CoreFirst Bank & Trust, a member of the Topeka financial community for more than 50 years, was recently nominated and received the 2009 Business Excellence Award from the Kansas Department of Commerce. The Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce and Emporia Main Street nominated CoreFirst for the honor. The entries are judged by region in four different categories.
The award, established by the Department of Commerce, was created to honor and thank Kansas businesses for all that they do to keep the Kansas economy strong. Kansas owned businesses continue to be the foundation of our local economy, community and overall quality of life. During a time when our nation is facing economic challenges, Kansas businesses are more important than any period in recent history.
CoreFirst celebrates a 50-year legacy of tremendous growth with total assets now exceeding $1.2 billion.
“Receiving the Business of Excellence award is a great honor,” said John Fager, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing officer of CoreFirst Bank. “It supports all that we stand for. We remain true to the traditional values on which we were founded; integrity, quality, commitment to community, excellence in service and to make a difference to all we serve.”
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wood Valley and Maximus Team with Shawnee Country Club
Three of Topeka’s premier fitness and social organizations are partnering to expand opportunities for their members.Maximus Fitness & Wellness, Wood Valley Racquet Club & Fitness Center and Shawnee Country Club members will now be able to utilize all three facilities, a creative step to offer more value and entertainment for members.
Maximus and Wood Valley members can attend social events and dine at Shawnee Country Club and, for a discounted membership price, utilize the facility’s “Best of Topeka” private golf course. Shawnee Country Club members will benefit with complete access to Maximus three Topeka locations (including Lawrence and Leavenworth Maximus clubs) and all of Wood Valley’s amenities.Join us for a public reception and ribbon cutting to launch our new partnership!
2 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2009
Shawnee Country Club
913 SE 29th St.-Topeka
“We’re excited about working together to increase opportunities for our members,” said Scott Huston, President/CEO of Maximus. “In this economy, businesses have to be creative in their marketing to stay competitive. I’m impressed that three such premier Topeka businesses found a way to work together and offer worthwhile and healthy services to their members. This new partnership matches Maximus, the fitness club voted “Best of Topeka” three years in a row in 2009 with Shawnee Country Club, the Topeka golf course voted best private golf course in Topeka in “Best of Topeka” in 2009.”
Maximus brings the most state-of-the-art equipment, five locations and over 10,000 members. Wood Valley is the area’s premier indoor and outdoor tennis, swimming and fitness facility; and the Shawnee Country Club features a Donald Ross-designed 18-hole golf course, two driving ranges, a putting green, swimming and casual and fine dining.The ribbon cutting will feature officials from all three clubs, representatives from the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor’s office. We’ll have light snacks and free drawings. It is open to the public.
Maximus and Wood Valley members can attend social events and dine at Shawnee Country Club and, for a discounted membership price, utilize the facility’s “Best of Topeka” private golf course. Shawnee Country Club members will benefit with complete access to Maximus three Topeka locations (including Lawrence and Leavenworth Maximus clubs) and all of Wood Valley’s amenities.Join us for a public reception and ribbon cutting to launch our new partnership!
2 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2009
Shawnee Country Club
913 SE 29th St.-Topeka
“We’re excited about working together to increase opportunities for our members,” said Scott Huston, President/CEO of Maximus. “In this economy, businesses have to be creative in their marketing to stay competitive. I’m impressed that three such premier Topeka businesses found a way to work together and offer worthwhile and healthy services to their members. This new partnership matches Maximus, the fitness club voted “Best of Topeka” three years in a row in 2009 with Shawnee Country Club, the Topeka golf course voted best private golf course in Topeka in “Best of Topeka” in 2009.”
Maximus brings the most state-of-the-art equipment, five locations and over 10,000 members. Wood Valley is the area’s premier indoor and outdoor tennis, swimming and fitness facility; and the Shawnee Country Club features a Donald Ross-designed 18-hole golf course, two driving ranges, a putting green, swimming and casual and fine dining.The ribbon cutting will feature officials from all three clubs, representatives from the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor’s office. We’ll have light snacks and free drawings. It is open to the public.
Library, community partners build Toolkit 4 Life
Whether you are out of work or simply wanting to learn about proven, money-management techniques, nine classes beginning in September will provide you with tools needed to enhance your life.
“It is no secret to all individuals from every walk of life to attain quality in their lives requires knowledge and education so they will be able to succeed and reach their goals,” said Nancy Johnson, Community Resources Council executive director and coordinator of the Toolkit 4 Life series.
Toolkit 4 Life classes are scheduled on the first Wednesday of each month. Topics range from credit cards and payday loans to how to spend leisure time with your family on the cheap. Parents will share their money-saving secrets at the final workshop, Money Strategies that Work, in May.
Housing and Credit Counseling Inc. representatives provide resources for many of the sessions, including “Grow Your Dough” and “Is Debt a 4 Letter Word?”
In December, David Lee King, the library’s digital branch manager and international Web 2.0 speaker, presents a beginner’s class on social networking and how to use social media outlets to market yourself or your business.
“Your customers are already talking about you – about your business, about your products, about you. Do you know what they’re saying, and more importantly, do you know how to join in the conversation?” King said. “This session shows you how to do this, by using social networking tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.”
The Toolkit 4 Life series is the “second semester” follow-up to the popular Financial Guide to Planning and Security.
“We had a number of people ask us if we were going to offer it next year,” Johnson said. “People are struggling out there. They are wondering what’s out there for them.”
Toolkit 4 Life schedule
(All sessions are 7-8:45 pm)
2009
Sept. 2 Stop Squeaking By HCCI
Oct. 7 Grow Your Dough HCCI
Nov. 4 Is Debt a 4 Letter Word HCCI
Dec. 2 Social Networking Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library 2010 Jan. 6 Taxes HCCI/Shawnee County Extension Office Feb. 3 Getting By on a Dime HCCI/TSCPL March 3 Fun 4 Less HCCI/TSCPL April 7 Go Green to Keep Green Topeka Water Dept./Kansas Gas/Westar Energy May 5 Money Strategies that Work HCCI/Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
The library is open from 9am to 9pm Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm Saturday and noon to 9pm Sunday.
“It is no secret to all individuals from every walk of life to attain quality in their lives requires knowledge and education so they will be able to succeed and reach their goals,” said Nancy Johnson, Community Resources Council executive director and coordinator of the Toolkit 4 Life series.
Toolkit 4 Life classes are scheduled on the first Wednesday of each month. Topics range from credit cards and payday loans to how to spend leisure time with your family on the cheap. Parents will share their money-saving secrets at the final workshop, Money Strategies that Work, in May.
Housing and Credit Counseling Inc. representatives provide resources for many of the sessions, including “Grow Your Dough” and “Is Debt a 4 Letter Word?”
In December, David Lee King, the library’s digital branch manager and international Web 2.0 speaker, presents a beginner’s class on social networking and how to use social media outlets to market yourself or your business.
“Your customers are already talking about you – about your business, about your products, about you. Do you know what they’re saying, and more importantly, do you know how to join in the conversation?” King said. “This session shows you how to do this, by using social networking tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.”
The Toolkit 4 Life series is the “second semester” follow-up to the popular Financial Guide to Planning and Security.
“We had a number of people ask us if we were going to offer it next year,” Johnson said. “People are struggling out there. They are wondering what’s out there for them.”
Toolkit 4 Life schedule
(All sessions are 7-8:45 pm)
2009
Sept. 2 Stop Squeaking By HCCI
Oct. 7 Grow Your Dough HCCI
Nov. 4 Is Debt a 4 Letter Word HCCI
Dec. 2 Social Networking Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library 2010 Jan. 6 Taxes HCCI/Shawnee County Extension Office Feb. 3 Getting By on a Dime HCCI/TSCPL March 3 Fun 4 Less HCCI/TSCPL April 7 Go Green to Keep Green Topeka Water Dept./Kansas Gas/Westar Energy May 5 Money Strategies that Work HCCI/Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
The library is open from 9am to 9pm Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm Saturday and noon to 9pm Sunday.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
KU grads spark creativity in young library customers Library to debut kids’ movie
From filmmakers to engineers, professionals of all types often struggle before their creative ideas come to fruition. But for several local children that sense of accomplishment arrives August 30.
Children spent part of their summer becoming mini-moviemakers during Project Littlefoot at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. The children and their families will watch their movies for the first time at 6:30pm, Sunday, Aug. 30 in Marvin Auditorium.
The premiere of “The Sunken City” and “The Green Ball Trilogies” is free and open to the public and will include a short presentation on the story behind Project Littlefoot.
"Working with the library has given us a chance to put all of our design research to use. We hope that our program can serve as a model for a new way of thinking about education,” Meredith Tack, University of Kansas alumna, said. “We are proud of all the hard work the children put into their project, and would love for the community to support these kids by attending the event.”
Tack and two other recent industrial design graduates, Patrick Guy and Carey Spesard, developed Project Littlefoot. Participants, ranging in age from 5 to 8, learned about story development, teamwork and problem solving during the eight-week program. Then, the design grads took the kids’ work and created the two short films.
The library is open from 9am to 9pm Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm Saturday and noon to 9pm Sunday. For information on other movies showing at the library, pick up a copy of connectnow magazine or log on to www.tscpl.org/programs and click the connectnow magazine link.
Children spent part of their summer becoming mini-moviemakers during Project Littlefoot at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. The children and their families will watch their movies for the first time at 6:30pm, Sunday, Aug. 30 in Marvin Auditorium.
The premiere of “The Sunken City” and “The Green Ball Trilogies” is free and open to the public and will include a short presentation on the story behind Project Littlefoot.
"Working with the library has given us a chance to put all of our design research to use. We hope that our program can serve as a model for a new way of thinking about education,” Meredith Tack, University of Kansas alumna, said. “We are proud of all the hard work the children put into their project, and would love for the community to support these kids by attending the event.”
Tack and two other recent industrial design graduates, Patrick Guy and Carey Spesard, developed Project Littlefoot. Participants, ranging in age from 5 to 8, learned about story development, teamwork and problem solving during the eight-week program. Then, the design grads took the kids’ work and created the two short films.
The library is open from 9am to 9pm Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm Saturday and noon to 9pm Sunday. For information on other movies showing at the library, pick up a copy of connectnow magazine or log on to www.tscpl.org/programs and click the connectnow magazine link.
Topeka Among Five Strongest Housing Markets in Median Price Tier
An article appearing in the July 27 issue of The Title Report speaks to Topeka being one of five strongest housing markets for major metro areas among single family residences in the median price tier. The source of the statistic was Vero Real Estate Solutions, and the document was their quarterly annual forecast showing expectations from July through June 30, 2010. The predicted five strongest markets are Lubbock, TX; Oklahoma City, OK; Waco TX; Topeka, KS and Springfield, MO. They project that markets already hit hard will stabilize over the next year.
The central part of the nation has thus far been largely unaffected by the rapid price appreciations that were seen in many other geographic areas. Consequently, this region is moving forward without distress from the depreciation felt elsewhere and is experiencing minor growth. While our year to date sales are behind 2008 year to date we have seen an improvement over the past two months. Other indications of a strong market in Topeka are the days on market which is the same as 2008 and an increase in the average sales price of 3.2%.
There is still time to take advantage of the first-time homebuyers tax credit where qualified buyers can receive up to $8,000 towards the purchase of their home. Interested buyers should contact a local REALTOR® soon as properties must be bought and closed by November 30, 2009.
From the Veros website –(explains briefly how they do their forecasting):
“We’ve been releasing results over the past five years, in both up and down markets,” Darius Bozorgi, president and CEO for Veros explained, “and our models are consistently accurate in both. Our models forecast market swings and changes better than any product on the market.” The forecasts, based upon the VeroFORECAST models, reflect projected market gains and declines for single family residences in most major metropolitan areas and some non-metro areas, reflecting 75 percent of the nation’s population. These forecasts are not based on a single variable. Veros applies more than 50 factors in its analytics to develop these trends, including interest and unemployment rates, inflation, current housing inventory and other economic and geographic factors. This contributes to making VeroFORECAST results the most accurate forecasts in residential real estate markets. The Topeka Area Association of REALTORS® Inc. serves more than 440 members in all phases of the real estate industry.
The central part of the nation has thus far been largely unaffected by the rapid price appreciations that were seen in many other geographic areas. Consequently, this region is moving forward without distress from the depreciation felt elsewhere and is experiencing minor growth. While our year to date sales are behind 2008 year to date we have seen an improvement over the past two months. Other indications of a strong market in Topeka are the days on market which is the same as 2008 and an increase in the average sales price of 3.2%.
There is still time to take advantage of the first-time homebuyers tax credit where qualified buyers can receive up to $8,000 towards the purchase of their home. Interested buyers should contact a local REALTOR® soon as properties must be bought and closed by November 30, 2009.
From the Veros website –(explains briefly how they do their forecasting):
“We’ve been releasing results over the past five years, in both up and down markets,” Darius Bozorgi, president and CEO for Veros explained, “and our models are consistently accurate in both. Our models forecast market swings and changes better than any product on the market.” The forecasts, based upon the VeroFORECAST models, reflect projected market gains and declines for single family residences in most major metropolitan areas and some non-metro areas, reflecting 75 percent of the nation’s population. These forecasts are not based on a single variable. Veros applies more than 50 factors in its analytics to develop these trends, including interest and unemployment rates, inflation, current housing inventory and other economic and geographic factors. This contributes to making VeroFORECAST results the most accurate forecasts in residential real estate markets. The Topeka Area Association of REALTORS® Inc. serves more than 440 members in all phases of the real estate industry.
VisionBank Launches Free Checking Account with Free iTunes
Today, VisionBank launched VisionTunes—the first northeast Kansas free checking account with downloads from iTunes and ATM fee refunds.
VisionTunes is a free checking account with no monthly fees, no minimum balance, refunds on downloads from iTunes and ATM fee refunds when simple criteria are met. VisionTunes was developed by bank technology partner BancVue to support both community financial institutions and account owners. New technologies maximize bank efficiency and reduce operating expenses with a suite of online solutions. Because of the efficiencies, VisionBank can pass along savings in the form of music downloads to the customer.
While anyone can sign up, VisionBank anticipates that this account will be most popular with high school and college students. And to reach them, VisionBank has employed targeted non-traditional and social media tactics that will maximize the visibility to students.
“This product is designed with students in mind. It has such wonderful, widespread appeal,” said Gary Yager, President of VisionBank. “VisionTunes provides a genuine win-win scenario for customers and for the bank. We’re excited to offer this type of online account because we always try to be forward-thinking about banking and what helps our customers. We listen and we bring relevant products that answer their needs.”
VisionTunes offers significant rewards:
• FREE Checking Account with no minimum balance
• 10 iTunes® Downloads when at sign up
• 5 iTunes® Downloads per month
• no monthly fees
VisionTunes requires a few simple actions each cycle:
• Access online banking
• Receive e-Statements
• Make at least 15 debit/check card purchases
iTunes® are reimbursed to the account each month based on a cost of $0.99 per download, excluding taxes. The total number of reimbursed downloads per cycle may vary with applicable taxes.
If the VisionTunes account holder does not meet all the criteria during the cycle, he or she will still enjoy a free checking account with free Internet banking and free online bill pay. There is a $100 minimum balance to open but no minimum to maintain and absolutely no service charge for the VisionTunes account. VisionTunes is for personal checking accounts only.
VisionTunes is a free checking account with no monthly fees, no minimum balance, refunds on downloads from iTunes and ATM fee refunds when simple criteria are met. VisionTunes was developed by bank technology partner BancVue to support both community financial institutions and account owners. New technologies maximize bank efficiency and reduce operating expenses with a suite of online solutions. Because of the efficiencies, VisionBank can pass along savings in the form of music downloads to the customer.
While anyone can sign up, VisionBank anticipates that this account will be most popular with high school and college students. And to reach them, VisionBank has employed targeted non-traditional and social media tactics that will maximize the visibility to students.
“This product is designed with students in mind. It has such wonderful, widespread appeal,” said Gary Yager, President of VisionBank. “VisionTunes provides a genuine win-win scenario for customers and for the bank. We’re excited to offer this type of online account because we always try to be forward-thinking about banking and what helps our customers. We listen and we bring relevant products that answer their needs.”
VisionTunes offers significant rewards:
• FREE Checking Account with no minimum balance
• 10 iTunes® Downloads when at sign up
• 5 iTunes® Downloads per month
• no monthly fees
VisionTunes requires a few simple actions each cycle:
• Access online banking
• Receive e-Statements
• Make at least 15 debit/check card purchases
iTunes® are reimbursed to the account each month based on a cost of $0.99 per download, excluding taxes. The total number of reimbursed downloads per cycle may vary with applicable taxes.
If the VisionTunes account holder does not meet all the criteria during the cycle, he or she will still enjoy a free checking account with free Internet banking and free online bill pay. There is a $100 minimum balance to open but no minimum to maintain and absolutely no service charge for the VisionTunes account. VisionTunes is for personal checking accounts only.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Koker Promoted to Senior Account Manager at MB Piland Fat Free Advertising
Andrea Koker has been named Senior Account Manager at MB Piland Fat Free Advertising™. She will take on additional responsibilities of leadership in servicing some of the agency’s major accounts.
“Andrea’s energy and strategic ideas make her an asset to the client teams she serves,” said Alex Reilly, vice president at MB Piland. “and as a past business owner, she brings an excellent entrepreneurial perspective to clients that they truly appreciate.”
Koker has been with MB Piland Fat Free Advertising™ since 2007. She is also active in the community, having served on the board of American Advertising Federation—Topeka chapter and the Heartland Visioning Task Force. She is currently founding member and vice president of Chords & Oil.
MB Piland Advertising and Marketing, established in 1998, is known for its unique Fat Free™ approach that creates hand selected teams of independent talent specially suited to client needs. The firm has certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise and was named Women-owned Service Business of the Year in 2005 by the State of Kansas. It was also named 2006 Small Business of the Year by the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce.
MB Piland Advertising & Marketing has earned numerous local, regional and national awards for its work. For more information, visit www.mbpiland.com
“Andrea’s energy and strategic ideas make her an asset to the client teams she serves,” said Alex Reilly, vice president at MB Piland. “and as a past business owner, she brings an excellent entrepreneurial perspective to clients that they truly appreciate.”
Koker has been with MB Piland Fat Free Advertising™ since 2007. She is also active in the community, having served on the board of American Advertising Federation—Topeka chapter and the Heartland Visioning Task Force. She is currently founding member and vice president of Chords & Oil.
MB Piland Advertising and Marketing, established in 1998, is known for its unique Fat Free™ approach that creates hand selected teams of independent talent specially suited to client needs. The firm has certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise and was named Women-owned Service Business of the Year in 2005 by the State of Kansas. It was also named 2006 Small Business of the Year by the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce.
MB Piland Advertising & Marketing has earned numerous local, regional and national awards for its work. For more information, visit www.mbpiland.com
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Survey on church and denominationalism in Topeka
Talon Communications Group and Metro Voice are surveying Topekans on their attitudes toward church and denominationalism. Results will be published in the September issue of Metro Voice. To take the short, six-question survey, go here.
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