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I attended the MN Sesquicentennial forum Many Voices - One Minnesota this morning. It was quite an interesting mix of people in attendance and the topics discussed were very similar to those we have been discussing for the past year as part of the Horizons program… many people are both aware and excited about what is going on; especially the community garden and farmers market ideas.
I wanted to make sure all of you get a chance to see this blog entry by Lori Rothstein.
http://minnesota.communityblogs.us/2008/02/23/spotlight-on-poverty/
Reminder to all involved with in the Leadership and Volunteerism Future Squads:
We will meet on Monday, March 10, at 4 :30 pm, in the NYM Public Library Meeting Room.
We will be discussing plans for the Round Table Discussion to be held on April 3. More information to follow soon with more details.
Several NYM Youth including Adam & Asante Creek are planning a Dodge Ball Tournament during Spring Break! Why, you might ask? Because after a discussion on eating healthy and exercising, we discovered that youth who live in poverty are more likely to be overweight. Overweight people have a higher risk of developing many preventable diseases including type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
After giving the matter some thought, they decided that they wanted to do something to encourage kids to eat wise and exercise especially when they were not in school! That is how the Dodge Ball Tournament was born! The Tournament will take place on March 22. Stay tuned for Details!
as submitted by Pat Fredley
The Economy Squad, which is working on the Farmer’s Market, will be holding an informational meeting on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in the large community meeting room in the County Bldg (NYM). Anyone interested in becoming a vendor, or just would like more information about the Farmers Market, is encouraged to attend. Dallas Flynn, a vendor at the Detroit Lakes Farmers Market for the past 8 years, and a board member of the Minnesota State Farmers Market Assn, will be present to provide general information about farmers markets, setting up, etc. and answering questions.
Pat Fredley
Horizons Meeting
Monday, February 11, 2008, 5:30 pm,
NYM High School Media Center
Present: Pat Fredley, Lori Rothstein, Julie Adams, Lynn Kasma, Pam Robinson, Janet Malone, Heather Cassidy, Elise Korentayer, Karen Oelschlager, Pat Buerkle, Victoria McWane-Creek, Kevin Cederstrom, Connie Warner, Bill Warner, Todd Cameron, Michelle Helmeke, Beverly Backstrom
Meeting began at 5:40 pm, Todd Cameron welcomed everyone.
Because Pat Fredley had to leave the meeting early, the Economy Future Squad report was moved up in the agenda. Pat reported that the Economy Future Squad has three new members and met two weeks ago. They met with Dallas Flynn from the Detroit Lakes Farmers Market. He gave them information on grants, an outline on how to set up a Farmers Market, etc. Their goal is to have the Farmers Market up and running mid-to-late summer. They have 3 more meetings scheduled, the next one being February 18, 10 am, at Subway. Their main goal will be to find a location and to find 4 or 5 committed vendors. They are writing a grant for signage.
Lori Rothstein gave an overview of the Horizons program.
The minutes from the last Horizons Team meeting on Friday, January 11, 2008 were reviewed.
Todd and Lori gave information on the financial structure and the process for allocating funds. There is $1,729.03 in the account, $1,500 of which is the first part of the $10,000 Northwest Area Foundation grant to be used for the final Work Plan. The remaining $8,500 is coming later. The $2,000 in Barrier Elimination Funds is expected soon. Lynn Kasma also reported that a $1,000.00 grant in conjunction with Youth Service Day was received. This grant will be administered through IMPACT to be used for the Community Garden by the Quality of Life Future Squad. Todd said there is a one page requisition form for Future Squad members to use when requesting funds. All allotments will be signed off by the Horizons Team.
Different aspects of marketing the Horizons program were discussed. Lynn will be organizing a booth for the Trade Show coming up on March 29th. Victoria McWane-Creek handed out copies of the brochure she put together. After discussing how many to print and for what reason, it was decided that Victoria will look into getting a modified quote. Julie Adams discussed how each Horizons Team member plans to meet with an organization or two in the community to discuss the Horizons Program. Todd will be on “Talk of the Town” on Lakes Radio next week. Kevin Cederstrom writes articles pertaining to Horizons as the need comes up.
Lori showed the group the Horizon’s sponsored Minnesota blog http://minnesota.communityblogs.us and explained the different features. Julie showed the group the New York Mills blog at http://newyorkmills.communityblogs.us. Lori explained that it is very important for us to blog all of our activities as the Northwest Area Foundation uses the blog to track the activities of each Horizon community. Julie gave a brief outline on how to use igoogle to see the latest entries in the blog.
Future Squads Updates:
Economy—report was given earlier
Quality of Life—Lynn reported that they have narrowed their focus to working on the Community Garden. They have written an Action Plan and have received a Youth Service Learning grant. They want to start the Community Garden this spring. Right now they are looking at locations. They also hope in incorporate the school and the Cultural Center in on some activities such as having “green” classes, canning classes, and art classes using items from the garden. Todd suggested that he would be interested in teaching a “square foot gardening” class. Their next meeting will be soon.
Leadership—Julie reported that they have met and are looking at sponsoring Leadership Plenty, but in a modified form. Lori had agreed to help teach if her schedule allows. Julie reported that Denise Peltier has been doing research into mentoring programs.
Volunteerism—Victoria reported that her and Connie Warner have met and are putting together a form that will be mailed to all the organizations in the community. They information gathered from the form will help them but together a registry so that connecting people to volunteer opportunities will be easier. They are trying to include youth in on their project. Victoria asked if it is possible if students could get Service Learning credit for volunteering.
Lori reported there will be regional training sponsored by Horizons coming up this spring—the dates and location is to be determined. The topics they hope to cover are Non-Profit 101, Youth Engagement, Resources, and Committees that Work. Lori will get more information out to us as soon as possible.
Lori also reported on the Community Education Fund. There is $1500 in that fund. There is a form to fill out and can be used for trainings and workshops to help the Future Squads jumpstart their work. The applications for those funds go to Lori.
Discussion about the status of the Thrift Store idea that had come from the Study Circles—it was decided that it would be a project that the community would support, so if we find the right person to start this, it could be very successful.
The date for the next Horizons Team meeting was not decided.
The meeting adjourned at 7:05 pm, with the room available for any Future Squads that wanted to meet.
The next Leadership Future Squad meeting will be on Tuesday, February 19, 2008, at 12:30 pm, at Mills Lanes. Everyone is invited!
All interested area residents are invited to attend the regular meeting of the City Council of New York Mills. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, located on the second floor of the New York Mills City Hall. A Public Forum portion of the meeting will begin at 5:00 p.m.
So come, see, participate in the open forum or just listen to all or part of the meeting.
Interested persons are invited to the annual meeting of the New York Mills Food Shelf on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the home of Food Shelf treasurer, Connie Warner. If you need directions call 218-385-3669.
Items to be covered is the election of five community at large board members, and the election of officers for the coming year.
Volunteers are always needed and very welcome. Work needed to be done includes, unloading the food delivery truck, shelving food, food distribution, serving on the board of directors, and fund raising.
The food shelf is a volunteer nonprofit organization that provides an emergency supply of food to needy households residing in the New York Mills School District. The Food Shelf is open on the last Monday of each month from 9:00 am to noon. Persons needing to use the food shelf at other times may contact the Otter Tail-Wadena CAC at 218-385-2900. The food shelf is located at 400 S Walker Ave., New York Mills.
Hey everyone–here’s something fun to do. Sara Radjenovic, the Horizons Community Blogging coordinator is . . .
Leave a comment by February 29th answering the following question and you will be entered into a drawing to win a community organizing book for your community.
“What Horizons moment has given you the most joy, hope or fulfillment?”
But wait, there’s more! The community that logs the most comments will also win Chamber Bucks for use at a community event! Be sure to leave the name of your community as well so we can keep track of which community has the most comments. We will only count one comment per person, but feel free to share as many of your thoughts as you’d like.
Winners will be notified on March 1st, which is also when next month’s contest will be announced.
Good luck and happy blogging!
Just go to: http://minnesota.communityblogs.us/