Tyndall, SD

The Rural Office of Community Services in Lake Andes is sponsoring a Garden Project for low income individuals, families or community groups. The project will provide gardeners with seeds, plant sets and garden assistance for their own home garden usage and food consumption. This would be a wonderful way to supplement the food budget by growing their own food. For more information and guide lines please contact the ROCS office in Lake Andes. The telephone number is 487-7634.

Committee members and 2 guests met at the Cavalier Corner, with Dave Olson present on April 8th. Shirley Mann, director at the Bon Homme Food Pantry, reported on her role and the purpose of the pantry, its supporters and its present needs.  It has been in existence for 17 years and she has worked with the program for 14 years!   Presently they serve 40 - 45 families in Bon Homme County, who have been recommended by Social Services, a minister, or a doctor as per the guidelines. She and her helper Pat and other volunteers prepare 50 commodity boxes once a month also. They get $1000 from the state once a year and the rest of the year are solely dependent on food and cash donations.  It gets pretty scarce from May to November……ideas anyone?

Day care has become a concern, or the impending lack of it actually….. A new goal in our strategic plan  has been identified, according to Chad Jodozi, and a committee is now working with the Governor’s office (Governor’s Day Care) on this issue.  They are required to do surveys of our present daycares (which parents are very grateful for!), along with a bunch of other hoops to jump through. Of course, funding is a key component.  More to come on this new goal.  Our young parents are the future of Tyndall-we owe them our support!

The Bargain Shoppe didn’t meet yet this month, but are planning to donate funds to a project in town, after expenses.  They did $100 business on the Open House day! How cool is that?  They have added a day to be open….now open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 - 5.  Now taking spring/summer items, and they have also been selling appliances, furniture and big things like that in addition to the regular items.

The website committee will meet next week on the 17th.  Things are going a little slow right now, but our volunteers have been busy with regular jobs.  Businesses and residents with events to share can have them posted on the website community calendar. Go to www.tyndallsd.com - click on community calendar. School events continue to be listed on their own website.

The public policy committee, Mark and Joe,  has set up a public forum for April 16th on tax issues, low income issues, etc….there will be free blood pressure screenings by the hospital ( glad to have them participate!!!) and a guest panel to answer questions.  Cathy Brechtelsbauer from Bread for the World will be the speaker.  For the free supper you need to call asap by the 12th to Mark 589-3097 for food count for you and guests. Open to all and important for all!

The Cavalier Corner is going along smoothly at this time. The board is looking into setting up a GED program.  There is a tutoring program is place, but up to now the students are not taking advantage of this.  More education on this is probably necessary, as many parents and students may not know about it. Dave offered the board the possibility of a meeting to help them plan a 5-year strategic plan.

The Community Foundation committee has taken a back seat this month to some other things that popped up over Easter vacation  ( like a light manufacturing plant looking at Tyndall and other communities!) so they will get a date set for a public meeting, etc. soon.

LeadershipPlenty training is hopefully going to be offered for credit in the fall.  Janet is still working with administration on that.  There are two certified trainers in our school system to do the course and it would be just for upper class students.

The committee for Community Economic Coordinator has not met.  Judy is hoping to seat a feasibility study committee to research this more.  The planning committee members urged the importance of this committee for the future of Tyndall. Persons interested in serving on this can contact her asap.
Marilyn reported briefly on the Marketing Workshop and how communities have begun to “brand ” themselves to claim a uniqueness about their  community that would attract business, shopping, and new residents.
Dave urged members to continue blogging and to recruit “commentors” and even more bloggers.  He had helpful suggestions throughout the meeting and has been a great help to our committees.

The next meeting will be May 13th - same time, same place!

The deadline to call for supper reservations ( we want to have enough food!!!) has been moved up to April 12, so call Mark at 589-3904 and tell him how many in your family are coming. You can reserve for your friends too.  Hope to see many of you…..if you can’t get there for supper, come to the meeting.  There will be good information for everyone.

The public policy committee has been working hard to get information out about tax breaks, programs already in place for low incomes and many of the social services contacts are listed in our Tyndall business and service directory, which is just about ready for distribution.

Tyndall Horizons Planning Committee will meet with Dave Olson on April 8th, Tuesday. We will meet at the Cavalier Corner and will have a light lunch prior to the meeting at 7 pm. Two topics have been added to the agenda: we will have a report about the Food Pantry from its director. Also, there will be the topic of daycare discussed. Seems Tyndall is having a baby boom, and we have some of our daycare providers either retiring or choosing not to provide daycare anymore in the near future. There are some ideas and it looks like the city is just as concerned about this as the new parents are, so partnering will again be in the forefront and since we have the new non-profit status at the Cavalier Corner….well, just imagine!! Anybody up for running a daycare????

This Saturday, April 5 join us at the Open House at the Bargain Shoppe in Tyndall!  We will be open from 10-5 and serving up some great bargains. We are now taking spring and summer items-all must be clean and in working order.  Make an appointment to drop off or stop by when open.  589-3955.  Run by ALL VOLUNTEERS, the Bargain Shoppe is an example of people leading the way, sustained by interested shoppers and volunteers.  If anything, it will outgrow its current location, as it will only improve.  It has shown to be a needed shop in town. Also, all monies are donated back into the community after expenses.  Stop by!

On Wednesday, April 16, at the Tyndall Community Center, there will be a public forum on policies concerning low income and high poverty issues. Cathy Brechtelsbauer, Bread for the World volunteer, is going to speak.  There will also be a guest panel to answer questions on these topics.   This is really for everyone.  There will be free blood pressure screenings from 6 - 7 pm and other information brochures on general health and wellness.  There will be a free supper catered by Eric from Sportsmans Rendezvous- we will need a supper count preferably by April 7th.  Call Mark at 589-3904 to give him your family’s count.  The meeting starts at 7 pm, in case you don’t want to join us for supper. 

 This is another example of Tyndall Horizons, helped greatly by Kari at SDSU Extension Services, providing an informational forum to raise awareness of this issue.  It also shows a community mobilizing to address the issue of the many faces of poverty.  The public policy committee has been a leader and instrumental in the organization of this forum-an example of community structural change as we did not have something like this before. It is also a committee that will need to be active in the future, as policies change and information made available. 

  New members to the committee are welcomed. Come and check it out.    Hope to see you at the forum. Do you have concerns about policies now in place that affect the low incomes?  Leave a comment here.