Whitewood

Please join Tammy and Amy at the Whitewood library on Thursday December 6th from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Topics that will be covered are: What is a blog, the purpose of the blog, how to blog, and the benefits of blogging. We’d love to have members of the community involved in the blog! There will be two door prizes of $10 Whitewood bucks given out! It will be fun, so please come and get involved! Please let us know if you will be there by either posting a message on the blog here under this post or emailing us at whitewoodblogger@yahoo.com

Thanks!!

A note has gone home with school children at Whitewood Elementary
asking if there is need for help with Christmas gifts.

If you know of someone who is in need of help with Christmas gifts for
their children, please encourage them to submit a request via June
Riley, the Whitewood Elementary School counselor, as soon as possible.
The children do not need to be students at the Whitewood school, we
will also help younger and older students.

The gift requests will be shared via the three Whitewood Churches.
However, all requests will be kept confidential. The names will be
known only to the school counselors who will coordinate the project
and arrange delivery of the gifts.

If you have any questions about the angel trees, talk to June Riley or
Ginger Johnson at the school or Pastor David Baer at Immanuel Lutheran
Church.

The school may also be requesting some help with winter gloves and
hats and gym shoes for children. Those plans are still in the works. I
will provide more information if it becomes available.

David Baer

Whitewood may rename Hooker Street

Updated: Nov 27, 2007 07:46 PM MST

News To Use Whitewood Blog Web site

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Makenzi Henderson

As we all know there has been a lot of press over the issue of changing Hooker St. It’s amazing how fast this story has been spreading. Today Keloland was in Whitewood conducting interviews.

(Click the photo to watch the video)

On November 17th Kevin and Patty Williams with the help of the local boy scouts had a Pinewood Derby.  Not only was it a day the scouts got together with their community but it was also a fund-raiser. For those of you who missed the event it was a great time!  Don’t worry, the boy scouts will do another Pinewood Derby with new cars next year.  Stay tuned and we will keep you posted when it will be.

Whitewood asked to change Street Name

If Pastor David Baer has his way, the Whitewood City Council will change the name of one of the northern Black Hills town’s streets.

Baer says Hooker Street doesn’t lend itself to a family atmosphere and is offensive to some residents.

It’s actually named after a Union general from the Civil War. But Baer says even renaming it to “General Hooker Street” might not be much better.

A Whitewood city official says any renaming would affect one resident and six water bill accounts.

The council is expected to discuss it at its December 17th meeting.

The PTO will be meeting in the school library this Monday at 5:30. We will be discussing our last fundraiser of the Soup Supper and the Pie Auction. We will also be discussing upcoming events that will be held. Getting involved in the PTO is a good way to know what is going on with your child’s school. It is also a good way to get to know other parents in the community, and to support your local school. So please plan on attending!!

December 8th and 15th there will be horse drawn hayrides from 10 am to 2 pm at The Hub in Whitewood. The cost of the hayride is a donation of a non perishable canned good that will go to the local food pantry.  If you have any questions call Debbie Shafto at 722-1400.

If you have any upcoming events, we would like to tell about them here on the blog.

Are you having special services, events, celebrations, etc. that you would like to invite the community members to attend. The blog site is a great places to help get the word out.

Email us at whitewoodblogger@yahoo.com

Whitewood is getting the word out on the blog. Today information about the blog was listed in the Black Hills Pioneer newspaper! Amy and I were both very excited about this so more people in our community would learn about the blog and start spreading the word. Amy and I have also been passing out flyers at community events giving the blog address and a little bit about what a blog is. More people in our town are learning about the blog and the word is being spread about the good things that we are doing!  Yeah!!!

This summer some citizens of Whitewood working with Horizons got together and painted a house. I’m posting the before and after pictures. The results were phenomenal and this act made a huge impact on our community. Thank you to everyone who participated and volunteered your time to help out!

If your kids are looking for a fun thing to do this weekend they can go roller skating at Hale Hall November 25th.  The first session is from 1-3:30 and the second session is 4-6:30.  There is an admission fee of $6 per person.  There will be drawing for fun prizes as well. Have a safe weekend!  

According to recent survey’s Whitewood has increased its knowledge on leadership in our community. According to the survey 76.5% of Whitewoods Leadership Plenty participants believe that they had increased their leadership skills. The survey also revealed that 62.8% of them attributed this knowledge to participating in the Leadership Plenty.

Whitewood is intending to increase this knowledge throughout the community. Currently with Horizons II we are working to set up groups in the areas under each of our goals. We are compiling lists of people that wanted to help with phase I during Horizons I and also the list of people that said they would help with Horizons II. These people are in the process of being notified to begin implementing our changes. Also Whitewood showed leadership skills when sending two people in their community to learn how to blog for results in Whitewood. We are also currently in the process of setting up additional training classes so we can train others in the community how to blog!!

We in Whitewood are looking to the future and are looking to involve many more in our community toward our leadership goals! With perserverance and hard work we can reach our goals!

I would just like to say HOLLA (that’s slang for hello to a friend) to the Lawrence County Journal  for giving us props in the Saturday paper.  The Horizons story made the front page of the paper!  I just want to encourage everyone to keep reading their papers and keep blogging.  Lets get everyone talking about great things in Whitewood!

Over the past several months Whitewood has participated in leadership plenty, study circles,  and now Horizons II. In the beginning of the process participants in the study circle were given surveys on their knowledge of poverty and they were then given another survey at the completion of the study circles. According to the results of those study circles Whitewood has a grown a great deal in regards to their knowledge of poverty. The surveys were scaled from 1 (knowing almost nothing) to 4 (knowing a great deal).  Some of the categories were as follows:

1. Knowing the kinds of poverty that affect the area at the beginning we were at 2.33 and at the end of the study circles we were at 3.26

2. Reasons it’s difficult to get out of poverty? In the beginning we were at 2.32 and in the end we were at 3.14.

3. How poverty affects community, in the beginning we were at 2.27 and in the end at 3.35.

4. Strategies to reduce poverty, in the beginning we were at 2.18 and in the end at 3.29

5. Individual actions to reduce poverty, in the beginning we were at 2.13 and in the end at 3.16

6. Community actions to reduce poverty, in the beginning we were at 2.13 and in the end at 3.34

7. Policies to reduce poverty, in the beginning we were at 2.03, and in the end we were at 3.13

8. knowing possible causes of poverty, in the beginning at 2.44 and in the end at 3.21

As we can see from these results Whitewood seemed to learn a great deal about poverty and its affects from the study circles.

The survey also showed that Whitewood was right in line with other communities and Whitewood increased their knowledge of poverty by 88.6% compared to 88.3% of other communities. Whitewood also showed in the survey’s a strong desire to take action in the community to reduce poverty.

These surveys were also given to the youth in our community and the youth gained a great deal of knowledge from the study circles as well. At the beginning of the study circles the youth had responses ranging from 1.67 to 2.67 and after the study circle was completed their knowledge base ranged from 2.67 to 3.67.  The survey reported that 100% of Whitewood’s youth showed an increase in their knowledge of poverty compared to 94% of Youth in participating communities.

From these study circles we can see that Whitewood has definetly gained a wealth of knowledge about poverty and its affects on the community. Now as a community we need to take this knowledge and begin to implement our actions in the community.

If anyone would like to read more about these survey results. Please see the right margin of this page under Study Circle results. Let’s keep reaching for the stars Whitewood!!

Yes it is true! Whitewood wins blog of the week award. Below is what was said:

Congratulations Whitewood for earning the Blog of the Week award! Whitewood bloggers learned early to take advantage of what other communities were doing–they borrowed some ideas from Newell.

We have also seen some comments and conversations starting between Whitewood community members and other communities. Our bloggers in Whitewood have done some great things:

• Highlighting community activities (PTO events, Soup Supper, Horizons Celebration Event, etc.)
• Showcasing a new community business (Shop 4 Less)
• Projects in progress (City Hall update, History Book, etc.)
• New community services (Newspaper)
• Finding volunteers/filling community needs (Food Baskets)
• Recognizing people or groups (Consumer Handbook volunteers)

Whitewood has a great start on their blog, can’t wait to see more! Congratulations!

Want to know what is going on in town and the local events. Click on the right side of the screen under Whitewood Upcoming Events. This page will be constantly updated as new events are scheduled or made known to us on the blog!

Then attend City Council meetings to learn more. The next scheduled City Council meeting is Monday November 19th at 7pm at the City Hall. Regular meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month. To get on the agenda, call the City Hall at 269-2247 the Thursday prior to the meeting. The City welcomes all residents to attend meetings.

This summer the Clydesdale horses were in Whitewood. The Horses and the wagon paraded through town and it was a great site for everyone to see! The horses were also seen at the Boneyard Saloon concert grounds in Whitewood.

I love the picture above when you see the Horses and the Harleys in the same shot.

Pictured here is Leah and Jamie who found Jasper (yes that is the dog ) owned by Kathy.  Kathy is a responsible pet owner in Whitewood and Jasper was lucky to have a city tag on when the young girls stopped at city hall with the lost dog seeking direction on what to do and City Hall tracked the dog owner down.  Thanks to EVERYONE for being responsible residents in Whitewood. Please register your pets and have them wear tags at all times.

City Hall is still continuing the face-lift.  Here you will see talented workers making improvements to the Hall.  Keep checking back here to see the progress OR stop in to City Hall and say hello.  What color would you call the new walls?

Plans are in the works for the annual angel tree for Whitewood children.

A note will be going home with school children at Whitewood Elementary
asking if there is need for help with Christmas gifts. If you know of
someone who is in need of help with Christmas gifts for their
children, please encourage them to submit a request via June Riley,
the Whitewood Elementary School counselor. The children do not need
to be students at the Whitewood school, we will also help younger and
older students.

The gift requests will be shared via the three Whitewood Churches.
However, all requests will be kept confidential. The names will be
known only to the school counselors who will coordinate the project
and arrange delivery of the gifts.

Some have asked about whether Whitewood children are included in other
area programs. I checked about other assistance and was told that
needy Whitewood children also are included in angel trees in Sturgis
and Spearfish.

If you have any questions about the angel trees, talk to June Riley at
the school or Pastor David Baer at Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Recently, a new store opened in Whitewood called Shop 4 Less. This new store features bargained brand name foods and also organic foods. The items in the store are sold at a discount price because many of the cans or packages are slightly dented or crushed. The store offers a wide array of foods and there is something for everyone. This store is definetly worth checking out.

Below are pictures of the owners Marina and Susan and their new store!

 Click on the collage for a closer look!!

B I N G O!!! Yes we had Bingo tonight in Whitewood! It was so much fun! There were many WINNERS and lots of smiles on faces tonight! So Bingo is back and will be held every Tuesday night at 7pm at the Senior Center. So, please everyone mark your calendars and come and have fun!

Remember those “FUN” pre and post surveys that the Horizons Staff had you take during Study Circles and LeadershipPLENTY?

Believe it or not - it was for a purpose!  Those pre and post surveys help us to understand how much your community learned about poverty and about leadership by your participation in those specified curriculums.

As a result, we have assembled a community profile with the results of the pre and post surveys for both Study Circles and LeadershipPLENTY.  Check out your community results by clicking on the links found under “Survey Data” on the right hand side of your community blog.   

Tonight the PTO sponsored a Soup Supper to raise money for the school beautification project! The night was great and there were 4 different kinds of soup… Potato, Chili, Chicken Noodle, and Ham and Bean. We also had a Pie Auction tonight too! Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and the night seemed to be a real success!!!

The pictures on this page from the soup supper tonight!!

Tonight the PTO is sponsoring a soup supper at Hale Hall from 5pm to 7pm! All proceeds for the event will go to the school beautification project. There is also going to be a pie auction as well! So please everyone come and have some soup and take home a pie! It should be a great event and definetly a very good cause!!

One of the goals that we have for Whitewood is to make a history book for Whitewood. Meaning that we want to start capturing everything that is here now and start a history book from now. So on this past Friday Mary Livingston and I went out and took over 100 pictures of the various businesses etc in town. I am now in the process of printing out these pictures, so that we can begin to start making our history book going forward from now. We think it will be great to look back at this book in 10 years and see how many things have changed since that time. This book will be kept in the library for anyone to view it after it is completed. With continued perseverance we can make positive changes for Whitewood!

to the Office of Attny General Larry Long for providing a Consumer Handbook, to the U.S. Dept of Energy for providing tips on Energy saving, to the South Dakota Dept of Social Services for providing hand outs on weatherization assistance and low income energy assistance, to Black Hills Pioneer for their special edition paper, to Horizons for the energy smart lightbulbs, and to AARP for providing the bags that all of these goodies came in. All of these items were given to each family household as they left the Horizons meeting on Thursday November 8th. What a great way to end the evening! It’s always so great when you get to leave with something in your hand.

 Above are pictures of Millie and Mary looking at what was in their bag of goodies.

The City Hall office is getting a new face! The office is currently under construction and will soon be unveiled. I will be updating the progress of the city office to show the progress along the way. This picture was taken today 11-10-2007. Please keep checking back to view the progress!!