The Tim Orth Memorial Foundation’s annual basketball jamboree fundraiser is back after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and six local children were selected as this year’s recipients. Top row, from left, are Miko Monroe, 4, of Hutchinson; Amelia Eiden, 1, of Hutchinson; and Aspen Kern, 1, of Hutchinson; bottom row, Evee Buss, 11, of Litchfield; Austin Hobert, 14, of Cokato; and Leland Wojcik, 1, of Silver Lake.
Amelia Eiden
Aspen Kern
Evee Buss
Leland Wojcik
Austin Hobert
After a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24th annual Tim Orth Memorial Foundation Basketball Jamboree is returning to the Glencoe-Silver Lake High School gymnasium, 1825 16th St. E., Glencoe.
The Tim Orth Memorial Foundation assists West Central Minnesota families who have children facing illness or injury. Money is awarded based on need and the availability of funds. It’s named for Tim Orth, a BOLD High School student who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in December 1995.
This year's in-person event is Saturday with basketball games beginning at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $6 for students.
As in years past, local boys and girls senior basketball players will face off in a pair of all-star games with plenty of other entertainment from groups such as the Hutchinson Tigers Special Olympics basketball team, the GSL dance line, Kelly's Dance Academy, Touch of Grace Dance and more.
Attendees can also enjoy raffles, concessions and a silent auction, and as always all proceeds will go to benefit this year's six recipients:
- Evee Buss, 11, the daughter of Stephanie Buss of Litchfield
- Amelia Eiden, 1, the daughter of Rosemary Eiden of Hutchinson
- Austin Hobert, 14, the son of Aaron and Heather Hobert of Cokato
- Aspen Kern, 1, the daughter of Alexis Kern of Hutchinson
- Lelan Wojcik, 1, the son of Rebecca Herrmann and Randy Wojcik
- Miko Monroe, 4, of the son of Brielle Monroe of Hutchinson
Along with all of the entertainment planned for the evening, there will be a special recipient ceremony between the girls and boys games.
For more information, you can call Johnson at 320-587-6733, email him at grjohn@mchsi.com, or visit the foundation's website at timorthfoundation.org.
The Leader reached out to the recipients' families, and two were available to speak to a reporter about their children and experience.
Monroe family bonds with sound
Four-year-old Miko Monroe of Hutchinson shares a special bond with parents Brielle and Kevin.
"He likes music," Brielle said, "sensory stuff."
"The first time I played guitar for him, he started crying," said Kevin.
Miko, who was born prematurely, suffered a traumatic brain injury at six months. He depends upon tube feeding, his vision is impaired, he is nonverbal and needs total care from his parents and others. Both Mom and Dad play for him to deepen their bond and spend time together. Brielle, a fan of dubstep, has even warmed her son up to the music genre.
"He came to a liking for it," she said.
But a good sound cue means even more for Miko.
"He's honestly — I don't know how to describe it — he's an angel. He's the sweetest, most pure kid out there. He's very sweet," Brielle said. "He likes fart noises. It's how we can figure out what he wants — the different fart noises he makes."
Both she and Kevin said they can follow along with what Miko is trying to communicate by listening to verbal flatulence noises he makes, along with other clicks and pops. Such noises, along with music, also help fill what Miko misses in the ability to play.
"It's this little thing he does," Kevin said. "It's easy to tell what he wants now."
They've been working with him on other sensory methods as well. With a rattle they can strap to Miko's hand, he learns that when he moves it makes a noise.
"(We are) having him realize his hand is his, and he can control where it goes and how it moves," Brielle said.
What shape long-term progress will take is at this point unknown, but lifelong care is likely.
"They really don't know," Brielle said. "He was so young when he got hurt."
But Miko's parents can see his progress every step of the way, even if it isn't always obvious from the outside that the 4-year-old is improving. Someone who met him a year ago and met him today may not be able to tell what changed, Brielle said, as Miko isn't developing new skills that are easy to spot. But "when it comes to the way he learns to express his emotions, that's something we understand," Brielle said.
"Every appointment that goes by there is progress," Kevin said. "It's night and day."
For instance, Miko now understands what "thumbs up" means.
Along with the help of doctors, Brielle and Kevin have support from family and educators.
"Both of our families help whenever they can," Brielle said. "The West Elementary School in Hutch is doing really great adapting to Miko and having things in the classroom for him, making sure he has what he needs. They've done well having him in there."
— Jeremy Jones
Amelia's fight to see
Saturday is a big day for Amelia Eiden of Hutchinson. Not only will she be recognized as one of the Tim Orth Memorial Foundation’s deserving recipients, she’ll also be celebrating her second birthday. And like most 2-year-olds, Amelia enjoys doing all the things you’d expect of a little girl, such as being outside and hanging out with her 5-year-old brother, Maximus.
“She just loves to play,” said Amelia’s mom, Rosie. “She loves CoComelon, she loves to play with her babies, and she has a recent obsession with “Dora the Explorer,” which I have no idea where that came from because that’s kind of an old cartoon. But she really enjoys her babies. She has all these little babies and her favorites are the ones that open and close their eyes, because we pretend to take contacts out on baby dolls to show her it’s OK and it’s a good thing.”
The reason Rosie and her husband, Alex, spend so much time showing their daughter how to use contact lenses is because it’s something she’ll have to do for the rest of her life. Amelia was born with bilateral congenital cataracts and nearly went blind in her first months of life.
By all appearances, Amelia was born a healthy baby April 2, 2020, at the start of the pandemic. As she got a few months older, however, her parents were concerned that she kept crossing her eyes.
“She just couldn’t focus on what was in front of her, which some babies learn later, but I noticed it was more prevalent than my other child,” Rosie said.
Amelia’s primary care provider recommended she be evaluated at a local eye clinic, and at about three months old she was diagnosed with cataract in both eyes and would need surgery immediately to save her vision.
“I cried almost every day,” Rosie said about the diagnosis. “It was super stressful, but I knew who I had to find. I had to find a pediatric ophthalmologist, so I just went to town researching. It was very emotional because I didn’t want my daughter to go blind.”
The Eiden family of Hutchinson includes mom, Rosie, dad, Alex, 2-year-old Amelia and 5-year-old Maximus. Amelia was born with bilateral congenital cataracts that nearly took away her vision as a baby. She is one of the recipients of this year’s Tim Orth Memorial Foundation event Saturday.
According to Rosie, there are just two pediatric ophthalmologists in Minnesota. While one was booked out for three months, another at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester personally responded to Rosie the day after she called. Within a week Amelia was able to be seen, and the week after that she was scheduled for surgery.
“He understood the severity of it, and the Mayo studies showed that it only occurred in 1% of infants statistically, and the ideal time for surgery for them is between three and four months,” Rosie said. “So she had it right around four months of age.”
Following a whirlwind few weeks, Amelia had surgery Aug. 4 to remove her ocular lenses from both eyes. She then had to heal for a bit and was fitted with aphakic contact lenses, which she most wear every day to see. And that is where the baby dolls came in.
“Obviously putting contacts on a baby is hard to do, so we’ve really jumped on practicing,” Rosie said.
Though the surgery was successful, Amelia and her family were not out of the woods completely. Following the procedure was an “intense” regimen of applying four types of eye drops. Fortunately, Rosie is a nurse who understands how to set a medication schedule and watch for infection.
Amelia also had a weak eye, which meant she had to spend nearly a year wearing a patch on her stronger eye to help strengthen the other.
“So that was another challenge, trying to keep an eye sticker on a baby,” Rosie said.
The good news is that 19 months after her first surgery, Amelia can see. Her clearest vision is 1-10 feet in front of her. Beyond 10 feet and it gets fuzzy, Rosie said, and within 1 foot it’s hard for her to focus. And while her eyes are still crossed, she is scheduled to have an alignment surgery this summer.
The truth, however, is that Amelia will be dealing with her condition forever, including trips to the Mayo every three to four months for the rest of her life to monitor her vision and check for infection or side effects.
“We’ll get a hotel for the night before and make a trip of it and make it fun for the kids, because we know this is going to be something we have to do,” Rosie said.
Three to four trips to the Mayo Clinic every year can be expensive, not to mention to the procedures themselves. And while Amelia has started going to day care, up until recently Rosie had been staying home with her daughter and working less. It was through Rosie’s Early Childhood Special Education instructor that the family learned about the Tim Orth Memorial Foundation and the support it provides children like her.
“This has been huge,” Rosie said. “The financial help has helped with the hotel stays, and these medical bills aren’t going away. We’re still paying off her last surgery, which was over $40,000. It’s so specialized, so it’s very expensive.”
While the financial relief is wonderful, Rosie also pointed to the support of the foundation’s volunteers and other recipient families as something for which she is grateful. They just recently attended the recipient dinner and were able to meet others like them.
“It was kind of humbling to know we aren’t the only family suffering from a big issue like this with a child,” she said. “It was nice to have that support, and the volunteers for this program are amazing. They all have the biggest hearts and were generally interested in Amelia and how she’s doing. They were able to empathize with us, and that was really nice. It really warmed my heart, because it’s hard and you feel isolated as a parent. To have that support has been amazing.”
Hutchinson native Sam Ellefson is ready to share stories and laughs during a night of stand-up comedy April 2 at Hutchinson High School.
Ben Marcotte
Hutchinson High School alum Sam Ellefson with Ben Marcotte will take the stage at 7 p.m. for Stand-Up Comedy Night Saturday, April 2, at the Hutchinson High School Auditorium. The show is recommended for age 16 or older.
“I’m really excited to bring stand-up comedy to Hutchinson by someone who lived there and experienced it,” Ellefson said “They will learn things about me that they’ve never known. It’s going to be a show everyone can enjoy. ... I’m really excited to come back to my community and bring some laughs.”
If you’re wondering what is his comedy focus, it’s telling personal stories. His routine is based on things he’s observed through living it.
“It’s a lot about me and funny, wild situations,” he said. “I draw inspiration from my life. The wacky situations that we experience every day or once in a lifetime. I can be pretty naive, so I often talk about situations I wind up in because the whole world isn’t so innocent and Minnesota nice.”
The Hutchinson native is the first to say he wasn’t always funny. In middle school, he was known as the “butcher” for ruining his friends jokes. It wasn’t until he headed to Tacoma, Washington, for college at Pacific Lutheran University that he discovered he had a knack for comedy.
A NEW DIRECTION
He was taking a first-year seminar class, introduction to media, and his assignment was to get something published. While submitting a recording of himself covering an event on campus, he overheard a conversation.
“They were talking about how they were trying to start this TV station that actually never wound up happening, but they said they were looking for shows. And I just said, ‘Hey, what if we did a late night show?’” Ellefson said. “And the person said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea. You should do it.’”
Shortly after, Ellefson was contacted by the station’s general manager and told to put on a show. He took it and ran with it, launching “PLU Late Knight with Sam Ellefson” — a knight is PLU’s mascot.
The show caught on and in 2016, it won Social Program of the Year at PLU and Ellefson was nominated for a regional student Emmy. This led him to performing stand-up sets on campus and at the Tacoma Comedy Club.
“I love performing,” he said. “I caught the bug, the rush you get from the big laugh. I just love performing in front of a crowd, so many cool things come with performing. That’s what got me, the performance side of things — getting in front of people and connecting with an audience is really exciting.”
Ellefson enjoyed this turn in his life so much that he majored in communications and theater, graduating from PLU in 2019. His interest in stage work had a side benefit, it’s where he met his wife, Kaylee Hawkins.
“We met in college,” he shared. “The first time I tried theater, she was in an adjacent one act. A few months later our paths crossed and the rest is history. She’ll be at the show (in Hutchinson). She’ll be helping to sell T-shirts.”
Following college, he juggled a day job with his interest in comedy. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and shut down live performances. To keep his hand in the game, he was writing and bouncing jokes off his wife. He also did some online networking with other comedians.
“In May 2021, it started to open up,” he said. “My favorite club in Seattle closed because of COVID. You had to adapt. For about a full year and a few months there was no stand-up comedy.”
Breaking into comedy is difficult. Ellefson said he wouldn’t encourage anyone unless they are passionate about it.
“You’re not going to try until you go to an open mic night,” he said. “It’s really hard to be funny right away. You have to be OK with failure and be willing to reach out to your network and ask questions. It takes a lot of time and hard work to make money and move toward a full-time career.
At this point, Ellefson has a day job, but he’s hoping in the next four to five years to make the jump to full-time comedy.
HOMETOWN SUPPORT
Part of Ellefson’s reason for doing this show is that he’s had a lot of people in the community support his work.
“I wanted to show some of the stuff I’ve been doing,” he said. “We’ve sold over 100 tickets. I’m really excited and honored that people want to come and see me. Everyone who buys a ticket to the show is helping me become a professional comedian.”
While each show feels a little different, Ellefson said he tends to fine-tune his jokes. Some of which he’s been working on for four or five years.
“If it’s a live show, anything can happen,” he said.
For now, Ellefson is adjusting to a new home and new job at the University of Denver. He and his wife moved to Colorado, earlier this month. So far, he’s enjoying the Mile High City.
“I love it,” he said. “It was 60 degrees and sunny when we moved in and then it snowed. We’ve gotten a true taste of Denver’s versatility. I’m going to check out open-mic night. I’ve heard really good things about the scene. We’re just getting our feet wet.”
Rebecca Boll
School budgeting is always an ongoing conversation as expense, enrollment, legislation and numerous other factors take shape. For Hutchinson Public Schools, that conversation continued during a regular meeting this past week.
A revision to the 2022 budget, which entered planning about a year ago and was approved in June to meet state law, was highlighted by Rebecca Boll, the district’s director of business and finance.
“A lot has happened since that point in time,” she said. “We had established our revenue, built a package, a staffing plan and an expense package together and presented that. Then over the summer we were tracking enrollment, we were listening to the Legislature to see how those things turn out.”
Hutchinson Public Schools did not escape a statewide trend and reported enrollment dipped 161 students from 2020 to 2021. Though enrollment is overall trending down — another statewide trend the school is part of — the school expected half the students it lost to COVID to return and estimated a loss of six students for the school year. In July, it had looked like the loss would be 24 students, but this past week Boll said it had climbed back up to only be a loss of six.
“I think enrollment is going to be relatively in line,” she said.
A look at the school’s recent historic data shows the following enrollment figures:
- 2011: 2,911
- 2012: 2,879
- 2013: 2,901
- 2014: 2,904
- 2015: 2,873
- 2016: 2,852
- 2017: 2,856
- 2018: 2,825
- 2019: 2,826
- 2020: 2,790
- 2021: 2,628
- 2022 estimated: 2,622
The update from Boll this last week was offered with an irregularity.
“Where those students are enrolled is different than what our grade progressions would have suggested previous to the pandemic,” she said.
Enrollment in kindergarten, eighth grade, ninth grade and 12th grade is beating projections. But enrollment in first through seventh grade and 10th grade is lagging.
STATE FUNDS
When the budget was last discussed, a funding update from the state had not yet taken shape. One of the primary revenue streams for schools in Minnesota is how much money the state gives per enrolled student. Mid-year in 2021, lawmakers approved an increase each year for the following two years.
“The formula allowance did come in at 2.45% (increase),” Boll said regarding 2022.
The school had not budgeted expecting such an increase to funding, and in light of the bump added elementary school positions.
COVID-19 stimulus funds (accounting for $2.1 million in revenue and expense increases) are also now better understood, which adjusts both revenues and expenses. The transportation contract also accounts for $900,000 in additional expenses.
The revised budget calls for $36.3 million in general fund expenses, up $2.3 million from June. Updated general fund revenue are $35.5 million, up $2.4 million. While the update, which was approved unanimously, is necessary for auditing reasons, it does not change much material activity in the school's operations, Boll said.
The revised budget also calls for $757,316 in deficit spending.
STIMULUS MONEY
Overall, the school is accounting for $1.43 million in stimulus fund spending in 2021, which includes money for prekindergarten through eighth grade, transportation, personal protection equipment and personnel costs.
For 2022, $2.1 million in fund spending is anticipated, which includes the same fields as well as targeted kindergarten through 12th grade positions, supplies such as bus masks, and HVAC technology.
Another $990,281 is anticipated to be used in 2023, and $239,259 in 2024.
It might be easier to list what Hutchinson Public Works and Engineering doesn't do than to try and list all of its responsibilities.
With streets, the cemetery, the airport, water, wastewater and plenty more under its umbrella, the department's work stretches to all corners of Hutchinson. If you've ever watched snow removal, been relieved by street maintenance, walked a trail or sidewalk or spotted a street sweeper, you've seen the activity of Public Works employees.
At the Hutchinson City Council meeting this past week, Public Works director Kent Exner updated council members with his annual report.
He reported the department had a staff adding up to 30 full-time equivalent positions.
“That’s as high as I think we’ve been since probably (2009) right after the recession played out and we had to make some cuts," Exner said.
He later added, "We have a great staff. ... It's amazing what we're able to produce, administer, deliver."
The department's $27.96 million overall expenditures, he said, were "definitely a high water mark."
The annual report details dozens of major projects completed by Public Works in 2021, but a few residents may recognize include:
- new construction on Jefferson Street Northeast from Washington Street to First Avenue Northeast;
- partial reconstruction on First Avenue Northeast, on Clinton Avenue Southwest, and on Harrington and Merrill Street Southwest;
- a pedestrian crossing signal on State Highway 7 at Montana Street Northwest; and
- the completion of an Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan.
Exner told City Council members a lot of work was completed.
"The biggest project in 2021 was the neighborhood east of the Recreation Center/Civic Arena," reads the report. "In 2020, utility work consisted primarily of installing southwest trunk storm sewer improvements ... (and) 2021' s project consisted of reclaiming and partially reconstructing several streets, following utility installation."
The report also details work put into improvements to the Wastewater Treatment Facility' s preliminary treatment facility, process equipment and the plant's SCADA systems.
"Infrastructure maintenance consisted primarily of Replay sealant and maintenance overlays on Arizona, Carolina, Harrington and Merrill (streets)," according to the report. "Public Works operators focused on localized street repairs and were able to place over 200 tons of bituminous material."
LOOKING AHEAD
For 2022, Public Works is expecting to work on a $3.1 million project to improve Otter and Campbell lakes, and the South Fork Crow River with financial aid from the state bonding bill. Work will include a forebay to trap upstream sediments as well as stream bank and shoreline restoration.
"Completion of the wastewater plant preliminary treatment project will end one of the largest projects at the plant since 2007, when a portion of the plant was constructed," reads the report. "This project will make improvements to the preliminary treatment system, with the goal of capturing more solids earlier in the treatment process and adding greater operational control and flexibility."
UTILITY RATES
According to the Public Works annual report, Hutchinson saw average utility bills increase from $82.28 to $84.34 per month from 2012 to 2021. That's an increase of about 2.5%. Meanwhile, according to the report, the average utility bills for outstate Minnesota climbed 39.1% from $61.56 to $85.63 on average. The data it cites is from the AE2S 2021 Annual Utility Rate Study.
"Hutchinson's water rates are slightly below average (-4.2%) when compared to other outstate Minnesota cities included in the survey and are substantially lower (-41.3%) than average rates of the top five cities surveyed," the report says. "Hutchinson's wastewater rates are slightly above average (+1.8%) when compared to other outstate Minnesota cities included in the survey and are substantially lower (-25.2%) than average rates of the top five cities surveyed.
"Hutchinson' s storm water rates are well below average (-11. 9%), when compared to other outstate Minnesota cities included in the survey and are substantially lower (-53%) than average rates of the top five cities surveyed."
