Congratulations, Elmore!
After 18 months of planning, organizing, great conversations, and hard work, your work plan is complete! Click the link below to find details of the Horizons Team organizational plans, focus areas, and projects.
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.
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, 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.
Angie Cooke, Pat Coupanger, Evy Ford, Margaret Sunderlin, Linda Van Ravenhorst, and Clara Vereide attended.
We looked at Elmore’s blog site.
Sesquicentennial sign at south end of town - will let the city know that the Minnesota Sesquicentennial are selling these signs at the end of the year.
There is a March 29th grant writing workshop. Would like three people to attend.
Angie Cooke is stepping down as chair on the Youth group. Linda VanRavenhorst will take over as chair of that group.
Approved having Evy’s Diner provide snack for general meetings.
Agenda for the general meeting tonight:
1. March 29th grant writing session in Fairmont.
2. Beautification group report
3. Youth group report
4. Fall festival
Minnesota celebrates 150 years of statehood this year. How many of you have noticed the highway entry sign put up on Highway 169 at the Iowa border from the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission?
“These highway signs are the first point of hospitality for anyone coming into Minnesota during its sesquicentennial year,” said Sesquicentennial Commission Executive Director Jane Leonard. “We hope they set a tone of friendship and welcome to our home during this special year.”
The large signs (approximately 5.5 feet across and 2.5 feet tall) read “Minnesota 1858 - 2008, 150 Years of Statehood.”
The highway entry point signs will be taken down in early 2009 but are available for adoption. Anyone can purchase one of the 67 signs for $500 as a life-size commemorative of the state’s historic anniversary and take it home at the end of the sesquicentennial year. The adoptions are on a first come first serve basis.
The signs are on sale now and anyone interested should contact the Sesquicentennial Commission soon. You can contact them at 651-296-1870 or visit www.mn150years.org.