Special to The Hays Daily News

Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas hosted its annual awards luncheon Sept. 23 in Hay. Awards were given throughout the afternoon to staff, persons served and community members.

The first awards of the afternoon were given to employees of DSNWK for their years of service. Those staff, recognized and listed by location, were:

Atwood: Marsha Eastep, Ellen Horinek, Rebecca Lang, Kimberly Leitner, Penny Loker, Tammy Morton, Stephanie Pelkey, Merry Reeh

Hays: Eileen Anderson, Amy Beckman, Rose Ann Billinger, Valarie Corwin, Mary Dreiling, Jeremy Grizzle, Dixon Hannon, Cindy Harwood, BJ Hiser, Patti Hoffman, Marlene Irwin, Tami Jantz, Steve Keil, Jeannie Komarek, Deanna Leiker, Bettie Meade, Devon Meyer, Dan Miller, Johanna Musgrove, Janet Naegele, Ryan Ruth, Wanda Schlegel, LeeAnn Schmidtberger, Barbara Smith, Leah Sneath, Denise Stritt, Mark Tomanek, Patricia Vine, Maria Whitesell, Paul Wildeman.

Hill City: Marilyn Berry, Justin Hrabe.

Norton: Mary Ahlemeyer, Teresa Daniels, Sarah Durham, Deanna Gallentine, Lisa Shearer.

Oakley: Patricia Lysinger, Josie Weis.

Russell: Joletta Cochran, Marsha Niehoff, Dawn Rose, Tess Schmidtberger, Herb Shumaker.

Stockton: Laura Kolb, Chantel Snyder, Mary Wise.

DSNWK gave special recognition to two former staff members who retired in 2009: Elsie Hendrickson and Vicki Runge, both of Hays. Special recognition also was paid to three staff members for their outstanding work with persons with disabilities. Norma Dorzweiler, Karen Edwards and Monica Roe, all of Hays, were presented with employee of the year awards.

Two $100 scholarship awards were presented to Erin Esparza and Kristen Weise of Hays. The awards were given from the Jerelyn Becker Memorial Scholarship Fund for employees studying at Fort Hays State University in a field related to serving people with developmental disabilities.

Several awards were given to individuals served by DSNWK for achievement through employment and independence. Those receiving awards were:

Atwood: Melvin Betzner, Danny Clark, James Goscha, Jayme Sattler, Ginger Reeves.

Hays: Jessica Beilman, Marvin Copp, Don Furrey, Gary Harbers, Cheryl Hartzog, Ryan Hoag, Anita Rogers, Tim Rupp, Raymond Smith, Chuck Stansbury, Rachel Stielow, Scott Wiglesworth, Danielle Wittman.

Hill City: Lynn Dietrich, Brenda Knouf, Val Stradal.

Russell: William Dornon, Wesley Duval.

DSNWK presented two individual achievement awards to individuals served by DSNWK. Jacob Houghton and Craig Lewis of Hays were presented these awards, awarded to one adult and one child who have shown tremendous individual progress.

Several awards were presented to area community members during the afternoon. They were: Hays Airport, who received DSNWK's employer of the year award for its outstanding support of people with disabilities in the workforce. Accepting the award was Brenda Herrman, Hays public works director.

The community support award, which was presented to one business or organization in northwest Kansas that has shown DSNWK outstanding support, was given to the Knights of Columbus. Accepting the award was Scott Maurath, state program director.

DSNWK's good neighbor award was presented to Clarence Bieker, who has shown great support to individuals served in Hoxie.