Baldwin City community shows support for Habitat for Humanity home; Eudora racer opens garage in hometown; Easter egg hunts on tap
The response of Baldwin City residents has enabled the first Habitat for Humanity home to be built in the community in a decade.
Bootsie Lauridsen, co-chair of the local effort to build the Habitat house, said more than enough money has been raised to construct the home and volunteers have committed to help on the eight weekends needed to build the 1,250-square-foot house on the northwest corner of 11th and Fremont streets.
Lauridsen and project co-chair Bill Neuenswander successfully raised the $65,000 needed to supplement Lawrence Habit for Humanity’s $20,000 contribution toward the cost of the home’s construction. The effort was made easier by a $45,000 gift from Kay Parkin in honor of her late husband, Larry.
Lauridsen said site preparations would soon start on the lot of the Habitat home and the house’s slab would be poured in April. The home’s future occupants, the family of Josh and Alicia Bayless, will mark the first volunteer workday the morning of May 7 with a ceremonial nail drive, she said. They should drive the nail straight and true, having gained experience through required work on Habitat homes in Lawrence.
If all goes well and the weather cooperates, the home should be completed with the eight scheduled workdays, Lauridsen said.
“They should be able to move in sometime in August, probably about the time school starts,” she said.
On Wednesday, Chase Austin was where he says he belongs: behind the steering wheel of a car. But instead of maneuvering the vehicle around a track at speeds of up to 200 mph, Austin was listening for signs of trouble from its engine. The 26-year-old Austin has traded a racing career that saw him compete on the NASCAR circuit and later in Indianapolis Light races for wrenching on the vehicles of others. He opened Austin’s Auto Service at 411 E. 10th St. in his hometown of Eudora about six months ago.
“It was great racing, and I enjoyed all the things I got to experience and do,” he said.
Austin then added the “but.”
“I was in a pretty bad wreck,” he said of a May 2014 crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “It changed my perspective on racing and life in general.”
Cars have always been his passion, so he opened the garage, Austin said. It’s an all-service garage and can even offer body work at the separate shop of his father, Steve Austin, he said. The shop also has used vehicles for sale.
“Pretty much whatever it is, we can do it,” he said. “We have a reputation of being good and affordable.”
The Eudora Parks and Recreation office will have an event Saturday for those who didn’t exhaust their Irish spirit on St. Patrick’s Day with the “March Madness Leprechaun Dash.” The 5K run/walk will start at 10 a.m. at the Eudora Community Center, 1630 Elm St.
Like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny tends to show up before the big day for community events. Such is the case this weekend in two local communities.
The Midland Railway will have its annual Easter egg hunt at 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Santa Fe Depot, 1515 High St. in Baldwin City. Another hunt is slated 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. March 26 at the depot. Tickets for the event can be purchased online at midlandrailway.org.
The Eudora event will start at 1 p.m. Sunday at Lucy Kaegi Park, 17th and Elm streets, when the Eudora Lions Club will start selling hotdogs at the park’s concession stand and children can get photos taken with the Easter Bunny. Egg hunts will start at 2 p.m. on the ball fields with 7,500 pieces of candy and toys placed on five different hunting areas. Boys and girls will have a chance to win a bike donated by the Kaw Valley Bank.
Baker University’s annual Oxfam Hunger Banquet will be from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Harter Union, 615 Dearborn St., on the Baldwin City campus.