We have a pretty strong core of volunteers that stayed with Horizons the whole time through and if there are any future ideas or plans, they would be the people to contact and get the ball rolling-certainly to contact the right people to help with the idea. Our Tyndall Business & Service Directory produced through the Chamber and Horizons, will be a source of contact information.
Nearly 50 people attended a public policy forum in Tyndall on April 16th addressing the issues of jobs, low income assistance through the state, the legislative items concerning low income, and some information on tax relief. Carla Brechtelsbauer, volunteer for Bread for the World, spoke about inconsistencies in taxes for the rich and the low income. According to Brechtelsbauer, did you know that we do not pay tax on food for hospitals but we do on nursing homes???? Did you know that we do not pay taxes on food for ostriches but we do for baby food? She had examples of inconsistency in property tax assessments and many other interesting factoids.
A guest panel of Bon Homme Social Services, County Health Nurse and our local legislator gave information on the many services that are available to those needing assistance. Some of the programs include WIC ( Women, Infants and Children) which includes free immunizations to those who qualify, plus lots of other assistance to new moms.
Available through the Social Services office are fuel assistance, food assistance ( formerly known as food stamps - which many people qualify for, but do not take advantage of, even though the WIC is available at our local grocery store!), and other programs. We also learned more about the free and reduced meals that are available at school. This program benefits the school and the teachers who have taken out state and federal loans. More information can be obtained by contacting Joyce Bittner at Bon Homme School District-see link in the green box on the right of this post.
Residents should follow the legislative issues in Pierre, according to Frank Kloucek. He also suggested that a time be set up to help elderly with the paperwork that needs to be filled out when applying for government assistance programs, as the paperwork is usually daunting. He also urged elderly citizens to be aware of scams that pop up, either through the mail or over the phone. Frank suggested more use of blended gasoline….but we don’t have one of those pumps in Tyndall yet…seems they cost about $17,000. If people went out of town to buy their gas, I would hope that they still spend their grocery, gifts,and pharmacy dollars back at home with our local businesses!
We have to thank Mark Nelson and Joe Kostal for their persistence in getting this forum set up, with a LOT of help from Kari Fruechte and staff at SDSU. 20 people took advantage of free blood pressure screenings by St. Michael’s and many attendees picked up hospital brochures, Social Services brochures, and also the new Tyndall business & service directory that is ready as a result of a partnership between Chamber and Horizons.
In addressing several of the April blog questions, I would venture to say that the way Tyndall will maintain strong community leadership and create structural change is to continue what we have learned in the Horizons program….meet regularly, ASK people to help or volunteer, and to press on in the face of occasional adversity. It’s the pioneer’s way. That is how all these small towns were established-by persistance, patience, and looking forward to the possibilities. Horizons has inspired HOPE, while at the same time, some of us are trying to figure out how to help the less fortunate in even better ways. The economy is scaring the daylights out of business and families. Poverty, and its many faces, will probably always be there, but we can do some things to help.
What structural changes have we made in how decisions are made? Well, the Cavalier Corner is run by board decisions and the Bargain Shoppe has an officer board and both meet regularly to check in and make decisions about future activities. The web site committee meets regularly to also check in and discuss the website production. Mostly, articles about the activities appear either on the blog or in the local newspaper so that the public has the opportunity to learn about the projects. Articles about our monthly planning meetings have always been recorded in the blog and in the newspaper. Recently our public policy committee has partnered with SDSU to provide an informational public forum on low income issues.
How will our community leadership sustain partnerships? Out of necessity! When you live in a small place, you have got to help each other! The website currently is all volunteer and is being helped financially by the city and the Tyndall Development Corporation. The Cavalier Corner has created a great partnership with one of our local contractors, who has been a leader in the community in his own right,quietly volunteering where needed and always interested in the quality of life for our youth in the community. It is totally necessary to partner with other entities. The city has been supportive, and recently has been active in partnering with Horizons in setting another new goal of providing continued daycare for our new population explosion. More to come on that, as it is in the research stages!
If you have other observations, leave a comment here!
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.
While I believe that the residents of Tyndall are very grateful for the opportunities that Horizons has provided our community, I think that “reducing poverty” and improving financial status for residents is going to be an uphill battle, given the national and regional views on the economy and in the political arena in general. Pessimism creeps in !!! I guess if we had a rash of business start-ups that would be able to employ locals at a decent wage, that would be of great help. I am an optimist! Even one new business that could employ more than the owner would be a start. Tyndall has room for this growth. The larger businesses that we have are working hard to keep their employees but we know from our census statistics that around 35% of Tyndallites go out of town for a job each day. So, I would have to say that one large new business would be a start and a huge asset for our community. What do you think, Tyndall? Leave a comment at this post.
We can see what other Horizon communities are doing by going to the community list on the right of the blog site and click on any one of the towns. I could say from reading the blogs, that all of the communities have been affected and have educated their town on the many faces of poverty and as far as “reducing” it, that will take many years, if at all. More funding would be needed, we have all found out. Most of the towns have implemented projects that help those in need, and it has also raised awareness of the importance of supporting the local economy and school district if there is to be any viability in the future. Many have learned of programs that can assist those in need. Many have learned that they have important programs already in place and needed to advertise them more. I think Horizons has helped, but what do you think? Leave your comment here!