This past week, organizers of the annual Kiwanis Club Home and Garden Show decided to follow the lead of the Ellsworth County Medical Center and Auxiliary and cancel the March 21 event as a health precaution.

The club, which organizes the show, uses proceeds to support youth programs and projects in Ellsworth County and beyond.

As a result, members will continue with their 20-gun raffle.

Only 200 tickets will be sold for $100 each. Tickets are still available from any Kiwanis Club member or by calling (785) 472-3141.

The drawing will take place in about two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter had already assembled and delivered to the printer the magazine the newspaper publishes in cooperation with the show.

We have continued with plans to insert the magazine in today’s edition. We also will distribute the magazine to retailers and other outlets, similar to the way we distribute our annual travel and tourism guide each year. It also will be available online.

As a result, advertisers should receive more exposure over a wider area.

On a personal note, these are difficult times, but a cartoon by Richard Crowson puts the times in perspective. This week’s effort was entitled “Common Symptoms ... that you’re a carrier in an outbreak of kindness.”

In it, Crowson suggested running errands for others, donating to the food bank, staying informed without spreading rumors, checking on elderly neighbors, donating to a homeless shelter. Make kindness — and not the coronavirus — your contagion of choice.