All Vets Club changes to meet public’s needs Times
and
are pictured in the recently-decorated basement of the All Vets Club. The basement, which is
to five regulation-size pool tables, is decorated with military
patches, photos and other military memorabilia. (Photo by Zach Jensen) Full article and more photo are in the February 6 Decorah Leader, available in print and online at decorahleader.com.
BY SETH BOYES
DECORAH LEADER NEWS EDITOR
(This article originally published in the February 6 Decorah Leader)
Crews inside the future office of Chrysalis Children’s Center in Decorah have been busy working for the better part of a year, and officials with the organization hope to host a soft opening at their newest location early next month.
Chrysalis – a branch of Northeast Iowa Behavioral Health –provides a variety of services for area youth and families, including mental health services and several types of therapy as well as care coordination and case management.
“At Chrysalis, we believe in the power of connection within families and throughout the community,” said Tiffany Lemery, clinical director with NEIBH. “Our mission is to provide a safe and welcoming space where children, parents and families can come together to grow, heal and thrive.”
Currently, Chrysalis’ offices see almost 200 clients under the age of 18, according to Lexi Rustad, project manager with Chrysalis Children’s Center. She indicated the organization has been able to recruit a number of therapists to serve area clients, but she said Chrysalis’ current office on Montgomery Street in Decorah has only so much room in which to see those clients.
“We’re running out of space, and opening this office allows us to see more clients and provide more specialized services,” Rustad said.
Northeast Iowa Behavioral Health purchased the office space at 219 West Water St. in Decorah — near the corner of Water Street and Court Street — in December of 2022, according to county records. The building formerly housed offices for Alliant Energy, and Rustad said renovations began inside the building during May of 2024. She said Chrysalis hopes to see around 500 clients once the new office space is functional.
“We will have some full-time therapists here, and there may be some therapists at our main Decorah office that still want to see kids, so they could come here a few days a week,” Rustad said.
She said work during the renovation project has largely fallen into two phases. The first phase mainly focused on bringing the offices up to code and making certain areas complaint with the Americans with Disabilities Act by replacing doorways or making other changes.
She said the second phase has focused on updating the interior spaces in the building for their new purposes – not just installing new flooring and applying new paint, but also creating secure areas for record keeping and moving interior walls to provide privacy during therapy
VFW to host bimonthly eighthgrade breakfast
VFW Post 1977 will host its bimonthly eighth-grade breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday, Feb. 16 at the All Vets Club — 104 State St. in Decorah. The event is held twice monthly during the academic year to help Decorah eighth grade students raise money for their annual
sessions. Rustad said telehealth therapy has become a popular option and has allowed Chyrsalis to work with a greater number of providers. She also noted telehealth appointments can sometimes mesh well when multiple family members are being seen by different therapists.
“You could have a parent coming here and, while their child is in therapy, they could be seen downstairs (by) another therapist,” she said.
Rustad said telehealth can often be an effective option for older children, but the new office space will also offer play therapy for younger clients.
Rustad said Chrysalis’ current office space has only one play therapy room, while the new office will feature four — each referred to by a specific color.
Rustad said the new center’s Blue Room is designed for children who have experienced complex stress or traumatic exposure. She compared the Blue room to a wrestling room, with specialized equipment as well as athletic mats to provide a safe environment as children work on regulating their bodies and emotions while processing their individual experiences.
“There could be balls that they throw around,” she said, as an example. “Basically, you’re not going to brake anything when you throw it.”
She went on to say, in some instances, the Blue Room may serve as a starting point for young clients before they graduate to one of the other play therapy rooms or a more traditional therapist’s office.
Rustad said the new office’s Green Room will be a space in which to provide parent-child assisted therapy. The room will feature a one-way window for providers to observe parents and children during play and provide real-time feedback and advice to the parent through an earpiece.
“We are very excited about
Officials with Chrysalis Children’s Center have been overseeing renovations for several months inside the building which will serve as the organization’s new office later this year. (Photo by Seth Boyes)
that, because there is not very much of that around here,” Rustad said.
The office’s Purple Room is expected to be a space in which children can complete arts and crafts projects to help express themselves through visual means or through music.
“Some children find traditional talk therapy difficult,” materials from Chrysalis said. “Arts and crafts offer a friendly alternative. It allows clients to express creativity and explore their experiences, while reducing anxiety.”
And Rustad said some young clients may benefit from a lower activity level inside the office’s Yellow Room. She said the room will feature comfortable seating and numerous books on a variety of topics which might be useful during therapy. She said the Yellow Room may be ideal for clients who may not be as comfortable with the amount of stimulation present in the other three rooms.
Both the upper and lower levels of Chrysalis’ new office will also feature larger rooms for group meetings or classes
— Rustad said organizers might offer courses on anything from parenting to cooking and other skills. Chrysalis also plans to establish what Rustad called a drop-in center, which she described as a safe environment for area youth to take part in activity nights, socialize and play games.
“We are going to be putting together an advisory committee of youth in our community,” she said. “If they would like to give input on what they think of the drop-in center, what they think would benefit it, and then help come up with a name, we want to bring them in from the community and include them.”
She said the drop-in center will likely debut some time after the main office begins seeing clients later this year. The drop-in center is expected to be open to the general public at no cost after school and on weekends. Rustad said attendees do not need to be clients of Chrysalis to visit the drop-in center. Chrysalis is still currently raising funds for the renovations and updates at its future office. Rustad said she and other officials there are grateful for the community support they have received up to this point, adding that Chrysalis is about $20,000 to $30,000 from reaching its fundraising goal. The organization hopes to host a soft opening at its new location on March 3 to showcase the upper level offices. The lower level may be complete by May.
and Thurs-Sat 7:30a-9p. Justin’s (restaurant) open Sun-Wed 8a-2p and ThursSat 8a-7p. Root 43 (juices/smoothies/bowls) Sun 9a-5p
less readers.)
So far, I have had just one ticket for a parking violation. It happened while visiting a hospital in San Francisco. We lived just 20 miles north in Marin County. Parking on the street I returned to find a ticket under the windshield wiper of my VW. I looked for a “No Parking” sign; none in sight. The envelope had a phone number and a violation code. When I called to inquire what my violation might be I was told, “Evidently you did not have your wheels curbed!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I thought. The no nonsense response was that because of the steep hills of that city by the bay they have an ordinance that you must always turn the front wheels of your car toward the curb on a hillside. It was not a suggestion; it was the law. Excuse for not knowing this law made no difference. I paid with a check the next day. Yes, to this day, when parking on the smallest hill, I still ‘curb my wheels.’
Sometime after this I was asked by a school counselor I if had time to talk with a high school junior who was having some behavior problems. The
student had suggested I be called; I was her pastor. So, we set up some counseling sessions. I discovered that one of her problems, she had others, was that this young lady felt she had been given too much freedom; that her parents didn’t really care about her. I had never run into that situation before ... nor after that time. Most unusual. She was convinced they didn’t care because they never made her ‘curb her wheels.’
Following a parent, student, and pastor ‘conference’ there was an agreed upon list of ‘curbs’ which were actually put on paper and taped to her bedroom door. The girl asked for this!
The laws or curbs given to us by our religious training, our parents and our government, are not given to stop us from living well and having fun, but sothat we will do ourselves and others no harm. They are for our good.
Someone once put it this way, “God is in every traffic light...for our good.”
Just imagine what kind of peaceful place this world would be if we would all ‘curb our wheels.’
Americans celebrate President’s Day each year in mid-February. Though some may see the holiday, which is celebrated on a Monday, as a great opportunity to book a three-day weekend getaway, others may be inspired to learn about the many men who have held the highest office in the United States. For the latter, the following are some interesting facts about U.S. presidents, courtesy of History.com.
• Founding father and first U.S. president George Washington was a man with many hobbies, including dog breeding. Alex Hager of the Presidential Pet Museum told History.com that Washington likely developed his passion for dog breeding as a result of his love of fox hunting. Indeed, the American Kennel Club considers Washington the father of the American foxhound. It’s also worth noting Washington’s predilection for giving his dogs humorous names, including Drunkard, Tippler and Sweet Lips.
• The country’s fourth president, James Madison, was a slight man. Madison was five-
feet-four and weighed just over 100 pounds. Madison might have put on a few additional pounds had he lived to enjoy the
snack cake brand Dolly Madison, which was inspired by the fourth president’s wife, Dolley, and introduced in 1937.
• John Quincy Adams might be most recognized as the first man to follow his father and hold the office of the president. However, the sixth president had a notable career even after his time holding the highest office in the land. John Quincy Adams argued before the Supreme Court in a case that freed African captives who had rebelled aboard the slave ship Amistad. That rebellion and its subsequent court case was later dramatized in the 1997 Steven Spielberg film “Amistad,” in which Adams was portrayed by Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins.
• It took some time before the United States had its first American-born president, but
that happened upon the election of Martin Van Buren in 1837. Prior to Van Buren’s victory, all presidents had been born before 1776 and were thus British subjects at their time of birth.
• Many Americans fought long and hard to secure the right to vote, but one president never voted until his own name appeared on the ballot. Zachary Taylor, the nation’s twelfth president, acknowledged he had never voted prior to 1848, the year he was elected president.
• Only two men in U.S. history have been elected to serve non-consecutive terms as president. The first to do so was Grover Cleveland, who served as the nation’s twenty-second and twenty-fourth president. That feat was not replicated until it was pulled off by Donald Trump, who was elected in 2016 as the nation’s forty-fifth president and then again in 2024.
• Some presidents are more soft spoken than others, but perhaps none have been more reserved than the thirtieth president Calvin Coolidge. When a female visitor bet Coolidge that she could get three words out of him, Coolidge simply replied, “You lose.”
• Thirty-third president Harry S. Truman’s name is somewhat misleading. The middle initial “S” is not an abbreviation for any particular name, but rather an homage to his grandfathers Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.
• Richard Nixon, the nation’s thirty-seventh president, was a highly skilled poker player. In fact, during his time serving in the United States Navy during World War II, Nixon won substantial sums of money playing poker, funds he ultimately used to finance his first political campaign.
scholarship
The WinnMed Auxiliary is offering its annual Health Career Scholarship to students pursuing a health care profession.
The applicant must be a college undergraduate or graduate student who is currently enrolled in the health career program of their choice. The applicant must also be a resident of Winneshiek County, a WinnMed employee or a dependent of a WinnMed employee. Eligible applicants may visit https://winnmed.org/ donate/winnmed-auxiliary or call 563-387-3036 for an application. The deadline for application is April 1, 2025.
Scan to see full inventory and listing details!
CLOSES FRIDAY, FEBRU-
ARY 21 - Guns and Sporting Good Auction. Preview: Monday, Feb. 17 thru Thursday, Feb. 20, 10:00am-4:00pm daily. Kramer Auction Service. Prairie du Chien, WI. 608-326-8108. www. kramersales.com
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY
22 - 9:30 a.m. John E Hanson Viroqua Farm Retirement Auction Sweeney Auction Service. www.sweeneyauctionservice. com Waukon, Ia 563-568-2464.
SATURDAY,
#1 - 72 Acres, 36-97-12 Jackson Township
#2 - 60 Acres, (10A) 36-97-12 Jackson Township, (50A) 31-97-11 Utica Township
#3 - 160 Acres, 31-97-11 Utica Township
#4 - 52 Acres, 31-97-11 Utica Township
Bid form/registration and information packets available at Elwood, O’Donohoe, Braun & White, 101 N. Locust, New Hampton or 116 N. Main, Charles City or by email at charlescity@elwoodlawfirm.com. Bids and letter of credit due to Elwood Law Firm no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, February 21, 2025. Auction at Chickasaw Event Center, 301 N. Water St., New Hampton, IA on Saturday, February 22, 2025 at 9:00 am. Only registered bidders allowed into the auction for further bidding. Bid forms and packets also available online by calling (641)228-8054 or emailing a request to charlescity@elwoodlawfirm.com Call (641)228-8054 for further information.
Valentine’s Day is steeped in tradition, and perhaps no custom is more indulgent than exchanging sweets with a sweetheart on February 14. Store-bought chocolates and candies are undeniably popular on Valentine’s Day, but those who want to go the extra mile for that special someone recognize that nothing sends that message more loudly than a homemade treat.
Baking novices need not feel intimidated when whipping up something for a sweetheart this Valentine’s Day. This recipe for “Chewy Brownies” courtesy of The Food Network is easy to prepare and produces a delectable treat that can make any sweetheart swoon this February.
Yields 8 to 10 servings Nonstick cooking spray, for spraying the baking pan
cup granulated sugar
cup dark brown sugar
teaspoons vanilla extract
teaspoon kosher salt
large eggs plus 2 yolks
stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
2. Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, whole eggs and yolks in a large bowl; set aside.
3. Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler, then whisk together until fully combined. Mix in the vegetable oil. Pour the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and mix until fully combined. Fold in the flour and cocoa.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.
