Whitewood

Category 6: Building skills and mobilizing around leadership

In what ways have leadership skills been improved/enhanced?  What is different? To me it seems that leadership skills have been improved greatly since Horizons came into the picture. Many more people are getting involved in community activities and everyone seems to have the same goal in mind, which is to see our little town thriving. I think more people that did not think of themselves as leaders have stepped up and are being looked at by others as leaders. I think there has always been cooperation and working together in the town, but it is definetly different and enhanced since working with Horizons. We also have more coverage in the Newspaper as well too. The Pioneer features Whitewood every Wednesday where we have or own section, and we also get a Whitewood section in the Lawrence County Journal every other Saturday. It’s been great forwarding pictures to the newspaper to get some of our stories featured.

Category 10: Building skills and mobilizing around community

Is your community more hopeful about the future?  How do you know? I think our community is more hopeful about the future! I think this is evident in the way that our community shows support in the various activities that go on in town. We have a lot of involvement in community activities. For instance the Christmas Parade of Lights was fabulous this year and we had more community support and more floats were entered in the contest this year as well. I see more involvement from individuals that were not previously involved too. People in town are excited and the more they see positive change happening the more hopeful they will become!

Tuesday January 28th Howard came to BINGO and was quite the riot. We had a great crowd at BINGO on Tuesday night. We even had Pastor Steve Agan and his wife too. Howard, however, performed a song for us at intermission that was quite entertaining. I did get a clip of it on the camera and I will get it uploaded onto youtube and then will show it here later. I’m having trouble with it right now. But I did want to share a few of the pictures from the other night that I have. Check out the shirt that Q is wearing! There is a joke behind it and I guess you’ll have to ask Brenda about it… Howard and Q thought it was quite funny though. Come and check out Bingo on Tuesday nights it is a lot of fun, and you never know what’s going to happen!

Friday, January 04, 2008 Horizons Project Promotes Community Blogging Blogging is about conversations. So is community development. So maybe community development could be about blogging… I thought I had a totally new dissertation idea there. Then I found out the smart folks at the SDSU Cooperative Extension Service have already beaten

Friday, January 04, 2008

Horizons Project Promotes Community Blogging

Blogging is about conversations. So is community development. So maybe community development could be about blogging…

I thought I had a totally new dissertation idea there. Then I found out the smart folks at the SDSU Cooperative Extension Service have already beaten me to it. As part of the Horizons project, they have 21 South Dakota communities blogging:

I’ve added the list to the right sidebar as well. Take a look — there are a lot of interesting projects going on. (Gotta have data — check out the Bison demographics page!) The blogs serve a practical purpose as a convenient place for each town’s committee to archive their Horizons mission statements and other documents that the project might require. The communities can document their progress as they undertake projects to “increase leadership and decrease poverty.”

A quick survey shows that five of the participating towns — Armour, Murdo, Newell, Philip, and Whitewood 434 — have discovered the joy of hit counters. Whitewood is ahead, with 434 hits (not to mention a good spread of posts!), with Newell and Armour coming on strong. (Beware the SiteMeter, kids! Numbers can be addicting!)

There is also a state Horizons site coordinating the community blog efforts. On the humorous side, the latest post there has some priceless blog advice on not overusing the new text color shortcut (”don’t go crazy here–remember sometimes less is more!”).

I’m intrigued. Folks blogging not for polemics or imagined fame, but to share information with neighbors and promote the common good. Maybe these community blogs can draw out some ideas and plans that might not jump out under everyone’s gaze at a public meeting. Maybe blogs really can do some good, not just for geeky technophiles, but for every South Dakotan.

There may be a dissertation in there yet. I look forward to hearing from participants (including my friends in Montrose — keep on blogging!) about how community blogging helps them carry out their Horizons project goals.

Posted by caheidelberger at 22:33  

Labels: economic developmentme to it. As part of the Horizons project, they have 21 South Dakota communities blogging: SD Horizons Community Blogs Armour Bison Conde Estelline Faith Frederick Hot Springs Iroquois Montrose Murdo Newell Oldham Philip Presho Sanborn Central Scotland Sisseton Tripp Tyndall Wagner Whitewood I’ve added the list to the right sidebar as well. Take a look — there are a lot of interesting projects going on. (Gotta have data — check out the Bison demographics page!) The blogs serve a practical purpose as a convenient place for each town’s committee to archive their Horizons mission statements and other documents that the project might require. The communities can document their progress as they undertake projects to “increase leadership and decrease poverty.” A quick survey shows that five of the participating towns — Armour, Murdo, Newell, Philip, and Whitewood 434 — have discovered the joy of hit counters. Whitewood is ahead, with 434 hits (not to mention a good spread of posts!), with Newell and Armour coming on strong. (Beware the SiteMeter, kids! Numbers can be addicting!) There is also a state Horizons site coordinating the community blog efforts. On the humorous side, the latest post there has some priceless blog advice on not overusing the new text color shortcut (”don’t go crazy here–remember sometimes less is more!”). I’m intrigued. Folks blogging not for polemics or imagined fame, but to share information with neighbors and promote the common good. Maybe these community blogs can draw out some ideas and plans that might not jump out under everyone’s gaze at a public meeting. Maybe blogs really can do some good, not just for geeky technophiles, but for every South Dakotan. There may be a dissertation in there yet. I look forward to hearing from participants (including my friends in Montrose — keep on blogging!) about how community blogging helps them carry out their Horizons project goals. Posted by caheidelberger at 22:33 Labels: economic development

posted by Todd Overland 

Bill Burke Memorial Wrestling Tournament

SATURDAY  FEBRUARY 16, 2008  at GRUNWALD AUDITORIUM in Sturgis

Wrestler’s and Adults - $5.00      Students - $3.00      Weigh-in: 6:30-8:00am             Wrestling starts at 10:00  Tournament Type: 5 man bracket                             

Awards: Trophies for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ribbons for 4th,5th                                                           

Wrestle the age you are February 16, 2008             

 AAU Card Required.  Cards will NOT be sold at tournament                                                 

 Breakfast and Lunch concessions available                                                                                               For more info contact:  Todd Overland 269-2056 or Trevor Papenfuss 722-2071

The Artemis House provides services to men, women and children who are escaping domestic violence and sexual assault.  Besides shelter for those in crisis, many other services are available.    A representative from Artemis House comes to the Whitewood library on Wednesdays -1pm to 3pm. 

The Artemis Boutique is now open at 344 Colorado Blvd in Spearfish.  Gently used clothing and household items are for sale at a moderate price.  Proceeds go to the Artemis House.  Your donation of good clean items is welcome and appreciated.                               Check out our store! 

Coming Soon! Statistics from 2007. 

February is Safe Dating Awareness Month.

Posted by Mary Koens, Rural Advocate.

Posted by Donna Willson 

The Lord’s Kitchen is located at the Black Hills Baptist Church in Whitewood and is our local food pantry serving the Whitewood and St. Onge area.  People can come to the pantry once a month.  Food and monetary donations are always needed and appreciated.  We spend most of our dollars at the Food Bank in Rapid City where we can stretch our dollar the most.  Everything there is .18 cents a pound making, for example, a 10 lb. turkey $1.80.  We are open the 1st and 3rd mondays from 9 am to 12 am.  For more information contact Donna Willson at 605-269-2360 or the church at 605-269-2646.

Another post from Mary Livingston:

At most Horizon meeting there was talk about planting more trees in 
town.    Soil Conversation (that’s the people that get trees for 
Farmer’s shelter belts) are taking orders for trees that will be 
delivered the first two weeks in May.    The trees come dry root     
Some are quite small.    There are four that are four feet : Bur Oak, 
Hackberry, Green Ash, and Seedless (Siouxland) Cottonwoods.      The 
smaller trees run $27.50 a bundle of 25 so you might want to purchase 
these along with a couple of neighbors.      The bigger trees run 
#20.00 for a bundle of 10 or $2.75 each.    I planted quite a few 
trees and bushes I got from them last year and have been happy with 
them.        There are lot of varieties including evergreens.       
To find out more or order some trees call 642-3590 and talk to 
Zindy.    She works mornings Monday through Thursday.  If we all 
plant a tree or two we will have another Horizon goal on the run.

642-3590 Add to Contacts

Post from Mary Livingston she couldn’t get on blog this morning:

At Leadership Plenty there was some discussion about preserving the history of Whitewood.      How important it was to find old pictures and documents before they are lost forever.     Rea and Donna have been working like crazy on this at the library.   They purchased archival safe materials to store photos and print material.  The Genie Club has given hours of help in sorting and categorizing the library collection and getting things ready for any new material that might be donated.       Now they get their rewards.      Montana-Dakota Utilities has given Whitewood a grant of $1,000.     The City Council voted to put the money into a fund for the library to digitize their collection.   This way any one wanting to look at the collection can view it on a computer and save handling the originals.       It is an expensive process but it will ensure that Whitewood’s history  — at least what is documented  — will be around a long time.      Stop by the library and talk to Rea about this Horizon project.

Quoted from a Whitewood 5th grader:

I think Poverty is bad. Poverty affects everyone. It will affect Moms, Dads, youth, and even infants.

The community can raise money during the summer on 4th of July. We can have a fire work show and charge $3 for 10 and under and $5 for 11 and up. The Whitewood wrestling tournament money we could use towards poverty.

When I’m 12 I’m going to give half of my meat from hunting to people who need it. Right now I’m going to save up my money so I can give to people who need it.

Quoted from a Whitewood 5th grader:

Poverty affects everyone in the same basic family that is under poverty. I feel that if a family or person is affected by poverty with a roof over their heads, but barely hanging on they should try out for a better job. Or if they don’t have a roof over their heads just go to family til you can manage your family and if single your self.

I don’t know maybe we could raise 20,000 to give homeless people money. Also we could give apartments or hotel rooms to homeless people.

I could convince my Mom to buy several McDonalds meals to give to homeless people.

Thoughts quoted from a Whitewood 5th grader:

Poverty affects everyone that doesn’t have that much money. It affects the children too. I do not like it at all. It makes me feel bad for the parents and especially the kids. The community can help by pitching in and giving the people what they need. Or they could give them a job and pay them for working. I could help them by giving them toys that I don’t play with or I could give them clothes that I don’t wear.

Thoughts quoted from a Whitewood 5th grader: 

Poverty affects people who don’t have a home, money, and a job. I don’t like it. It kinda affects my family because I have only my Mom that I live with. It’s kinda hard to feed us food because when she gets paid she has to give that money to pay the bills.

I think when I turn 12 I can go hunting and donate some of the meat to feed people who are in poverty. And when I get atleast old enough to build a house I want to build a house where they can sleep.

I think we can pay just a little more money to the people with kids and only one parent living with them. Plus help people who are in poverty by having a free lunch and drinks. One day a month. Poverty affects people who have kids and there is only one parent plus the homeless, without money, and thats why I think we should have a free lunch once a month or two for people who are in poverty. I think we need more homeless shelters for the homeless too.

Quoted from Whitewood 5th grader: 

Poverty affects everyone like in an ecosystem. One person needs food then someone goes and tries or collects food with a can drive or something. It makes me feel horrible knowing some people are having trouble living. I have a memory I will never forget. While driving out of Walmart I saw a lady with a boy who couldn’t be more than 3 or 4 and she had a sign that said “Will work for food or gas” I hope she is OK.

To help we could make a homeless shelter, have a food drive, and much more. I often am told to not worry about it, because there are a lot of good people, but we do need to worry about it because we all can help.

Me alone I could go to family and friends and collect money and food and donate it.

Quoted from Whitewood 5th grader: 

Poverty affects people by when they lose their money and they can’t take care of their kids, and when they can’t take care of their kids they may get taken away. They may also go into debt. I feel really bad about it.

The community can donate money, make food for them, clean, and mow their lawn. They can help give them some money, cook for them, and if you know them let them stay at your house.

Quoted from Whitewood 5th grader: 

Who poverty affects and how I feel about it?

Poverty can affect anyone. It can affect kids, single or divorced parents, or even two parents. This may seem odd but poverty can also affect any animals with owners who are going through poverty. The person who is going through poverty is also making the rest of their family go through it also. Then you can’t afford food or drinks for the child and also for the dog, cat, horse, etc. For some people poverty may be very hard and sad. For other people poverty may not be so hard. They may have a close family member who can help them.

When it comes to poverty this is how I feel. When someone is going through all of this I feel really bad and I want to help. I know that itis a very difficult thing to be going through. When I see those poor families with the signs and kids and animals I feel I need to help because they are very helpless and can’t stay warm. I wish I had super powers and could give them a house but it’s not that easy.

Where do I see people that are going through poverty? I see it everywhere when I go to Walmart, the stores, and all over the streets. Also outside of restaurants.

What can the community do to help with Poverty? The schools could do a fundraiser then donate the money to people who need it. The lunch people could take 1 or 2 5th or 6th graders and could help make sack lunches or something. Or the library could have a tin can by the door or somewhere and then anyone could put money in there. They should put a sign in front of the can saying money for the homeless. Or we could start a group where people do nice things for the homeless.

What can I do to make a difference? I can help by donating clothes or money. I can help by giving them food or anything else that is possible.

Quoted from Whitewood 5th grader: 

Who does Poverty affect and how do you feel about it?

Poverty brings hunger and pain to people. We feel bad for the people who do not have homes and no food and no clothing. A lot of people are in Poverty. Poverty seems like a whole lot of bad things.

Recently, I asked a few teachers at Whitewood Elementary if their children could give me some of their thoughts on some of the Horizons issues. So the 5th grade class of Whitewood Elementary has responded and I have 9 different responses about Poverty from their class. I will be posting them in separate posts. The first one is below:

Poverty can affect anyone. It can affect singles, married couples, and parents who are divorced. I feel that everyone should try to help out the ones who are in Poverty.

Whitewood could hold activities and all of the money that is raised could go to the families who are experiencing poverty. The town could hold a giving week each month and donate all the money to families in poverty. The school did a giving chain and donated the money that was raised to the food pantry. Maybe businesses could do the same, except donate the money to families.

Most people throw away clothes, toys, and other things that are in pretty good condition because they don’t want to hold onto them. Maybe we could come up with an empty building or something and make a Salvation Army, but instead of having to pay for things they would be FREE.

If people would just give pocket change it would make a difference. If more people would donate there might be less debt.

Whitewood should be like one huge family. Most people will help out their brothers or sisters, but if they just care about them what about the rest of the town? If someone needs help they will depend on someone to help them. Doesn’t each of us want to be depended on? If so we need to do what we can to help others. It doesn’t matter who they are. They can be young or old, big or small it doesn’t matter who they are.

At the Whitewood Presbyterian Church tonight as Susie McIntyre Luchsinger performed. Susie the sister of Reba McIntyre performed to a packed church tonight. The concert was AWESOME! She had people singing, clapping, and laughing throughout the hour or so that she was performing. She told stories of her life, her kids, and her family as she was singing. If you’ve never seen her perform I would encourge you to do so. It was wonderful that she was able to come to our little town and perform and she was welcomed with open arms!! Thanks Susie we truly appreciated you spending time with us!! Thanks also the Presbyterian church for asking her to come and share this wonderful evening with us. Below are some pictures of the event.

On Friday January 25th the PTO held their final “Turn Off the TV” night and instead held a FREE movie night at the school library. We had atleast 40 kids and a few parents too. The PTO popped popcorn for the kids and all of the kids brought their blankets and pillows and relaxed on the floor. Overall, the evening was great and I think most of the kids had a great time! Thanks to all the kids who showed up and the parents that helped that evening!! We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support.

Susie McIntyre Luchsinger will be performing tomorrow Sunday January 27th at the Whitewood Presbyterian Church at 7 pm. Seating is limited at the church so early arrival is encouraged. A free will offering will be taken at the concert. So who is she you may ask? Susie is a singer just like her sister Reba McIntyre! She has directed her talents to the country gospel /music filed over the past few years. She has been named “Artist of the year” several times in the field of Positive Country music. Sounds like it should be a great show and we would love to see you all there!

The Chamber is having their fifth annual Chili Cook-off February 9th at Hale Hall. The Chili feed is open to the public at noon and goes until 2 pm. There will be prizes awarded. Teams are welcome and they can decorate their tables.  The Horseshoe 4-H club is selling bottled water and the 8-10 club is serving ice cream. Donations are accepted at the door. Contestants who are interested should contact City Hall at 269-2247 they are asking you register byFebruary 4th.

Seven residents of Whitewood are committing a great bit of their time to receive training to become Certified Firefighters. This will greatly help our community in many ways.

Hats off to all the Volunteers that work so hard on the Fire Department, Ambulance., and through out our community.

In December I reported that the kids of Whitewood Elementary were selling links to a giving chain. They were selling white, red, and green strips of paper for 5 cents each which each purchaser signed. They then stapled the strips together creating a link in a chain. These chains were hung all along the hallways of the school. This event was spearheaded by the sixth graders. I just learned that the children of Whitewood raised $355 selling their links of the giving chain. The children of Whitewood Elementary then donated their earnings to the Lord’s Kitchen (the Whitewood food pantry). Donna Willson from the Lord’s Kitchen accepted the donation on behalf of the food pantry.

Way to go kids. What a great way to give back to the community and to ensure that the food pantry has money to help keep their cupboards stocked!!!

In every Horizon meeting I attended, community pride was a topic of discussion. Planting trees, improving the parks, painting houses, and such are projects we have focused on. Sometimes we forget the ongoing efforts of Ken and the rest of the city maintenance crew that work everyday to keep our town looking good. The snow storm and resulting snow covered street provided yet another opportunity for this crew to show us real community pride. The snow removal has been fabulous. Big thanks to Ken and the rest of the crew.

Today my son’s donated their X-box to the library and I was so excited to see the children’s reactions.  I hope many kids in town will visit the library to play.  Any child can go to library and sign up for a time to play, ENJOY!!  Thank you Bryce and Austin Kudlock

Pictured below are Bryce & Austin Kudlock!

!

Pictured below is Amy Kudlock with Rea the librarian and the kids of Whitewood at

the library today accepting the X-Box!!

!

I added a new header to the blog tonight. Thank you Cheryl for your help!!! I need a different picture, but I went ahead and used this one for tonight! Yeah now we don’t have the generic picture anymore!!

This is our Dale O’Dea!!! 

Well come to BINGO and you too can learn more about the Dale O’Dea day! This is now a big joke at BINGO because one night at BINGO Dale waved her arms frantically yelling BINGO. The problem was Dale didn’t have a BINGO on that call and now we have a new name for people who call BINGO when there is none. It is all in good fun and Dale is a good sport about it and she laughs right along with us.

Although, it was snowing tonight we did have BINGO and it was a great time! The crowd was much lighter tonight due to the weather, but that didn’t matter to those that attended. Cindy Gillies was the BIG winner of the night as she won several different BINGO games and also the drawing. We had a wide variety of ages as well at BINGO tonight. The youngest person there was 8 and the oldest person there was atleast 83. So really BINGO is for everyone!!!

Whitewood Health Fair Planning Meeting  28 January 2008   6:00pm

Those interested in helping to plan a health fair for our community please come or call Rea Weyrich at 269-2616.

Just wanted to let all of you know, The Hub will be open for Super bowl! We have a 7 X 5 foot TV, non-smoking facility, and lots of hot drinks! Adults are welcome to go between the bar and the coffee shop. Kids will be asked to stay in the coffee shop, but can go into the bar with their parents. We will be doing our potluck in the bar (like we always do) so bring something yummy to share and plan for a fun evening!

The Hub coffee shop will open at 4pm and close when the game’s over. The Hub’s Pub is open 11am - 2am on Sundays.

See you there!!

Carolyn our fearless leader helping us facilitate our meeting!!

Last night Sunday January 20th we had our first implementation meeting for our strategic plan. The meeting was held at 6pm at the library. The weather was awful and it had been snowing in Whitewood all day. Although, we had a very slim group we did have some good discussions about our future plans and goals, and what we needed to do to go forward.

We have set the monthly meetings to be held on the 2nd Sunday of every month. The meetings will be held at the library at 6pm. We encourage everyone that wants to be involved in seeing positive changes happen for Whitewood attend these meetings. I’m sure that we have a committee that is right for you! Some of the committees are: communication, economic development, recreation, and more. If you are interested in getting involved please post a comment here or contact one of the steering committee members: Rea Weyrich, Lynn Hill, Marty O’Dea, or Ryan Bush.

We are also wanting others to get involved in the blog! We need more people to post comments and also to post their ideas and opinions. We are on track for the highest prize in our community which is the laptop and the printer, but in order to continue towards this goal we need the help of the people. If you are interested in learning how to blog, please let me know by posting a comment here and I’ll help you. Or if you have already had blog training and you need a refresher class please let us know and Amy and I will be happy to have another class to help everyone out. Please let us know.

Now we need to get to work on our various committees and see that the goals that were previously set up are achieved. The various committees need to set up meetings to discuss the progress of their goals and what needs to be done to acheive them. Each group needs to report back to Carolyn on their progress and what was discussed. So let’s not wait to start working, lets start working now and see some real positive change for Whitewood!