Chanute Business and Professional Women held their regular meeting on January 14, 2026 with Kathy Williams as Hostess. She provided the meal, door prize, and the program. Secretary Tayah Ornelas read the December 10, 2025, meeting minutes, and Treasurer Linda Powers read the financial report. We discussed the BPW Kansas Foundation Scholarship application, for which we received only one application from Tayah. Vice President Jen Brown is on the Foundation committee and will be making suggestions to make the application process more user-friendly. President Sharon Carpenter thanked Kathy, along with her great-granddaughter Gracie Phillips, for decorating the BPW Christmas tree for the Chanute Art Gallery Annual Festival Trees. We did not win the People’s Choice this year, but Kathy expressed joy for the winning tree. Kathy has copied pictures of BPW meetings and events for Sharon to use in the Publicity Notebook, which also serves as a history book for the year. Kathy will continue to post on Facebook our meetings and activities.
The program was given to Kathy with readings from the book “Let It Go, Just Let It Go” a Guide to Reducing Stress by Kent A Rader (author, speaker, and comedian). The emphasis of the book is on how to reduce stress through awareness of the relationship between our thoughts, our feelings, and our moods. People are capable of controlling their stress levels, not by changing the situation around them, but by changing their REACTION to the situation. Thoughts are not reality, only our perception of reality. Our moods are constantly changing and can affect our thoughts and feelings. The book touched on the use of humor to fortify perspective, to improve our moods, and release uncomfortable emotions. Baby Prestyn drew the name of Linda for the door prize.
Our next meeting will be on February 11, 2026, with Kathy serving as Hostess. BPW welcomes anyone interested in learning more about our club to contact Sharon Carpenter at 620431-8532
