“We try to make it where we can impact at least one organization in all 15 of our counties with some surprise funding as a way to appreciate what they’re doing in the community and also to let them know we’re available should they need additional funding through grants we can partner with them through,” Hahn said.
A Liberal man is dead following a fatality accident Monday morning in eastern Seward County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported shortly after 6 a.m. Monday, a 2017 Chevy Silverado was eastbound on U.S. Highway 54 just east of Road 9.
KHP said the pickup crossed over the fog line onto the eastbound shoulder and collided with an unknown stopped vehicle.
“The stopped vehicle left the collision scene prior to notification of the collision to law enforcement and has not yet been identified,” the agency’s report said.
The driver of the Silverado, 26-year-old Aaron Bradley Patton of Liberal, suffered a fatal injury and was taken to Hornung Family Funeral Home in Liberal. KHP said he was not wearing his seat belt at the time.
Pancake Day 2026 will be here shortly, which means it is time for people to get signed up for the annual races.
Race Coordinator Isabelle Sullenger said there is a lot of excitement for the 2026 festivities.
“Those interested in participating in the 2026 Pancake Day races need to go to pancakeday.net to sign up, and sign-ups will be taking place from Jan. 2 through 16, 2026,” Sullenger said. “For women entering the International Race, they must also get their picture taken at the Heritage Realty office at 2 S. Kansas Ave. We are taking sign-ups for all races and all age groups, and just like every other year, the number of contestants in each race is limited to 15. Also just like every other year, there is no entry fee. The Youth Races are open to children 3 to 18 years old, the Men's Pacer Race is open to all men 18 years old and older, the Last Chance Race is open to women 50 years old and older, and the International Race is open to women 18 years old and older. We also decided the Mother/Daughter Race will now alternate every year with the Last Chance race. We will also have our Mascot Race again this year, and that's been a big hit every year and always makes everyone laugh. The Pancake Chase will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026 in front of the International Pancake Hall of Fame at 318 N. Lincoln Ave. And as many people know, there will be a change to the 2026 International Race – eligibility has been expanded to include individuals who have worked in Liberal for at least three months, and that's consistent with the rules in Olney, England.”
Everyone will be ringing in 2026 next week, and for those planning on attending special celebrations to mark the new year, the Liberal Police Department will be working to help everyone to remain safe.
“We'll be doing the usual DUI enforcement as always – hopefully, with New Year's Eve being on a Wednesday, we won't have too many of those this year, but we will definitely have a couple extra officers out concentrating on just traffic enforcement to keep anything bad from happening,” LPD Capt. Jeff Wade said. “And with it being New Year's Eve, we'll probably have the normal loud music calls and loud party calls and stuff like that, but hopefully no fights anything like that. But once you mix alcohol, and people usually have those, so we'll also be on the lookout and ready to respond to those situations. The most frequent calls we get on New Year’s Eve are for loud music, loud parties and fights. We also usually see some reckless driving, because people are partying, that often mixes with alcohol – we do see the accidents ranging from hit-and-runs, people hitting telephone poles or cars parked in the streets. Those are the things that we see quite a few of on those nights.”
