Elmore, MN

 Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Margaret Sunderlin, and Clara Vereide attended.

Details regarding the newsletter were discussed.  A mailing to town and country would be approximately 500 pieces.  We want to be sure to include a recap of what Horizons has accomplished, a welcome to newcomers to Elmore, and city sponsored bus to the Blue Earth pool.

Discussion was held regarding the low ridership the first day of the Pool bus.  If it continues to stay at low levels the city will not continue the service.  We talked about contacting the Blue Earth Pool manager Michele Hall about the possibility of offering a family pass at $25 that would only be good for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  We figured that the current price for a family pass of $130 covers 92 days available for swimming which breaks down to approximately $1.30 a day.  The Tuesday/Thursday pass would run from July 8 through August 28th making 16 days available for swimming.  At $25 dollars for this pass it would work out to approximately $1.50 a day.  Clara Vereide will contact Michele Hall.

Kids Community Garden had 12 children attending.  Master Garderner Carol Tipler came down to help.   There is still garden space available if anyone in the community would like to plant a garden space for themselves.

Discussed having a Community calendar as a future project.

Float:  Evy will check into getting a rack.  Use the yellow Horizons signs on the float.   Check if YSI still does silk screening.  thought of having Horizon shirts made up.  Streamers for edging.  Have people bring their flower pots to put on the float that day.

 Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Margaret Sunderlin, Linda VanRavenhorst, and Clara Vereide attended.

June 5th thank you supper was re-scheduled to June 19, 2008 due to weather.

We went through the RSVP list to be sure that everyone had been notified of the new date.

We are to be at MinnIowa Golfcourse by 5:30 on June 19th.

Discussion was held on printing a Horizon’s newsletter and what should be included.  Horizon’s float construction day, Horizon’s meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month, Get to Know Your Neighbor picnic scheduled for August 24th at noon, Museum Open House will be September 14th from 2:00 - 5:00, Community garden for kids, and Santa Claus Day in December.

 Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Deb Jahnke, Linda VanRavenhorst, and Clara Vereide attended.

We finalized what needed to be included in the presentation of Elmore Horizon’s accomplishments for the thank you dinner.

No one from the public attended the general meeting.

Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Margaret Sunderlin, and Clara Vereide attended.  Jessica Peterson of UM Extension also attended.

The thank you supper is schedule for June 5, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.  Child care reimbursement will be available for parents.  They will need to fill out a request form at the supper.  On the advertisement flyer we are asking for RSVP’s by May 30, 2008.

The plant exchange was held May 17, 2008 in Pat Coupanger’s garage.  Ten people attended.

At our June meeting we will discuss the Get to Know Your Neighbor picnic, float for Eromle Day, and the fall festival.

Discussion was held regarding the fix-up loan program.  The review committee will be members of Elmore Horizons leader group to start.  Jessica is trying to find someone to come down to help us with the start up of this program.

Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Deb Jahnke, Margaret Sunderlin, Linda VanRavenhorst, and Clara Vereide attended.  Jessica Peterson of UM Extension also attended.

Jessica brought a draft of a work plan for the Northwest Foundation.

Discussion was held on ways to use the Education funds available to us.

Master Gardener is coming to the Garden Club

Kids Community Garden plot

Budgeting Basics

Jessica said she would be able to get someone from Extension to come down to talk to us about the basics of micro-lending.  She could also find someone who does a class on Farmers Markets.  She said that on the Minnesota blog site there are USDA forms for low income loans that can be downloaded.

Barrier funds are only available until the end of June.

We must have plans for the Education fund by May 15, 2008.

Clara Vereide will put together a powerpoint presentation for the June 5th thank you supper that will recap Elmore Horizon’s accomplishments and our future projects.

Jessica Peterson will contact the Southern Minnesota Initiative Fund to have someone meet with us about becoming a 501c3 non-profit organization.

Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Deb Jahnke,  Margret Sunderlin, Linda VanRavenhorst, and Clara Vereide attended.

Discussion was held regarding the $10,000 grant.

Designate $5,000 to go toward Home fix-up loan program.  Discussed how we wanted the program set up and came up with the following ideas:  up to $300 per loan, question on a waiver of liability if we set up volunteer help to assist, loans would be for homeowner’s home and property improvement, possible interest rate of 5% a year, loans to be paid within a year,  have a committee of three people to review the requests received.

Designate $1,200 for community strengthening and education events.  These would be annual or biannual events that would bring the community together.

Designate $3,800 for the Elmore Swap Center.

Fall Festival:  Linda VanRavenhorst said that Sueventes would be willing to bring down their taco stand.  Also discussed having a Horizons booth to distribute information about Elmore Horizons.

Vicki Boeckman, Carol Boettcher, Pat Coupanger, Pat Connelly, Evy and Floyd Ford, Madonna Gjerde, Bub and Bev Jahnke, Deb Jahnke, Josie Rhenigans, Sharon Rhoda, Dick and Margaret Sunderlin,  Linda VanRavenhorst, Linda and Terry Weringa,  and Clara Vereide attended.  Jessica Peterson of UM Extension also attended.

A recap of the leaders meeting was given.

Discussion was held on plan ideas for the $10,000 grant.

Community engagement is something the foundation is going to look at.  We talked of leaving a portion for community gatherings.

Thrift store or swap center.  We may be able to pay rent with the funds.

Bev Jahnke shared with us about an article she read on “Free Cycle”.

The more specific we are in setting up our plan the easier it will be to implement.

It was brought up that Winnebago had a fix-up program.  The residents had to do an improvement to the outside of their home.  They could then bring the receipts to the City and would then receive up to $100.

Conclusion:

We will include a home fix-up program in the work plan.

Explore the feasibility of running a thrift/swap store.  Jessica Peterson shared the idea of “Needs, Wants, & Offers”.  Her neighborhood sent out a letter to all the neighbors where on one part they could list what they have to offer (items, services, etc.) and on the other part they could list their needs.  They gathered the letters and created a booklet that was distributed to those that participated.

Bev Jahnke, Margaret Sunderlin, Linda VanRavenhorst, Deb Jahnke, and Clara Vereide will form a group to investigate the feasibility of either a thrift/swap store or a “Needs, Wants, & Offers”

Vicki Boeckman, Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Deb Jahnke, Margaret Sunderlin,  Linda VanRavenhorst, and Clara Vereide attended.  Jessica Peterson of UM Extension also attended.

Recapped for Jessica what has been done to date.

Need a plan for the $10,000 grant.  Our plan must be clearly related to poverty reduction.  We cannot buy or rent a building.  We could set up a foundation that would support a community center.

Hokah, MN Horizons has set up a food shelf.

Mountain Lake MN Horizons is doing an education project on making their home energy efficient.  They are handing out energy efficient light bulbs.

Southern Minnesota Initiative Fund (SMIF) could be an umbrella for the Elmore Community Foundation.  They would act as our fiscal agent.  Quite often grants are only available to non-profit organizations.

Home fix-up loans:  We discussed micro-lending, finding a building where we could store donated building supplies (for example if someone was tearing down a house and we could salvage the woodwork)

Horizons is going to be giving us a Thank You dinner for the community.  This will be either June 5th or 9th.

We also discussed the feasibility of becoming a 501c3 non-profit organization with the City of Elmore as our fiscal agent.

We still have $1,500 available in the Barrier Elimination fund.  These monies are to be used to pay for anything that would stop someone from attending a Horizon meeting.  For example child care or gas money.

Carol Boettcher, Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Madonna Gjerde, Bev and Bub Jahnke, Elton and Sharon Rhoda, Linda VanRavenhorst,  Edrys Viland,  and Clara Vereide attended. 

Clara Vereide gave an overview of what is on the blog site. 

March 29th Grant Writing seminar at the Fairmont Holiday Inn.  Let Evy Ford know if you are interested in attending. 

Spring Clean Up:  April 26th at 10:00 a.m. is the date set for the clean up.  The rain date is May 3rd.  Leaves and clippings should be bagged.  Limbs: 6″ or less width, if the width is 4″-6″ they should be less than 2 feet in length.  They should be placed on the curb or boulevard.  Pick ups will be used to collect.  Bubba Jahnke and Dick VanRavenhorst volunteered their vehicles.  Youth Group will organize the youth volunteers 

Fall Festival ideas discussed were: Invite people to have booths for crafts, woodworking, jewelry, etc.  No charge for a booth the first year.  Ethnic food booths possibly done by local churches.  Invite groups in town to have a booth to raise money.  Ie: Historical Society, Fire, Ambulance, etc.  Have each food booth make a different part of the meal - people would buy a ticket for the entire meal.  Linda VanRavenhorst will draft a letter to be presented to the churches. Tentative date of September 13, 2008.  The second Saturday of September. Name:  Elmore Fall Festival.  Committees:  Ethnic Foods and Festival SetUp.  Linda VanRavenhorst and Clara Vereide will attend the April 14 City Council meeting to check into the possibility of blocking off a street for the festival.