View the impact of our work in 2023.
Click to access 2023-Annual-Impact-Report.pdf
“Dear Supporters and Community Members,
2023 marked Thrive’s Sweet 16, and it was indeed a sweet year full of wins and opportunities we believe will better Allen County for years to come. The most newsworthy accomplishment of the year was the creation of Lehigh Portland State Park. Thrive led the efforts on behalf of Iola Industries, to donate the $2 million property to the state of Kansas to ensure it is preserved and used to its greatest potential for generations to come.
Inviting tourism into our county will bolster our small businesses, while also providing a beautiful space for our entire community to enjoy once the new infrastructure for the park is in place. We are so excited for the future of Lehigh Portland State Park and are eternally grateful for all of you who wrote letters, made phone calls or personally visited with legislators to ensure they supported the legislation creating Kansas’ newest state park.
While Lehigh was the most prominent accomplishment over the past year, the team at Thrive was ardently working to ensure so many additional good things were happening in Allen County. Our transportation program, ART, provided more than 4,500 rides to our residents, covering over 85,000 miles and ensuring they had access to healthcare services, groceries, work and more. Our care coordination program grew statewide and assisted thousands of residents in enrolling in health insurance plans, Medicaid, Medicare, food assistance, utility assistance and so much more. They are truly Thrive’s frontline workers.
We continued to work both locally and statewide on childcare and early childhood development and have proudly worked alongside our childcare centers and educators to address issues in these fields. Our Southeast Kansas Recovery Resources program continued to address stigma related to substance misuse, as well as provide support to families, children and individuals that are impacted through this work. Our Recovery House, located in Iola, opened a year and a half ago, and has been a refuge for individuals seeking a healthy, safe and welcoming environment as they go through active recovery, transitioning back into the community.
Our community conversations continued to inform our work this past year and we look forward to seeing you when we are in your town this year! We challenge everyone to show up like Mildred; in a town of 17, we had 16 people attend to advocate for their community! This year our interns have ensured our Allen County youth are also being heard, holding conversations in the local high schools. We are excited to have our future generations showing up to share their concerns and hopes for our community’s future.
We also continued to focus on housing and workforce development, picking up wins in these areas that we believe will only grow in 2024. This includes the City of Iola annexing additional land with PrairieLand’s expansion on the north side of town, creating an entirely new thriving area for Allen County. There are so many good things to come and we can’t wait to work on all of these opportunities alongside you in 2024!
Thank you for all of the ways you have supported our work over the past year! Your belief in our mission drives us forward and we love being part of such a wonderful community!
Together we thrive!”
– Lisse Regehr, President & CEO