Pancakes for Pawnee fundraiser to highlight Shrove Tuesday

MANHATTAN — Pawnee Mental Health will be joining in on Mardi Gras celebrations taking place next week.

Executive Director Robbin Cole says they’re celebrating Mardi Gras for Mental Health through a special pancake feed fundraiser to help support the organization.  It’s the first year for the event.

The pancake feed will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Early Edition. Tickets are available at pawnee.org.

Part of Pawnee’s mission is to improve access to mental health in the Manhattan area. Recently a new office opened in Wamego, even though Cole says for years they’ve been serving Pottawatomie County for years and are the county’s best kept secret.

The Wamego Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting Feb. 11 for the new office and Cole says she was also interested in the number of people who showed an interest in their services. Pawnee’s Crisis Stabilization Center is in its next phase as well as the location on Hayes Drive looks to add six beds for people suffering a mental health episode needing time to stabilize.

Cole says the are renovating the location to put the center in there and will have to rearrange their current offices. She also says they hope to start phase two towards the end of March.

Cole remains hopeful that the crisis stabilization center will be able to secure funding for year two and beyond from the State of Kansas.