Tyndall, SD

 We met the requirements of Horizons and on Tues., the 24 of June, we received “graduation” checks, papers, and gifts….complete with a decorated cake supplied by the Extension staff!  Although the event was not as well-attended by Horizon participants due to ball games, golf and family stuff, it was a nice evening and three newspapers were represented that evening. Many thanks to the Extension staff for all their help, especially Dave, our coach.  Thanks also to Northwest Area Foundation!

 Noel Hamiel from the South Dakota Community Foundation spoke on the beginning of the foundation, a public tax-exempt fund which manages the foundations set up in small towns. Tyndall Community Foundation was presented to the public that night, complete with a nice brochure designed by Tyndall native, Erin Tycz.  We have to raise $100,000 and then SDCF will kick in 25,000. After that, we get to use the interest earned for projects and charities, etc. for Tyndall. There were checks presented in the amount of $3000 to get the ball rolling!    Great stuff…..Now we have to raise some money and educate the public.    It is a great thing, because we do no management of the funds…it is all done by the SDCF. If you need to know more about foundations, give Noel Hamiel or Bob Sutton a call at 1-800-888-1842. 

I understand from Extension Services that we should continue to use the blog and get more people to post on the blog site.  This will be a new challenge for us!

 Just to update folks on the Tyndall Horizon goals…..the Daycare project is still in the works.  The committee is waiting to hear from Pierre.   Also, we have another new goal  started by one of our high school students….frisbee golf in the park.  We already have a frisbee golf course there, but it needs updating. So that will hopefully be a reality next summer….so plan to go to Tyndall park and play frisbee golf.  But I get ahead of myself….it has to be approved by city council first.  More later.

Yay! We can say that we have accomplished so much because of the Horizons program and on Tuesday, June 24 we will have a “graduation” party of sorts where we will unveil the plans for one of our goals, the Tyndall Community Foundation ( working with the South Dakota Community Foundation), and also where we will receive $8500 plus a new laptop computer and printer for public use. (Ours will be housed at the Cavalier Corner on Main Street. It will not be allowed to be checked out but will be available to adults and children in the community).  We will also recognize the successes of other goals and also talk a little more about two new goals which have recently been brought forward and adopted….a daycare and re-installation of Frisbee Golf in our park. ( One of our youth participants is spearheading this project and we are very proud of him!) We hope City of Tyndall will be supportive of this venture.  Thanks to Northwest Area Foundation for providing Tyndall with this great opportunity to explore our assets and work on improving the lives of our residents.   Now all we need is for the economy to perk up and for outrageous gas prices to disappear…….

At the end of May, three Tyndall Horizon participants went to Bloomington Mn to the Grassroots & Groundwork Conference, sponsored by Northwest Area Foundation.  We spent two days there, going to all the break out sessions which dealt generally with the issues of poverty, business regrowth, entrepreneurial ventures, and good food and networking.  Speakers included Dr. Beegle, a woman who grew up in dire poverty in a family of six, and who has accomplished a doctorate through the help of people who helped her get going.  Another speaker, Chip Heath, talked about how his book “Making It Stick” came about and our delegation got copies free as we were registered early for the conference. It is a great book, full of ideas that took hold and some that didn’t. Tyndall Horizons thanks the NWF for funding this great opportunity for towns such as ours, who wouldn’t normally be able to take advantage of something like that.

Tyndall Horizons will meet with Dave on June 10 at the Cavalier Corner and firm up the strategic plan for Tyndall ( we have two more goals!) and also plan a little more on the last community meeting to be held on June 24. There have been some exciting things happening since the last meeting, so it will be great to announce those. Committee members are encouraged to come and report on their project.