Out And About With Jamie Grout

Dan Kaiser is a local Grinnell historian who has written a book, Grinnell Stories: Lives to Remember, about folks who were famous back in the day but, historically, have faded into the woodwork. This was a facinating interview with Dan about people who helped to shape Grinnell history. If you are a historian, I think you'll enjoy this interview about some of the people who helped to make up Grinne...

This podcast is a "best of" podcast with Laura Betts Harmon who is an advocate of folks with disabilities. I have known Laura since she was in elementary school because her Dad, Chuck, was my Newton High School Drama teacher and I would see her from time to time at play practice.  She would always be in a wheelchair because she has been dealing with spina bifida her entire life. More recently, I h...

This is a best of podcast that was very popular with Pastor LeAnn Robine who is the new pastor of The First United Methodist Church in Newton. She comes to Newton from the Corning, Iowa area but is originally from the Omaha area. In the podcast we talk about why she wanted to become a minister, what she likes best about the job, and what she likes least. Plus, we get her insights on the Bible and...

When you go to Gilman, Iowa you realize that it's one of those "blink and might miss it" towns. However one thing that stands out is the beautiful church, Treasured by God Ministries. In that church is a fantastic clothing closet and food pantry that has helped out an impressive number of people in need in the past few years, the Treasure Chest Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. In this Out And About...

The Jasper County United Way is in the middle of it's fall campaign right now so I thought that the organization was deserving of having a "best of" podcast done to heighten awareness of what The United Way does. In this podcast I speak with Jessica, who is the Director of the Jasper County United Way, as she explains how it functions and how the funds collected are distributed to the various non-...

In this best of podcast I speak with Dr Patrick Edwards and Nurse Anna about the Hospice program at Park Centre Wesley Life. In the last year of my sister's life she was a part of that program. I mention my sister in this podcast because when it was recorded she was alive and part of the program. My sister was in Hospice for nearly a year and recieved outstanding care. In this podcast I ask Dr Edw...

The We Give Campaign is a fund drive to raise money for a variety of non profit organizations around Grinnell and the area. Their slogan for this years campaign is "serving together by giving." Both of the organizations on this podcast have developeda Ccatalog for Giving that can help people discover local needs and choose where they want to make an impact and they talk about that in this podcast....

In this podcast I speak with an old friend Miss Rhonda who is a stand up comedian. She is heading up a fundraiser to try to rebuild a venue in Nevada, Iowa that is coming up on 10/17. I speak with her about how she got into stand up comedy, the kinds of things she talks about in her act and what she enjoys about doing stand up. We also talk about the fundraiser and why she helped to organize it an...

I've had two Doctors in my life who have had great personalities of as they say bedside manners. One was the Doctor who brought me into this world, Doctor Raymond Frech who was my Doctor through my teen and early adult years. The other Doctor is the one who I am doing the podcast with today, Doctor Duane Jolivette. Next month the good Doctor will be retiring after many years of practice. In this p...

Hands That Help is a fairly new non-profit serving thhe Grinnell area as a clothing closet. Right now they are using a couple of storage units with a mobile unit that they can use going from town to town, In this podcast I speak with Neva. She a her daugher Angela run the clothing closet together.

In this podcast I speak with Ethan who with his wife, Lisa, run The Newton Airport and Johnson Aviation. The Airport is a very important aspect of the business community in Newton. When companies are looking at locating in Newton and fly into town, one of the first things they notice is our airport. I feel the airport is one of the things we should take pride in. If you've never been to the airpor...

I first found out about Pay It Forward and the clothing closet in Gilman from Angela and Neva from The Hands That Help clothing closet in Brooklyn. It's amazing how these clothing and food closets are networked. Anyway, I decided to replay this "best of" podcast because I am amazed how these small towns like Gilman, Lynnville, and Prairie City have these amazing clothing and food closets. They not...

The Grinnell Optimist Club is having a French Toast Fly In Breakfast this Saturday morning. The Optimist Club has been holding the breakfast for many years now and will be carrying on the tridition once again. Airplain pilots enjoy this fly in because it's different than many "fly ins" in that they serve french toast. In this podcast I speak with a couple of folks with The Grinnell Optimist Club w...

This podcast is with Captain Tim North of The Salvation Army. They have asked me to be their auctioneer for the 5th year in a row for their quilt auction coming up October 9th. The Quilt auction will be at The Salvation Army building on 2nd Avenue which is different from the DMACC location from the past several years. The ladies who make these quilts go to quite a bit of work to raise money for a...

Park Centre a Wesley Life Organization has a great fund that finances folks living at Park Centre through the rest of their lives. I decided to run this podcast again becuaue my sister lived the last years of her life at Park Centre and the main reason I decided to have her live at this fine facility was because of The Good Samaritan Fund. I was told, when my sister and I were touring Park Centre...

This podcast is with Jennifer Cogley of The Ahrens Foundation. They host and facilitate the Grinnell area mental health consortium with a specific program called the JPK fund which was named after and started as a tribute to a Grinnell Doctor who took his own life. The JPK funds cover inital mental wellness consultation fees with area providers. They are sponsoring a first annual walk for mental h...

The Newton Community Theatre is presenting The Shawshank Redemption on September 25th, 26th and 27th and again on October 2nd, 3rd and 4th. It's a story that deals with hope, friendship and perseverance. It's a powerful story with a great cast. In this podcast I speak with the Director of the play along with two of the main actors. Make sure you mark your calendars to check out The Shawshank Redem...

This podcast is about the non partisan organization Better Ballot Iowa. They are proposing an open primary system. In the system they are suggesting the top five candidates would advance from the primary to the general election. This would differ from the way Iowa currently conducts its partisan primaries. They are also proposing Voting 2.0 with ranked-choice voting and my interview guest explains...

I've done plenty of podcasts with folks from clothing closets, food banks and food pantrys but never one that supplied people with home furnishings. That's what Renewed Hope Home Furnishings Ministry is all about. It's part of The Friends Church in Grinnell. It's a very unique non-profit organization will supply folks who are in need of home furnishings. Rather than give you all the details I will...

This is a podcast with Jessica Lowe Vokes who is the Director of The United Way Of Jasper County. The United Way just kicked off their fall campaign. As a kid I remember the organization started out as The Community Chest. Through the years that non-profit morphed into The United Way. The charity serves many other non-profits around the county. Many folks have no idea of the process the board memb...

This podcast is with "Mrs C" April Conway the "Spokes Mom" for The Blue Star Moms organization in Iowa. Blue Star Moms is dedicated to serving active millitary who have been deployed either over seas or in the United States. I decided to replay this podcast that was recorded during The Iowa State Fair with April because we just wrapped up 9-11 and after that horrible attack on The United States ma...

I've never repeated the same podcast from one week to the next. However in this case I am going to make an exception. Today marks the 25th Anniversary of 9-11. I think most folks who were alive then remember where they were when this tragic event happened. Many lives were lost but many lives were saved thanks to first responders. Kent Reed started the non profit organization American Brawn to supp...

The Jasper County Concert Association has been going on for a number of years and is continuing with a great line up for the upcoming season. My interview guest is Bob Lane and in this podcast he tells us about the wide variety of different entertainment choices The Concert Association has available the the season. He also tells us about the two different memberships available for folks wanting to...

American Brawn is a non-profit I have known about for several years now. Kent Reed heads up the organization. It's an organization that supports first responders and veterans. He runs the organization as a "pay it forward" because of a motorcycle accident he had several years ago where he was severely injured. They have a big fundraiser coming up on September 12th that he talks about in this podca...

A couple weeks ago, Newton businessman, Chris Barton, proposed to The Newton School Board the idea of purchasing two unused elementary schools, Emerson Hough and Woodrow Wilson, for $25,000 per school and giving them back to the community. Woodrow Wilson would go to The Newton Christian School and Emerson Hough would go to The Newton YMCA for daycare. On a 4-3 vote the School Board approved lookin...