Community Voices

This is not his first posting as a minister. In fact, it’s not even the first denomination in which he’s served as a minister. There is a message, he says, a message he’s felt a calling to pass along since his final days serving in the United States Navy near the end of the Vietnam War. Today, he’s passing that message along to students as President of the newly opened St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School in Lee’s Summit. This is Father Randolph Sly.

She's been a part of the Summit Christian Academy community for most of the local school's existence. Her background and training wasn't in education, but for the past 19 years she has answered a calling to lead the school's growth into one of the metropolitan area's premiere private school systems. This is Linda Harrelson.

He grew up the son of entrepreneurs. When he finished school, starting his own construction business was just a natural step for him. And now he's almost a full year into his second business — downtown Lee's Summit's Smoke Brewing Co, a local microbrewery and restaurant. This is Josh Edwards.

He never planned to retire from the news business. He never planned to be an entrepreneur. Turns out his plans were at a minimum only half wrong. After a career in community newspapers where he held positions of reporter, editor, sales person and most recently publisher of the Lee's Summit Journal, he decided to use his experience for a different kind of storytelling. You can still find his weekly columns in the local paper of record, but his professional focus has changed. For the last two years he's been piloting his own ship, KC Communications and Media Matters, where he helps area businesses and not-for-profits with media and public relations. The job, he says may be different, but the key to success is the same — find the good stories and help tell them.

This is John Beaudoin.

At one point, she tells us fashion is her thing. But, it doesn't take long to realize there's more driving this Lee's Summit entrepreneur. A singular focus on the next thing in front of her, combined with a will to seek out the positive moments have taken her from one business closing to launching another. Oh, and by the way, she's only 35 and has twice beat back endometrial cancer. This is Liz Little.

For these two, it's kind of like a local version of the old Kevin Bacon game. In a town of nearly 100,000 people, it's hard to pinpoint a few people whom everyone knows. But when it comes to this couple, the chances of you having a connection to them in 6 degrees or less may be slightly higher. In addition to being the second-generation proprietor of John's Barber Shop in downtown Lee's Summit, or of the local accounting firm of Parker Swearngin, LLP, this duo have committed much of their adult lives to various community service efforts in and around Lee's Summit.

This is Nick and Jennie Swearngin.

In this week's episode of Community Voices, host Nick Parker sits down with the Swearngins to reminisce about the widely popular and effective Head Shave for Hope House event, their involvement in downtown Lee's Summit, and a number of other things they do, or have participated in, throughout the community.

In a rare interview, Kriss Kringle sat down with Community Voices host Nick Parker to answer questions submitted by some of our younger residents and talk about his role in Christmas celebrations, life at the North Pole and his ever growing Book of Good Children (don't call it the naughty and nice list). And if you're a man with a beard, Santa's got some grooming tips for you.

When her grandmother passed away and Jenell Johnson noticed her family was down, she turned to the one therapy she knew worked for all of them — music.

The song, "Smile," would go on to be a favorite of not only her family, but also friends and her tight-knit school and church family as well. It would also be a crowd favorite at the 2016 Lee's Summit Got Talent competition.

He's an entrepreneur with big ideas. Since his first foray into the Downtown Lee's Summit scene with The W speakeasy, he has since become the owner of a handful of downtown buildings with plans to open more of his own buildings as well support others in their endeavors to locate in Lee's Summit's historic commercial district. This is Shane Veritasi.

Veritasi sat down with Community Voices host Nick Parker to talk about his businesses, his take on the continuing evolution of Lee's Summit's downtown district, and his thoughts on successful entrepreneurship.

He tends to fly under the radar, but very quietly he's doing things to make his mark on the Lee's Summit community. He's an entrepreneur, an investor and an artist. This is Ben Wine. This week, Wine sat down with Community Voices host Nick Parker to talk about his work with Fossil Forge design and his role in a few local business ventures.