Whitewood

 YOUR DOOR!  

Our community needs to be active and up date on big breaks that could come our way.    You can help by attending then reporting back on one of the seminars listed below. 

Sign up to be Whitewood’s Representative to one of these Seminars. 

January 28th  -  Regional Collaboration and Community   - Mitchell

February 25th - Affordable Housing - Kodaka

February 28th - SD Launch ‘08 Entrepreneurship Conference - Mitchell

March  6th - Economic Development & Entrepreneurship Workshop - Newell

March 11 - 13th Heartland Center’s “Home Town Competiveness Training” - Lincoln, NE

March 19th - MidStates Community and Economic Development conference - Sioux City, NE

 March 26th - Marketing/Recreation/Tourism - Phillip

April 8 - 9th - Governors Conference on Economic Development - Pierre

May 28 - 30th - GrassRoots and Groundwork Conference - Bloomington, MN

Various funding opportunities are available for all the seminars through  SDSU Cooperative Extension Service as the delivery organization of the Horizons Program.  The Northwest Area Foundation is the funder for this program.  In most cases more than one person is authorized to attend.  Contact Rea Weyrich 269-2681 for more information about each seminar and how to register. 

 Kenny Miller musician & John & Holly

Tonight Bullwackers in Whitewood had it’s one year anniversary party since John & Holly Perkovich took over the business. There was free food and drink specials for everyone to enjoy. The place was packed with customers enjoying the entertainment of musician Kenny Miller. Thanks John and Holly for a great year of business. We look forward to many more years with you and your business in Whitewood.

Last night the Chamber of Commerce held its annual Wine & Cheese social at 6pm at The Hub. This social is a kick off for the new year, plus it’s a membership drive for the Chamber. Although, the weather last night was very cold and snowy there was definitely a good turn out of people at this event. The night was filled with good conversation and fun. There were several different types of wines and cheeses for everyone to enjoy too! At 8pm the party was still going strong and Karaoke was started. What fun that was hearing different people singing Karaoke and having a great time doing it too! I left the party about 9pm so I didn’t see all of the Karaoke that went on, but I was told that it went on later than that. I did get some pictures of people doing Karaoke along with pictures of the party. You can enjoy the pictures in the slide show below.

Overall, I would say the night was a success for the Chamber and I hope that they were able to obtain some new memberships. My husband and I joined the Chamber as individuals. I would encourage EVERYONE that wants to be involved with the city and know about things that are going on in the city join too! The cost of joining the Chamber is $50 for business owners and $25 for individuals.

The mission of the State Library is to provide equal access to print materials in a format acceptable to all citizens of South Dakota who cannot read standard print. The inability to read standard print may be caused by a visual impairment that prevents seeing the print, a physical disability that prevents holding the materials and/or turning the pages, or a learning disability caused by an organic dysfunction. The alternative formats include large print, Braille, cassette recording or electronic files.

The South Dakota Braille & Talking Book Library (B&TB) provides many of the same books and magazines that are found at your public library except they are recorded on cassette and in Braille format. We even loan you a cassette player to play them on. This service is paid for by federal and state funds and is provided at no charge to the patron. This includes toll-free calls to our library, cassette player replacement and no postage when mailing materials back to our library.

For more information and eligibility requirements contact The Whitewood Public Library  at 269-2616 or SD State Library personnel at 1800-423-6665 or visit their website http://library.sd.gov/b&tb/index.htm 

Other programs to ask about

Descriptive Video
Borrow great blockbuster videos from the South Dakota Braille and Talking Book Library!

SD News Telephone Reader-  Dial a 1-800 number & get the newpaper read 

Whitewood Public Library books & resource materials list for the 2007 Tax season.

Forms - 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, Schedules A&B, Schedule EIC  & instruction booklets. 

CD - IRS Tax Products for 2007 containing instructions and publications as of 11 Dec 07.

Book -  ”Your Federal Income Tax for Individuals” for use in preparing 2007  returns     

Internet - If you plan to fill out your tax forms online ask the Librarian about giving you extra time on the computer so you won’t feel rushed.

Cookies coming soon! 

Girl Scouts will meet to discuss their upcoming Cookie Sales.  Local girls will get tips from their leader Mona Smith on this years national fund raiser. 

Sunday 20 January 4:00 at the Whitewood Public Library

On Sunday January 20th at 6pm a meeting is scheduled at the library. We are asking that all members from the steering committees, strategic planning committees, other committees, and anyone who wants to get involved attend. During this meeting we will discuss our goals from Community Strategic plans, and we will begin to work on these goals and see that they are achieved. We are going to need the support of the community in order to get these goals achieved. Please plan on attending this meeting as the more brains and ideas that we have to share information with the better!!

Every month we are asked a blog question of the month. This month I thought I’d throw it out to everyone and see if I can get some input from others on their thoughts and ideas of the questions. Below are some questions from Cheryl. Please comment on the blog and leave your ideas and opinions or email me at whitewoodblogger@yahoo.com. Any input would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

*******Please answer these questions by including it in your blogs for January: *******

Please choose one or two questions in EACH category to address on your blog:

Category 6: Building skills and mobilizing around leadership

What changes are you seeing in the way community leadership is exercised or carried out? How is it different?

How has your community changed after LeadershipPlenty® training?

In what ways have leadership skills been improved/enhanced?  What is different?

What changes are you seeing in the way leadership is carried out?  How decisions get made in your community?

What difference does the involvement of low income people make in community leadership?

Category 10: Building skills and mobilizing around community

How has your community changed since joining Horizons?

Is your community more hopeful about the future?  How do you know?

What evidence do you have that community members see poverty as a community issue?

Are more people involved in creating ideas, plans and taking actions on behalf of the community?  What difference does this make?

What new partnerships have been created (within your community, or between your community and others)?

Yesterday, we received a blog progress report from Cheryl with Horizons. As a community so far we are doing really good and are currently on track for the highest reward a laptop computer for our community! Yeah for us! But there are some things that we need to work on to ensure that we receive this reward. Below are some comments and suggestions that Cheryl had for us:

Whitewood is on track for earning the highest incentive level: Shoot for the Stars. My only suggestion is to work on adding new users and getting more current users active in creating their own posts. While Tammy is a WONDERFUL blogger, this needs to be a community wide project, so the more active bloggers the better. Also we would like to see more Horizons specific work highlighted on the blog. But overall, a great job.  You must continue this progress through the end of the project to be eligible to earn your chosen incentive level.  

This information is accurate as of January 15, 2008. If you have questions or concerns, or believe that we haven’t credited you for work completed, please let us know. This report is meant to be a guide for you and your community coordinator.

The suggestions that Cheryl gave us for our community are totally DOABLE!! I know that if we all work together we can achieve this goal. If you are not a current blogger and you would like to be there are instructions on the right side of the tool bar that can assist you. You can also email me and I’d be happy to help you get started!! We need posts about Horizon specific activities, but we also can use posts of activities and happenings that are going on in town. We can do this! If there are any questions please email me at whitewoodblogger@yahoo.com.  

Okay I know this story is in the Black Hills Pioneer today but this is a pretty cool thing for us people in Whitewood!! PIERRE - To continue our mission in building a better quality of life for the residents of our state, South Dakota Housing Development Authority has over $7 million available to financially assist developers in increasing or rehabilitating existing affordable housing for South Dakotans.
Nearly $5 million in HOME funds and $2.3 million in Housing Tax Credits will be allocated to successful applicants. The low interest rate loan provided through the HOME Program and the equity capital that can be obtained through the syndication of the Housing Tax Credits provides the financial incentives for developers to construct or rehabilitate housing for low-income households.
“The federal funding provided by the HOME and Housing Tax Credit Programs provides incentives for additional capital expenditures to occur in our State and provide affordable housing options that cannot be created entirely with conventional financing,” stated Mark Lauseng, executive director of South Dakota Housing Development Authority.
Applications for the HOME and Housing Tax Credits funding are due to South Dakota Housing Development Authority on Friday, Feb. 29, at 5 p.m. The HOME and Housing Tax Credit administrative plans, which outline the application process and program requirements can be found on the South Dakota Housing Development Authority Web site, www.sdhda.org or they may be requested by contacting patty@sdhda.org or calling South Dakota Housing Development Authority at 773-3181. The application form, rent and income limits, and contact information are also available on South Dakota Housing Development Authority Web site.

I got this idea from the Sanborn blog, but I thought it was great information so I’m sharing their information with our community as well!

Did you know 1 in 3 homeless people in the U.S. are under the age of 18?

Start the new year by going through your closet to collect jeans for homeless teens. From January 22nd to February 10th, you can drop off any brand of your gently worn jeans at any Aeropostale location across the U.S. and Canada and Do Something will make sure they get donated to a local homeless shelter. Plus, you’ll get a coupon for an additional 20% off a new pair of jeans!

WHITEWOOD LIBARY OFFERS NEW SERVICES TO PATRONS

 FAX - The Whitewood Library now offers Faxing capabilities.  Fax from or have documents faxed to the library.

NOTORY - Rea Weyrich and Donna Willson are both authorized to notorize your documents.  Come in anytime during library hours.  This will be especially helpful to those who need this service during evening or weekend hours.    Evening and Weekend hours are

Tuesday & Thursday nights   6:30-8:30       Saturday Morning    9:30-11:30                                     Questions Call 269-2616 

Due to the weather Bingo has been cancelled for tonight. Hope to see everyone next week!!

On the 9^th of January 2008 the residents of Whitewood saw some strange sites.

The 82^nd Civil Support Team from the SD National Guard came to town for an exercise. Mayor Mike Weyrich is a member of this team and was on hand to practice his skills and duties with the Guard. We are all grateful for this team and all the teams that are around for their response. We are happy that they chose Whitewood to come and demonstrate what they do.

Below are some photos of them in action.

This Thursday, January 17th the Chamber of Commerce is holding a Wine & Cheese Social starting at 6pm at The Hub! The social is geared towards starting off the New Year and is also a membership drive for the Chamber. This event is open to the public! Individuals can also join the Chamber of Commerce, not just business owners. So please mark your calendars and plan on attending this event!

On Friday the PTO sponsored another Turn the TV Off night for the kids of Whitewood! We had about 40 kids attend the skating session at Hale Hall. The night was a lot of fun for all the kids who attended. Several of the kids won different prizes like t-shirts and items from the concession stand. The next Turn the TV Off night is going to be held on Friday January 25th and it will be movie night. I’m not sure of the time yet, but it will be posted soon!! Look out for more information on this event over the next week or so! I want to thank the PTO for sponsoring the event, the kids for coming and enjoying themselves, and also to Joe Taggart for bringing his mobile skating service to us!

The public is invited to the Senior Citizen’s potluck January 17th, 2007.  The meeting follows the delicious meal.

I wanted to send out congrats to the December Wranglers of the month. This month they were Brandon Mraz 5th grade, Hailey Heckenlaible 6th grade, Taya Swanson 4th grade, Dillon Brazil 2nd grade, Shawna Rausch 1st grade, Troy Thompson Kind, Jared Olson 3rd grade. Students are selected for the honor based on good behavior and kind acts! Way to go kids!

Tomorrow there is Skating at Hale Hall from 4:30pm to 7:30pm! There will be a concession stand too! Please come it is sure to be a fun time for all!! This event is sponsored by the Whitewood PTO and is a continuation of TURN OFF THE TV NIGHT!!

Today, I got the opinions of our youth at the library. We had about 20 kids at the library sharing their ideas and opinions for the blog! It was such fun, and the kids really enjoyed getting their voices heard. We had a list of 5 different questions and we asked the kids to fill out a form for us. The five questions were: What do you like about our community? Are you willing to help in community activities? Of the things in the community that you like what would you do to improve them? Please list 3 words that you feel describe our community? How do you help our community now?

After the kids were done filling out their individual forms we then went into a group forum and started sharing our ideas and opinions as a group. I focused on 3 things during this open forum and the kids were more than happy to share their views and opinions! As a group these are the things the kids came up with.

What words describe Whitewood: fun, happy, cool, safe, nice, friendly, small, peaceful, helpful, historic, neat, intelligent, quiet, and beautiful. ( The kids really thought this was fun!)

What do you like about Whitewood: The Library, baseball field, parks, snow in the winter, trees, deer, school, nice people in town, and the scenery.

What would you like to have in Whitewood?: A waterpark, Walmart, Zoo, more Police, more water, 1800 train, more places to eat, miniature golf, A middle school and high school, more play equipment for the parks, museum, more housing and businesses in town. (They really had a blast with this one!!)

After we were done with the group forum I recruited two 7th grade girls Lizzie and Shayla to help me type in the opinions that we received from the kids in the first individual questions. The individual question/answer forms that we have from the kids are listed below in their own blogs for each of the kids. The title of the blog shows the individual child that expressed their opinions. Some of the kids showed up a little late and we didn’t get individual opinions from them, but we did get their opinions in the group forum. Overall, it went very well and the kids of Whitewood are getting their voices heard!! I also didn’t think about taking the individual pictures of the kids until after some of them left… so I don’t have pictures of every child that gave me their opinion.

Here are more pics that were taken of the blogging session! Yeah kids!!!

Whitewood has been having tons of fun playing Bingo over the past several months. Well Tuesday January 8th was no different. We had a great crowd at BINGO and everyone that attended seemed to have an awesome time! We had many of our usual faces at BINGO plus we had a few new faces in the crowd which was GREAT!! BINGO is a fun way to get to know your neighbors and have a laughing good time! Here are some pictures to share with you of the night!

What do you like about our community?

It’s clean and fun.

Are you willing to help in community activities?

Yes!

Of the things in the community that you like what would you do to improve them?

add merry go rounds and more swings to the park. I would like to see more police.

Please list 3 words that describe our community?

friendly, nice, and clean

How do you help in the community now?

I help clean up other students desks, pick up trash on the play ground.

What do I like about our community?
I love all the nice people….what would we do without them.
Am I willing to help in the community?
Of coarse.
Of the things in the community that I like what could I do to improve them?
I could help the city with the ice rink…that they’re doing a great job on.
List 3 words that I fell describe the community.
peaceful,friendly,safe to be in where ever I am.
How do I help my community now?
I help by cleaning up and and help people whenever I can.

What do you like about the community?

I like how it is small.

Are you willing to help the community activites?

Yes

Of the things in the community that you do like what would you do to improve them?

Get more people involved in community activities.

Please list 3 words that you feel describe our community?

Small, Fun, and Beautiful

How do you help your community now?

Help with this website.

What do you like about our community?

The school, library, and natural beauty

Are you willing to help in community activities?

definetely

Of the things in the community that you do like what you do to improve them?

a slide for Oak Park, A light at the Baptist Church for at night.

Please list 3 words that you feel describe our community.

Peaceful, quiet, and small

How do you help your community now?

Pick up litter, helped with the Horizon project painting a house.

What do you like about our community?

It is Small.

Are you willing to help in community activities?

Yes.

Of the things in the community that you do like what would you do to improve them?

Put more play things at oak park.

Please list 3 words that you feel describe our community.

Fun, Nice, and Cool

How do you help your community now?

Clean garbage.

What do you like about our community?
The People.
Are you willing to help in the community activities?
Yes.
Of the things in the community that you do like what would you do to improve them?
More playground equipment.
Please list 3 words that you feel describe our community.
Fun,small,books.
How do you help you community now?
Clean up.

What do you like about our community?

It’s small

Are you willing to help in community activities?

Yes!!

Of the things in the community that you do like what would you do to improve them?

More play equipment at Oak Park

Please list 3 words that describe our community?

fun, small, and safe

How do you help your community now?

pick up fire works at the 4th of July for the Boys Scouts.

What do you like about our community?
Because there are people.
Are you willing to help in community?
Yes.
Of the things in the community that you like what would you do to improve them?
More playing stuff.

What do you like about our community?

There is a nice school.

Are you willing to help in community activities?

Yes!

Of the things in the community that you do like what would you do to improve them?

I would add more stuff (play equip) at Oak Park.

Please list 3 words that you feel describe our community.

fun, happy and school

How do you help our community now?

Do different jobs at school like sharpening pencils, moving desks, cleaning off white board and other stuff.