Whitewood

On Friday May 9th, 9 Whitewood residents attended the South Dakota Municipal District 10 meeting in Faith. Before the meeting began a few of us went to the Faith library for a tour! The library was great and we received a heartfelt welcome! We then went to the Faith community center for the meeting. This event was sponsored by Faith and we are all given a sneak preview of Sue the Dinosaur! Sue will be on display in Faith all summer! I recommend that everyone go check her out. Kids and adults will love her!

posted by Kaity Parks 

May 8, 2008

Horizon’s II

Recreation Subcommittee

Whitewood Children’s Scholarship Fund

Our membership has grown with the welcome addition of Katie Heckenlaible.  We are still pursuing youth participants and will be recruiting at Whitewood Elementary on Wednesday, May 14.

We have been approved to have a table during Wrangler Day at the school.  We understand that scholarships aren’t as sexy as a skateboard park, so we will have handouts explaining the scholarships and why kids need to be involved      (I will try to attach a copy).  We will have a sign up sheet for committee members, pictures of the “Loaded Trunk”, and raffle tickets.  That should be a good little kick-off to help get the word out.

Amy Barker attended the City Council meeting and we have been approved to hold a Raffle.  We have selected an item sold by Home Porch in Sioux Falls.  It is a trunk of Dakota made items and is loaded into a very attractive trunk. 

We have decided not to pre-purchase the trunk for a couple of reasons.  First, the picture of the trunk is very eye appealing.  People take one look at it and want to buy a ticket or ten.  However, secondly, the trunk really isn’t that big.  (I will try to attach a picture.)  Compare the size of the trunk to the size of the magazine.  Third, we don’t want to be hauling a trunk all over hill and yon getting tattered between now and the drawing.

We are looking for suggestions for any venues that may be a good place for us to be to sell tickets.

I am going to UPS tomorrow to make copies of the fliers and the raffle tickets.  I will also get a price for laminated poster boards compared to banners.  That’s a great idea whoever came up with it.

Below is message from Deb Olson regarding the fundraising efforts for the skateboard park. Please note the roller skating fundraiser scheduled for tomorrow! This committee is doing a fabulous job raising money for the skateboard park!!

Just letting you know how things are going with the fundraising.  Tomarrow is our roller skating at Hale Hall from 5:30 to 8:30, we will be having free pizza and coke, the pizza was donated by Pizza Ranch in Sturgis and the coke was donated by coke.  We are also going to raffle a skateboard that was donated by Rushmore Mountain Sports in Spearfish.  The raffle tickets will be 1 dollar, we also have a t-shirt to go with it.    As far as businesses that have been donating money we got a $500 donation from Wheeler Lumber which I thought was awesome!   The next fundraiser will be the rummage sale and we are looking for donations for this event. 

was held on Tuesday May 6th to a packed room of young and old. This weeks BINGO was a fun event and more money was awarded than the usual BINGO nights. Larry was the big JACKPOT winner, which was well deserved!! BINGO will be on a hiatus until October. Be sure and check it out then as it truly is a fun family event! Pictures to be posted soon as I’m having technical difficulties!

How could your Whitewood Community Group use this blog? Let me count the ways…

1. Post your meeting minutes

2. Start a discussion here that you think will dominate an entire meeting and have the discussion online, on the blog,  instead, then recap the discussion at the face-to-face meeting.

3. Publicize the wonderful Projects your group is doing by making your group’s affairs public.

4. Post pictures of your group having so much fun that others are compelled to join you. 

5. You can use the blog in any way that benefits your community group. Your imagination is all that is limiting you.

How do you learn to blog?  click on Wanna Blog in the green section on the right hand side of the screen in the Pages section or send an email to whitewoodblogger@yahoo.com

 Pedometers are at Whitewood City Hall for anyone who had a raincheck from the Whitewood Health and Safety Fair.   Thank you for having patience.  We experienced difficulty getting them shipped in time for the  Fair.  They are here now & ready for you to pick up.    Pedometers were purchased by Whitewood Horizons.                                            

        A new small step you can take to a healthier lifestyle, a healthier you!

The City Wide Yard Sale is May 31st. If you are interested the cost will be $8 to be put on the list and in the papers. Please if you are going to have a sale this day give me a call at 443-0114 or 206-0247 you may also email me at mok9698@spe.midco.net

I will need to money, address, name and list of items you want listed by the 20th of May. I had originally said the 15th but i think it would be ok for the 20th. The more sales the better it will be. 

Anyone interested?   Call the Whitewood Public Library  -  269-2616

Tonisha Williams would like to start a Babysitting Club in Whitewood.  Tonisha is a 7th Grader who attends Sturgis Williams Middle School and knows of a similar group is Sturgis. They will call each other or refer parents if they cannot fulfill a babysitting request She likes the teamwork effort and their cooperation between each other.  Tonisha would like coordinate the same effort in our community.   When she told me her story I thought that the Whitewood Library could host a Babysitting Class and provide the club with a place to meet and resources.  The County Extension Office is looking into their schedule to see if the will be able to conduct a class here at the library.   All ideas and input are welcome.

 Posted by Tonisha

Saturday May 10th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 - City Shop.

Bring Roofus and Snowflake in for their City Tags and Basic Shots 

Call City Hall for more information 269-2247. 

“Pick It Up - Don’t Pass It Up!”

Horizons is calling all groups and organizations, young and old to help with             Whitewood Clean-Up Days on 8-11 May.                           How can you help?   By Volunteering in any way you can.  Here are a few suggestions

1.  Clean-Up Crews for the 10th of May - These crews will follow a dump truck to throw curbside trash in.

2.  Pick up Trash on your own -  Select a portion of your area to pick up trash.

3.  Organize a Group - to spruce up a section of our community.

Garbage bags will be available at the library for all volunteers.  Free Lunch will also be served at the Senior Center.  Please call 717-3745 if you plan to volunteer and eat lunch.

Posted by Peggy Flynn

on april 25th the 5th grade class graduated from the DARE program! It was a great even and the all of the kids had a great time! Andrea, Brandon, and Raina all won essay contests! Our police chief Jerry Davidson the DARE cop had a load of prizes that were awarded to the kids too! Here are some pictures of the event. Thank you Jerry for organizing such a fabulous event! Following the slide show there was a dance which was DJ’d by Travis and Amy Barker. Thank you to both of them for volunteering their time for the event. It was truly appreciated. Congrats to the 5th grade and I know you will all be great DARE role models in 6th grade next year!

SDSU Representative Carolyn Hendricks presented Whitewood Horizons the following resources.  These will be added to the already existing Whitewood Horizons resource box located at the Whitewood Public Library.  All materials are available for checkout.

Taking the Reins Together: Youth/Adult Partnership -  8 minute video - 

Energizing Entrepreneur Charting a Course for Rural Communities

Myths About the Future of Small Towns

Reflect and Improve - a tool kit for engaging youth and adults as partners in program evaluation

Learning and Leading- a tool kit for youth development and civic activism

Better Schools through Public Management

Building Local Leadership

 This is just a quick update on what we’ve been doing as far as fundraising for the skateboard park.  Patty Karas, Deb Britton and Debra Olson had a meeting on 4-11 at the diner and we came up with the following ideas for fundraising. 

1.  Roller Skating Party -May 9th

2.  Rummage Sale -  at the senior center during the city wide rummage sale

3.  continue to Collect Alluminum Cans 

4. Donation requests -  letters have been sent to all area businesses asking for help in donations.  Betty Hale has donate $300 as a start.  

5. Raffle - Edge sports in Rapid has donated a skateboard with  saftey gear 

We set up a booth at the Whitewood Health & Safety Fair  to raise awareness about the Skateboard Park.  Over 125 children and adults attended the fair so the awareness level of our community about the park has been initiated.   Elizabeth Barker won a deck that Edge Sports donated to us for the event. 

  Deb Olson

I would like to thank all the people who showed support for Melinda for the pancake feed. We had a great turn out, the estimated count was 240 people. We would like to say thank you for the support from Howdy for the use of his restaurant and his fine cooking. Also all the other people that we could not have done without as far as cleaning tables, serving, donations, manning the booths, cleaning after the benefit, if i have left something or someone out i am truly sorry. thank you to all the people who made a donation for Melinda. If you have won a raffle you will be getting a call in the next day or two. Thank you again and i am happy to see that we have such a great town with such great support. THANK YOU TO ALL!!!!!!

Posted by Jean Sneesby 

The Whitewood Genie Meet met Wednesday afternoon at the Whitewood Library to sort article collected for the Whitewood history scrapbooks.  It was decided to conduct a class on how to get started tracing your family history on May 1st 2008 at 6:30 at the library.  The class instructors will be Jean Sneesby.  Anyone wanting to learn how to trace their family is welcome to attend.  Remember our regular meetings are the third Wednesday of each month at 1:30 at the library.  See you next time…

We are having a benefit pancake feed for Melinda Smith on Sunday April 20th from 4pm-7pm at the Whitewood Family Resturant. We will have pancakes and sausage. I am greatful for all the support and donations we have gotten for this to help the Smith family out after Melindas car accident in Sturgis March 19th. There will be door prizes and also a raffle of some really great items. The raffle tickets will be $2 for 1 or $5 for 3.  We have a buffalo skull, a night stay at first gold, a scooper hoodie, a scooper tshirt, two rally shirts, a photo package from T&M Studio, a wood carving, and a gift basket of a $100 value. So come check it out and come show your support for Melinda. If you have any questions you can email me at mok9698@spe.midco.net

thank you Mona

Everyone Welcome!

Whitewood Senior Citizens Center  

24 April  Thursday               6:30 Free Meal                  7:00 Program

Three speakers from across the state will take the podium.

Jim Seeber, Northern State University, NE Regional Aging Council

  Topic - Economic & Social Aspects Welcoming Communities

Renee Oscarson, SDSU,  Extension Specialist Gerontology -

 Topic -  Meeting Needs of the Elderly

Linda Nussbaumer, SDSU Prof. of Interior Design -

Topic - Effects of Baby Boomers on Housing

  RSVP by 21 April are neccessary for the meal .  Contact Rea Weyrich  269-2616

My fellow Horizons buddy Kaity took the time to type up minutes so enjoy…..

April 11, 2008Horizons IIRecreation Subcommittee MeetingWhitewood Student Activities Scholarship  Members of the subcommittee are Millie Humphrey, Amy Barker and Kaity Parks. The objective of the subcommittee is to create a scholarship fund through fundraisers and donations that will be self-sustaining and ongoing to assist children in participating in the arts and athletic activities from infancy to completion of High School. Amy Barker will conduct a needs assessment through Whitewood Elementary School and other resources. Millie Humphrey will inquire of the Sturgis Community Center on how their scholarship fund is managed. Kaity Parks will contact other communities and Horizons participants to find people with expertise in scholarships for advice. Some basic decisions about the operation of the scholarships were made.  Scholarships will be awarded to individuals but the payments will go to organizations, facilities or businesses.  The purpose of this method is remove temptation from a person in poverty who may be put into the position of choosing between ballet shoes and food on the table. The subcommittee will conduct an initial fund raiser by raffling off a Dakota Made Products gift basket.  Tables will be set up during local and other community events throughout the summer with a drawing being held approximately August 16 to give the opportunity to sell raffle tickets during the Rally.  It is hoped that other Horizons II committees and accomplishments can be celebrated on the same

Day and have a community party.  

Tonight, was the 2008 Wrestling banquet for the boys of Whitewood Wrestling Team. Each boy on the team was awarded a trophy for their outstanding job and participation this year. Not only that but each boy that has been on the team for two years or more was awarded a warm up jersey with their names embroidered on them. The boys of course thought that was awesome! Todd Overland the retiring president thanked the following sponsors for this years Club, they were:

Ridley Block, Whitewood Plaza, SD National Guard, Aprils Place, Performace Automatics, Pizza Hut, Grocery Mart, Whitewood Library, Lynn’s Dakota Mart, Rushmore Office Supply, Weimer’s, Whitewood Elementary School - Barb Fonder, Bev Rosenboom, Artic Glacier, Chris Olson, and Banquet Coordinator - Dory Overland.

They also thanked the following volunteers who helped with the Tournament this year:

Bobby Haiwick, Cody Haiwick, Jeremiah Aurand, Tim Mercy, Melissa & Tyler Spencer, Barney Jorenson, Jason Pickett, Thad Olson, Kirby & Kim Schlecht, Jeremiah Burke, Dave Anderson, Dody Severson, Mike Pickett, Justin Plunkett, Josh Bourne, Kaleb Fleming, Tom Griffee, Garrick & Kari Applegates, Brent & Lindsey Taylor, Heidi & Sam Nash, Kenny Jake, Melinda Smith, Dave Hegstrom, Randy & Susan Pickett, Sue Littleton, Morgan Basker, Dick & Charlene Frybauger, Dale O’Dea, Monica & Kendra Shear, Deb Britton, Bailey Cox, Cat, and Lynn Hill.

A big thanks was also given to Wrestling parents, families & everybody for all their help & support through the season. See ya all next year!!

A big thanks goes to Jonah Picket for his hard work and dedication to the boys! Thanks Jonah!!

Thanks to the 2007-2008 officers: President - Todd Overland, V.P. - Trevor Papenfuss, Treasurer - Chris Cox, Secretary - Rachel Papenfuss, and PAL - Tammy Olson.

The new 2008-2009 officers: President - Trevor Papenfuss, V.P. - Chris Olson, Treasurer - Chris Cox, Secretary - Mona Smith, PAL - Tammy Olson, PAL - Christina Coffield!

Today the fire department had a extracation training after the health fair. I will update more information of this event later as well too. Just want to get some of the pictures posted now.

was a SUCCESS! Although, we would have liked to have had a few more people in attendance the event turned out great. I heard a lot of good things from the vendors as well as the patrons of the event. There was a wide variety of booths, and a lot for the kids to do too. Some of the BHSU boys basketball team was there helping kids with basketball. The USD nurses were there giving out free stuffed animals to the kids. This booth also showed the kids how to fix up their stuffed animals if they had broken bones or bruises. It was really cute. There were a variety of booths and I don’t have the list in front of me right now. I wanted to get the pictures of the event posted on the blog for now. I will come back and update more information on this event at a later time.

On Thursday April 10th we had our first real Action meeting. We had about 22 people in attendance at the meeting. There was an array of ages in attendance Considering the night was snowy and cold it was a pretty good turn out. We broke up into different groups and started making plans to get some of our goals and objectives completed. The main groups that broke off at this meeting was the Recreation group that is working on two items: one is the skateboard park group. They are working really hard to raise money to build a skateboard park in town. The other group is the scholarship committee, which will be working hard to fund schlorships for our youth to participate in various activities! The communication committee broke off and discussed different ways of communicating ideas and activities in town. We also discussed beautification and our upcoming city wide clean up which will be next month in May. All in all the meeting was good, and it was a good way to get everyone back together again and talking about what needs to be done! People just need to take charge and work together to see our goals and objectives through to the end! Below are some pics of the event!

Our skateboard committee members are collecting aluminum cans in an effort to raise money to put in a new skateboard park in Whitewood. Please start collecting your aluminum cans for this project. The cans can be taken to April’s Place and can be given to either Deb Olson or Patty Karas. Your participation and help with this would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Don’t forget to attend the Horizon’s meeting on April 10th at the Senior Center! The meeting starts at 6pm. Please come and help us work on the goals that were previously set. The more heads involved the better!!

         10:00-1:00                SATURDAY                   12 APRIL 2008    

                              WHITEWOOD SCHOOL GYM     

SOMETHING FOR EVERY AGE   

  lots of giveaways - pedometers, suntan lotion samples, red bags and more

 Screening Booths for blood pressure, skin cancer and more

BHSU Basketball Team members

Pet Health

Fruit Plinko

And More

Door prizes for Adults and Children

 Stimulus Return forms are available at the Whitewood Public Library.  Ask for the white envelopes containing forms & tips.

Posted by Sarah Knight - Nursing student from USD

Posted by: Peggy Flynn

On March 20, 2008 the Whitewood Senior Citizens had their monthly potluck.  During their meeting they decided to provide a lunch for anyone that will be helping the City of Whitewood clean up group.
We hope there will be a good turn out for people to take pride in their city clean up project.  It’s a good time on May 10th to pitch in and have lunch with some of our Seniors. 

was held on Saturday March 29th at the old dance hall! The event was catered by Sam Wolff who made an array of mexican food. The food was fabulous! There was a variety of faces from new firemen to retired firemen. Jared Schmidt the new Chief was awarded fireman of the year for 2007! Jeff Westbergs business was awarded business of the year! Also new firemen Ross Grant & Billy Heisinger were awarded by Travis Barker with a bottle of car wax, because they are always at the station keeping the trucks sparkling clean!! Way to go! Thanks to Travis Barker our outgoing Chief for hosting a great event! Also thanks to all of the businesses that donated items for the raffle giveaway!! Below are some pictures of the event!

              PUBLIC WELCOME                   

Friday April 25, 2008  Whitewood School Gym    

Potluck -  5:30

Program - 6:30

Dance following program.                                posted by Jerry Davidson  269-2550