Frederick, SD

Day of Champions is here again and we are able to have the help from NSU again this year. On April 26th, 2008 we will have 10 of Northern State University Athletes helping our community members with our yearly Helping Hands Clean Up Day. We will be working in the Park, Main Street and collecting old furniture, appliances, paint, etc.

We will start the day at 9:00 a.m. with Rolls, Coffee and Juice and then have a lunch with lots of good food at the Frederick Lounge for all the workers.

Speaking of workers, WE NEED THEM!!! young and old. We can find a job suited for everyone even if you can’t do heavy or strenuous work we can use your help to serve food or run errands.

Lets show our support and make our community shine

Horizons and SDSU are presenting another great seminar. They have hosted several over the past months and always seem to have excellent topics and speakers. This looks like another good one.

Welcoming an Aging Population

Monday April 28th in

Webster Supper begins at 6:30 p.m

and the seminar is at 7:00 p.m.

Speakers are: Jim Seeber, NSU, topic is Economic & Social Aspects Welcoming Communities

Renee Oscarson, SDSU, topic is Meeting the Needs of the Elderly

Linda Nussbaumer, SDSU, topic Effects of Baby Boomers on Housing.

If you are interesting in riding along let Pat Mikkonen 329-2204 or Donna Sumption 329-2462 know. We do need to RSVP by April 21st

This is a great chance for you to get involved or get re-involved with moving FREDERICK FORWARD

They are truly trying to give us as much helpful information and opportunities to aid our community members/leaders into action. We all agree our town needs to move forward and have a more positive outlook for the future of Frederick.

We are looking for anyone interested in working with the inflatable movie theater.  When we rent out the system we need someone to deliver, set up/take down the system and supervise.  You must be a licensed driver, you will be unloading and loading equipment, and supervising the system while it is being used.  We will be having training sessions in the near future to ensure everyone is properly trained on the electronics and the setup of the screen.  You can contact Tonya Zinter @ 329-2631 or Donna Sumption @ 329-2462.  You will be paid for your time and expenses.  So if this is the job for you then call us.  This is a good opportunity for earning extra income and a great chance to  promote  our community and use your  leadership skills

It’s a joy to see how the projects we conceived and planned in both Study Circles and LeadershipPlenty are coming into being through the direct efforts of the Strategic Plan committees.  It’s also a blessing to see how the individuals who have been a part of the Horizons program are affecting a wider audience.  Every Sunday after worship at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Frederick, members of the congregation gather for coffee and bars.  The women gather at tables on one side of the basement and the men at tables on the other side in a tradition that I found quaint and sweet when I first moved here 5 years ago.  I now see it as a very effective way for us to share ideas and cook up projects that might not necessarily emerge in a mixed group.  One of the earliest of these was the Frederick Lounge cleanup project last December.  That started at coffee and took off like a rocket.  We’re still working with the Frederick Lounge board on the next step for regaining use of the building for a business and/or cafe. 

 Another project that started with the “church basement ladies” was having someone to be a greeter for our worship services on Sunday.  Not that it’s a new idea, but we put it in motion.  It’s a nice co-action with the Welcome Wagon activities of the Horizons strategic plan.

 Another sharing of the wealth has come from efforts by one of the LeadershipPlenty instructors to bring sound leadership and planning principles into a local organization they attend.  The beauty of this is, once you learn something and see how effective it can be, it’s a part of your skillset to be applied everywhere you show up.  This will be the legacy of Horizons long after the program ends in June.

I am so impressed with our monthly meetings, we have had excellent turnouts for them and many new and exciting ideas are still popping up. Mainly we are focusing on our strategic plan and the committees are keeping everyone updated on their progress. Each committee is contacting the community members that signed up to help in our earlier meeting. It is nice to see that the “want to help” is still there. It sounds like the Secret Garden is moving right along, They are getting some media info together to get the word out about their expected costs and design plans. The Marketing committee is putting together a brochure to highlight the communities great features, such as hunting, fishing, historical driving tours, Inflatable Movie Theater and more. We are also going to invite a guest speaker to our next meeting to help with our Economic Development, We have not given up on the need to have a gas station in our town, so many people have had to drive 12-30 miles just to fill up and that is just taking income away from our community and putting a financial strain on us, especially with the price of gas these days, and if they go out of town for gas they will more than likely shop out of town also. St Paul’s Lutheran WELCA has established an account to help families in the community, they knew that it was a project that Horizons II group was working on and as soon as that is up and running they will transfer their funds over to the Frederick Forward. Thanks ST Paul’s Lutheran Women. The people in Frederick have helped so many families over the past years and not just financially, If someone needs there lawn mowed, driveways cleaned, rides to Drs. appt. field work or their car jumped, someone is always there to help. I know that having a committee to oversee these needs will make it so much easier for everyone. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

Stepping up to take responsibility for projects is a huge step. Kudos to all those who spoke up about the projects at the launch of our strategic plan. Thanks to all those who said ‘Yes” to chairing or co-chairing projects for our town. After all, this is “our” town. No one is going to come in and do these things for us — it takes the desire for people in the community to get things done and the sweat equity to make things happen. Just look at all of the things that have happened in this last year just because someone said, “What if….” and then followed through on that dream. We have been blessed by having the Horizons project providing us with training and with funds to help us get started. Cheryl Jacobs has turned over the bulk of the projects to us. We may feel uncertain about what we are doing, but haven’t we all felt that way at some time? Joining together, we can get a lot done!

Want to post on the Frederick Horizons blog? Here’s how: Choose a time that fits your schedule from this list and call or email Shirley Anderson to confirm a time: shirley@coachmiami.com or 329-2622

Mondays and Fridays between 6pm and closing at 7pm. Wednesdays at 2pm to 3:30 pm. It only takes a few minutes. Many thanks to the Board and Librarian of the Emma Burnham Public Library for giving us the space. We’ll have 2 to 3 computers available, so we can schedule individuals or a group. This is a chance to take part in the Community action and Leadership development efforts of the Horizons program. You can let us know how your participation is helping to change the present and future of Frederick.

Our monthly meeting was held on Sunday Feb 17th, I was so impressed that we had over 20 people there and even saw a few new faces. We talked about how to keep the momentum going on the projects that were laid out in our strategic plan. One of the things we have to do is keep the community informed on all the progress that has been done and what we are currently working on. The Project committee Chair/Co-Chairs presented a short list of things that will be worked on by the next meeting.
These are the Project Chairs/Co-Chairs
Business Develement - Marilyn Podoll, Janet Burkhart, Scott Campbell & Shirley Anderson
Secret Garden - Dale Groop, Dan Nickelson, Jim & Kay Durmire
Simmons Park Development - (still need someone)
Inflatable Theater Board - Tonya Zinter & Donna Sumption
Welcome Wagon - Connie Groop
Marketing Committee - Tracy Olson, Tamie Nickelson
Housing - Janet Burkhart
Finn Fest - Stacey Sumption, Stephanie Sumption, Kay Dumire
Helping Hands - Pat Mikkonen & Donna Sumption

If you are interested in being on any of these projects please let us know, We will be contacting those that signed up to help on projects during our study circles.
We will also be forming a Frederick Forward Board of Directors to oversee these committees.

So Please mark your calendars for the next Horizon meeting March 17th, 2008 Watch the Frederick web site fredericksd.com
for any change in the meeting date and time.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Frederick-South-Dakota.html

Click on this link or paste it into your browser for everything you would ever want to know about Frederick:  income, occupations by male/female, average income local vs. United States average from 2005 census, demographics of every kind and description in blazing color bar charts, graphs and tables.  None of it boring.  There’s also a link to a $1,000 photo contest where you can upload great photos of Frederick.  The site is provided by city-data.com and sponsored by paid ads, of course.  Check it out and post to this blog with your impressions.

Trying to plan for a community dinner is difficult when you don’t know how many will be coming! We planned for 3 big roasters of soup and it was well received at the event on Sunday. We had about 85 attend but were also able to share some of the goodness with those who were not able to join us for the dinner. Donna took some to the elevator; we scooped up several containers to share with others in town. Extra pie was sent to the Community Store to go with the Monday morning coffee. Thanks to all who helped make it possible.

It’s always amazing to see how good planning makes an event like this happen. Food was very tasty; the Northern Lights building was gaily decorated and the local Horizons speakers stepped up to explain different parts of the our strategic plan. Being part of the group that explained what our plans are helped making everything concrete. I helped explain that in our community study of poverty, the definition looks at a lack of resources. We’re concerned that our senior citizens need help with some of their daily living tasks and want to do a survey to find out how the community can help. We also want to prepare welcome baskets to extend hospitality to people new to our area. This will help them understand what businesses and services are available. Anyone wanting to help with these areas is asked to contact me at 329-2176 or Krysti Mikkonen at 329-2027.