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 Boys and Girls Club project have met objectives one and two. The group has been looking at other facilities in the area and trying to determine how they would like to implement this project. They would like to have a structured youth center providing a happy medium between the Avon and Tyndall projects. The group is working on funding possibilities as well as a location. They would like to provide a place for tutoring and recreational activities. Their focus is on a supervised and structured center.
It was suggested that locations be identified along with activities suitable to the location. Adult supervisors will also need to be identified.
Following the monthly meeting, the group has found a location which looks like it will work pretty well. Volunteers will be needed to help clean it up to get it ready for use. Donations will also be accepted for a good couch, tables, chairs and microwave. Ideas for activities as well as adult volunteers are also needed for this project.
The final phase of the Horizon’s II project, the action phase, has now begun in Scotland. The last Wednesday of the month is the scheduled time for the groups to come together and discuss where they are in their projects. The meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. in the community room.
The first of the project discussed was the Welcoming program.
The Welcoming Program is up and running. Ten welcome packets have been handed out since November. It was suggested that an evaluation survey and an activity survey be put together to be included in the packets. We know that the packets have been looked at as many of the businesses in the community have noticed the newcomers coming in with their blue card which entitles them to some type of welcome gift from each business.
The Horizon’s project brought about some needed change in Scotland. With a plan of action and actually taking the time and effort to put together a plan and then set goals and dates for those actions to take place, there has been actual progress on projects that this community has been working on for years. By getting more people involved, some of the projects have taken some twists and turns because of ideas that were never thought about before. Sometimes it gets frustrating trying to see some actual change or progress when some projects take a lot of time and effort. But I think that in the long run, the community of Scotland will truly have benefited in a lot of ways by stepping out and taking some risks which some people were afraid to do before Study Circles and LeadershipPlenty came to this community
GOOD STUFF is a community project which provides an opportunity to share unneeded household good stuff with a neighbor in need rather than send it to the landfill.
It’s funny, but after some of the community members took Leadership Plenty, they saw that the Horizon’s project was just what this community needed. Some of the people stepped up to the plate and have taken this experience and used it to develop their plans for the boys and girls club, the Good Stuff project and the newcomers project. Others took off, but are now stalmated and will need to get revitalized and pumped up to see their goals and efforts come through.
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.
During the November meeting of the Scotland city council, two high school students approached the council about constructing a skateboard park. Both students are freshmen in Scotland with one of them being black. They asked the council what it would take for them to consider the park. The council told both boys what they would need so in the December meeting, the boys brought their pictures and their proposal. The city engineer happened to be at the meeting and he was so impressed with their ability to present their request that he offered to help them with the project at no cost for the engineering aspects of the project. It was very encouraging to see the council consider the request of these two young men.
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.