NEWS & NOTES

Working and living in Lawrence at the time, Barbara Nash had heard of the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, but that was it. Until she met Bob Nash. That was in 1977. Some friends set them up on a blind date. “It did not go well,” Barbara said. Fortunately, there was a second date. “I am a rabid Jayhawk fan and the second date was a KU-K-State basketball game. KU won. There’s no way it could have possibly not gone well,” Barbara said. The couple was married two years

The Bert Nash Center is celebrating Juneteenth virtually this year with Juneteenth KC and virtual celebrations across the United States. You can join, too, by going to the Juneteenth KC website https://bit.ly/3djBMKG, the Nelson-Atkins commemoration https://bit.ly/3fHFjnA, and storytelling and performance from the Amistad Center for Art & Culture. Friday night https://bit.ly/314E0uS, the Carver Museum & Cultural Center will celebrate with livestream music and spoken work per

The Bert Nash Center celebrates the Supreme Court’s decision Monday, June 15, 2020 affirming what we already believe and practice: that being gay or transgender should not put someone’s job at risk. Everyone should be able to be fully who they are — and it is our responsibility as a community to create that inclusivity where it isn’t present.

It is with sorrowful hearts that introspect is taken. For, it is in the land of the free that feelings of unrest trouble the spirit. Who else begs the question? — In whose bosom does freedom lie? With 2020 lenses, some feel closer to the calamities of historical apartheid South Africa and Jim Crow America — experiencing trepidations of déjà vu. No longer is it an experience that the young ones read from a history text, or capture from an interview with a first-hand elder. Ech

Steve Maceli, owner of Maceli’s Banquet Hall and Catering, is the 2019 recipient of the Bert Nash Pioneer Award. The award was presented April 22 at the annual Bert Nash Pioneer Celebration. Steve represented Bert Nash at the Transformations Charity Gala in January and was the winning contestant, earning $10,000 for WRAP (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities), a school-based mental health program. Steve is also a generous supporter of Bert Nash in many other ways. T