Skanda Skandaverl, facilities management director at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, recently was named president-elect of Kansas Healthcare Engineer’s Assn.

KHEA has 160 active members, and the group has won the Gold Chapter Award for three-consecutive years from American Society of Hospital Engineers.

Skandaverl will represent Kansas hospitals at the national conference in July in Tampa, Fla.

Skandaverl has been the facilities management director at LMH for 15 years. He also is the president of Kansas City Area Healthcare Engineers.

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Jefri Leonardi, community relations coordinator for the Center for Rehabilitation at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, has been named vice president of the Children’s Mercy Hospital Cancer Center Board. The board raises money for equipment and services to benefit children receiving hematology and oncology services at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Leonardi will serve a one-year term before assuming the board’s presidency.

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Francis Funk, Topeka, will retire Jan. 1 after 33 years of service with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District. He will be honored with an open house reception from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Perry Community Center in Perry.

For the past 17 years, Funk has been the operations project manager at Perry Lake. He began his career with the Corps of Engineers in 1971 and has served as a recreation planner in the Kansas City District office, as chief ranger and park manager at Tuttle Creek Lake and as a project manager at Milford Lake.

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Attorney Bernard Nordling, Lawrence, is the recipient of the James L. Stafford Founder’s Award given by the National Association of Royalty Owners. He was honored for demonstrating dedication, initiative and perseverance on behalf of America’s royalty owners.

Nordling, of counsel with his law firm Kramer, Nordling and Nordling of Hugoton, is serving as the assistant executive secretary of the Southwest Kansas Royalty Owners Assn., a nonprofit corporation organized to protect the rights of landowners in the Hugoton Gas Field. Nordling served as SWKROA executive secretary from 1968 to 1994. Nordling has spent his career representing the interests of landowners.

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Grain sorghum growers in the eastern third of the state, which includes Douglas County, are encouraged to consider serving on the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission.

District 7 commissioner Stanley Schmitz, of Seneca, and District 9 commissioner Dwayne DeTar, of Coffeyville, announced they were retiring.

Growers interested in filing as a candidate to serve on a commodity commission must submit paperwork by Nov. 30. Voter registration is open until Dec. 31. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters in January and will be due March 1, 2004.

Commodity voter registration forms may be obtained from county extension offices, county conservation district offices, the Kansas Department of Agriculture or the grain commodity commission offices. Growers also may register by signing a valid candidate petition form.

For more information, contact the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission at (866) 457-6456.

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Webster’s Inc. is participating in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. As a Toys for Tots drop-off site, Websters encourages area residents to bring new, unwrapped children’s toys to 801 N. Second St. in Lawrence. The toys will be collected until Dec. 17 and then distributed to needy children in Lawrence.

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Scott McMichael has joined Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Lawrence, as community development director. He will be responsible for fund-raising and community education activities enhancing the network of business and philanthropic relationships. He is a Kansas University graduate with more than 15 years of marketing and fund-raising experience.

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Robert Green, an Ottawa attorney, was elected president of the Kansas Association of Hospital Attorneys at the association’s annual meeting Nov. 7 in Wichita. He will serve a one-year term. He will coordinate the Continuing Legal Education efforts of the group.

The association sponsors a legal writing prize for law students at Washburn University and Kansas University.

Green has been the attorney for Ransom Memorial Hospital, Ottawa, since 1995. Before serving as attorney, he served as a member of the board of trustees for about six years.

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The Mail Box, 3115 W. Sixth St., has become a locally- and nationally-designated American Red Cross Disaster Relief retail location. The business can accept cash or credit donations and provide a receipt.

The donations will go to general disaster relief and will be applied to all the needs of the American Red Cross.

The business also has started a recycling program. The business accepts old printer ink cartridges, fax cartridges, copier cartridges and cell phones.

Honors and awards

Sylvia Neis, director of nursing at the Eudora Nursing Center, was honored Nov. 7 at “Nursing: The Heart of Healthcare,” a celebration of the nursing profession at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas University’s school of nursing sponsored the program to recognize the outstanding professional work of registered nurses from Kansas.

Neis also was recognized at the Eudora Nursing Center awards dinner Nov. 14 for 26 years of dedicated service to caring for the elderly.

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Employees at Astaris’ Lawrence facility received international recognition for their contributions to wildlife habitat conservation at the Wildlife Habitat Council’s 15th anniversary symposium. Astaris, a subsidiary of FMC Corp., demonstrates its commitment to environmental stewardship and increasing native biodiversity by achieving habitat recertification at the Lawrence facility.

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The November 2003 issue of Ingram’s magazine named Yulan Studio Inc. to its list of the top area Web site development companies. Yulan Studio, which is based in southern Leavenworth County, ranked No. 25. Yulan Studio is a marketing communications firm co-founded by Lisa Holmes, who has developed multimedia programs and Web sites since 1994, and John Vincent, who has more than 20 years of experience in marketing communications and public relations.

Coming events

The Kansas Women’s Business Center is sponsoring two workshops on Dec. 5 at the center, 8527 Bluejacket St., Lenexa.

The first session, which is from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., is designed to show participants how the center can help entrepreneurs expand their companies, align business goals with personal vision and address strategic planning issues. The cost is $25.

The second session, which is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., is designed to introduce participants to the ideal characteristics of the entrepreneur. Participants will explore personal potential as a future business owner. The cost is $15.

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The Lawrence Professionals in Aging Networking Group will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Eldridge Hotel, 701 Mass. The cost is $10 which includes lunch. For more information, call Kim Hoffman at 842-0656.

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The Haircut, 3727 W. Sixth St., Suite E, is having a cut-a-thon for Toys For Tots. Persons who bring a toy worth at least $10 will receive either a free haircut or a voucher for a free haircut, as well as a raffle ticket for locally donated prizes. The event will be Dec. 6.

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The Lawrence Police Department is presenting a fraud prevention seminar from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the Investigation Training Center, 4820 W. 15th St.

The seminar will cover identifying new U.S. currency, identity theft deterrence and counterfeit document recognition.

For more information, call 331-4427 or 856-4536.