Youth Center for Gardner, Kansas 66030

I am in the Optimist Club of Gardner, Kansas (37-304) and my personal goal as a Charter Director was to bring Slot Cars and a Track to Gardner, KS, my home town. I went as far as getting permission to install a track in 2 locations back in 2007 before making the Journey to Southern Florida to retrieve an 8 Lane Commercial Wooden Race Track; only to find out that the track was actually to large for both the Grocery store and the Church that both agreed to allow me to use their facility.  So I tried to protect it and a winter storm and Spring torrential rains found their way to the track and nearly ruined it.  I gave the track to a couple Businessmen in Gardner and I haven't seen or heard from them or seen the track since.  This next year I will be stepping up to Vice-President and I would certainly like to see my goal of a Youth Center in Gardner become a reality.  My goal to have the Slot Cars is something I seriously think will not only provide entertainment but education as well to the people that get involved.
I am working with my wife, Karen, to find a building and support money for the Youth Center.  We have support from a local Computer store already that also believes in my goal as well as bringing in computers and peripherals into the mix so that children can learn not only how to repair hardware but to use software.  Our goal to bring in a Pool Table and have the Rules taught to play 8 Ball and 9 Ball are only a beginning...same thing for Ping-Pong, and card games that people just don't play that much anymore.  Slot cars building , racing, Trains, setting up equipment, painting, scenery building and techniques, teaching Photography, even Audio and video filming, along with editing which would include posting to KDOI onto You Tube.  Our goals are very high and our intention to get children off the streets and out of their homes and give them something to do is for the greater good of our Community and the Future of our children.
We may have found a building for temporary use; we are working on it right now.  We are trying to find funding and support through Kansas City Based Corporations that give out money for great causes.  For me Slot cars represent not only a beautiful car, but the math behind gearing, motors tire sizes, balance and setup so that the car performs well...too it also is all about History.  The Chapparel, the Corvette, the GT40 era when FORD Built a car to beat the reign of Ferrari Winnings and successfully did so.  The cars of tyhe past and present are very important nda all of them represent a year and significant history not just about the car and Driver but what was going on in the world at that time in history.  Okay, perhaps a little dramatic for a plastic car with a controller and driving around a track trying to outrun the rest of the field of cars....still a lot of fun and entertainment as well.  I hope to get back to this blog in the very near future and correct my spelling and flow of words.
  I get up sometimes in the middle of the morning (2:10 AM) and I feel the desire to write because I need to express myself and I Seriously want to make a difference in my home town.  Our Bowling Alley burnt to the ground over a decade ago.  we have no Youth Center only a "Senior Citizen" Community Center, no movie theater, no skateboard park, no arcade games in town, and the only pool tables that I am aware of are in the bar and grill establishments.  Teenage pregnancy is very high and it is a shame.  I asked the City of Gardner about the Skateboard Park several years ago at a City Hall meeting and their reply was very short and abrupt and about the only thing that remains in my head was something about  the Liability issue.