LiveWell Celebration 2025: Partnerships and Better Health in Douglas County
On a beautiful fall day in November, LiveWell Douglas County and the Douglas County Community Foundation gathered to celebrate the hard work and commitment of community partners working to improve health and well-being in Douglas County. This year LiveWell recognized two Culture of Health Champions: Eudora Parks and Recreation and Marlo Angell.
During the summer of 2025, Eudora Parks and Recreation hosted their first full farmers market season. Sally Pennington, Eudora Parks and Recreation Director, and Jimmy Kegin, Assistant Director, started the Eudora Farmers’ Market as a way to bring the community together around local food, wellness, and connection. According to Sally, their hope and goal was to create a space where residents and visitors of all ages could meet their neighbors, support small businesses and local growers, hear a local musician, and celebrate Eudora’s community spirit. To make the market happen, Sally recognized Assistant Director - Jimmy Kegin’s leadership and behind-the-scenes coordination. Jimmy shared, “I felt a personal connection and satisfaction with the market as I witnessed the community attend, week in and week out, becoming loyal to vendors and the experience. I always enjoyed seeing how quickly vendors and customers became friends. By mid-season, it felt less like a market and more like a weekly neighborhood reunion.
Culture of Health Champion, Marlo Angell, was recognized for her leadership in preserving and sharing the story of La Yarda through a permanent public art project along the Lawrence Loop, near 8th and Delaware. La Yarda was the name of a local community of railroad workers and their families from Mexico that lived in housing built by the Santa Fe Railroad from 1920 to 1951. One of Marlo’s favorite moments was when the project steering committee selected the artist, Javy Ortiz, and he met with the La Yarda families for the first time. Pedro Romero, who lived in La Yarda as a young boy, wanted to make sure there was an authentic connection between the artist and the La Yarda history. “Stories were shared, food was enjoyed, and as we were about to leave, Pedro took me aside to say he would call me with some thoughts. This made me a bit nervous. Pedro could have strong opinions and as the keeper of the flame, was truly the heart and soul of the project. I picked up the phone that night ready to hear his concerns, but he just said ‘Marlo, he’s one of us. It feels like I’ve known Javy for a long time, like he’s one of my grandsons.’ After that, I knew we were in and the project would be a success!”
In 2025, LiveWell established a new award in honor of the legacy of John Drees for his unwavering dedication, compassion, and lifelong commitment to making our community safer and stronger. The first John Drees Safe and Healthy Kids Award was given to Heather Terrell. Heather’s journey as a Child Passenger Safety Technician with Safe Kids Douglas County began in 2016. She was motivated to complete the training after realizing how much car seat safety had changed since raising her own baby in the 90s. She also saw so many people reaching out on social media platforms looking for help with car seats that she decided to take the class. “Once I learned all that goes into it but how easy it is to educate caregivers, I wanted to do it more consistently. Because I work from home and have a relatively flexible schedule I’ve been able to volunteer several times a year to work car seat check events. It’s nice to be able to help people out in such a big way by doing such a small thing.” Heather’s favorite memory of doing the car seat check lanes were of former Safe Kids Douglas County Coordinator, John Drees. “He was such a wealth of knowledge and stories. He would just sit in his chair and supervise while he told us anecdotes from his life. There was always a lot of laughter!”