Scotland, SD

One of our Main Street properties has sat empty for the last three years and is being proposed as the home of the Scotland Youth Center. Two old properties across the street from this building have been torn down and two more buildings just one property away from this location are in the process of coming down. With all of these buildings coming down, the economic development corporation has been working to find businesses to fill up these holes. Along with that some of the local businesses are considering expanding or relocating which will help the economic status of the community. These proposed changes will hopefully give a jump start to the community and help stimulate the economy of this small town.

Our Good Stuff project of sharing household goods with those in need is progressing . One of our Scotland friends heard that a fellow employee in Yankton had a couch no longer needed. When he heard about our Scotland Good Stuff project, he hauled the couch to work, helped load it into our friend’s pick-up and it is now part of our collected furniture. Cold winter weather is not a time when people are chosing to load up and haul household stuff and we feel that warmer weather will make a difference. We have a number of offers including a sewing machine in good condition. And we are definitely expecting lots of donations during our up-coming City wide clean-up and collection of discarded goods in April.

The Good Stuff project has been collecting items and have given four families some needed household items. The facility is located at the former Ted’s TV store by Dr. Johnson’s office on Main Street. Lorry Schmidt or Kerrie Knakmuhs needs to be contacted for donations or to acquire the items on hand. It was suggested that when the next city wide rummage sale is held that a No-Sale garage sale be held as a fundraiser for this project.

The beautification committee will need to meet before the February 27th meeting to bring a plan of action in helping residents with cleanup efforts during the citywide cleanup held in April. Anyone needing help with cleaning up their yards or getting rid of old furniture should contact the city finance officer at 583-2320. This way the volunteers will know what they need in the way of equipment and manpower.

The city council and the economic development group are working hard to make the Main Street a more viable location for potential new businesses and with that the possibility of more jobs. In April, the city wide cleanup is held and this year a group of community members will be working with the Horizon’s project to make this community a cleaner and prettier place to live. One community member has been thinking about providing a garden area for children, to learn how to plant, water and care for a garden. Hopefully with all of these projects happening this spring and summer, Scotland will be working towards the goal of making this a place the people will be proud to call home and encourage friends and families to come here to live.

The Good Stuff project was started to help individuals who still had GOOD STUFF, but didn’t want to throw it way, find a home for it. It was amazing to the project coordinator to see all of the items donated for this cause. The even more amazing factor was that when individuals became aware of the project, how many people actually were in need of these things and did not have the means to purchase the essentials, such as a bed and bedding. This project has truly been a God send to those in need in the Scotland community.

After the appearance of our ad in the Scotland Journal once a month for 3 months, the response from donors is amazing.
And we are now considering the possibility of needing a larger space.

Del Neumeister (UCC minister) has been providing space at his church for our community food pantry. He suggests that we try to find a larger faciity which could house both GOOD STUFF household donations and the food pantry. He also had a call regarding good clean used children’s winter hats, coats, scarves, etc. The food pantry has no space for these articles so we will be keep them at our GOOD STUFF location.

We need everyone to hold good thoughts about having a large FREE facility made available to house all of the above.

Our Horizons dinner will be held on December 7 and we are looking forward to hearing about the progress on all of our projects.