Presho, SD

In what new or expanded ways are people contributing to your community? One of the questions for the month of March. I’m glad to see new faces joining forces with the Horizons group. We need to continue to invite people to our planning sessions. Let it be known out there that Horizons will meet the 4th Monday of the month at the library. Our next upcoming meeting is Mon., Mar. 31 but will be at the High School so more people can be shown how to blog on this site. Please keep watch in the Lyman Co.Herald for more details and times.

We’ve added some new faces to the new Thrift Store board and are hoping to hear from the other committees that they’ve added some new ones, too. People probably won’t join if they aren’t invited. Let’s invite people that haven’t had the opportunity to work on community projects yet so that we can see change here in Presho. Who else can tell us of new or expanded ways people are contributing to our community?

What community resources will be needed to sustain the community plan to reduce poverty? One of our March questions that needs answering…COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS are needed to help clean and paint the inside of the building we will be renting from Chad Johnson at the N. end of main so that we can start bringing in racks and shelving that is also needed at this time. I am excited to get this project off the ground finally. Teresa has gotten a business plan put together and the board had their first official meeting. So one of the things we need to look at is the resources to get this project moving ahead. This could definitely reduce poverty when we have the opportunity to offer clothing and household goods at a greatly reduced price to local residents and, hopefully with advertising, other communities as well. Our residents are our most valuable resource we have! Money, paint, cleaning supplies, racks, shelves, counter, storage containers, etc. are small things that are needed. Once the store is open people, again, are the resource we need to frequent the Thrift store for it to thrive. There is a lot of community interest in this project and so far the Change Presho canisters have done pretty well to start with. We would like to be able to put some of this money back into the community businesses as well by purchasing the supplies we need. But most importantly, as already stated, volunteers are the most needed resource right now. We will also need volunteers to run the store once we get it off the ground. There are great, fun ways to reward these volunteers, too. Call and find out how we plan to do that!! Contact Michelle Lintvedt or Teresa Shook.

In what new or expanded ways are people contributing to your community?
The thrift store name contest got 53 entries, 40 from people that have never been involved in the Horizon II project.
2 board members of the thrift store are emerging leaders that are new to our projects.
I have received several calls about donating to the thrift store.
Area groups are wanting to volunteer time to get the store ready to open.

The Change Presho canisters have been put in local businesses. In 2 weeks we collected $79.18. Hopefully we will continue to bring in money to help with startup costs for the thrift store.

The Presho Horizons Project will hold an alumni gathering Sunday, January 27 at 3:30 pm  at the Presho American Lutheran Church.  All attending will receive a coupon good for a free meal at the Presho United Methodist annual soup supper which starts serving at 5 pm courtesy of the Presho Horizons Project.

All Horizons alumni, those who participated in the study circles, LeadershipPlenty training, and visioning committee, along with anyone interested in learning more about the goals of the Presho Horizons Project are encouraged to attend this gathering.  

Several committee updates will be presented including the senior meals, thrift store, and the results of the ‘change’ Presho survey. 

Here are some pictures of  our well attended Celebration.

Santa was very popular!

In a recent survey Presho increased its knowledge of leadership in the community.  The survey shows that 57.1% of Presho’s LP participants felt they had increased their leadership skills and that 58.6% of this increase was due to participating in the LP study.

According to the survey 71.4% of Presho participants intend to use their leadership skills to work on poverty reduction.  The same percentage of respondents reported that they intended to involve more people in community decision-making.

The Horizons project has helped Presho to address or change poverty in their community as shown by 71.4% of respondents indicating that more people are aware of poverty in the community.  The survey shows that Presho participants showed an increase in leadership skills and abilities across all categories.

Here’s my idea for a Proudly Purchased in Presho logo. I think the stylized P shows how money spent locally circulates locally.   I’m open to other ideas, improvements, suggestions and comments.  Maybe this will just get the ball rolling on a logo.

I have a couple of ideas for how to use it.  First get a bunch of very small stickers, like the Chiquita Banana sticker and put it on everything sold.  The second idea might be to provide shopping bags with the logo on it.

This is the latest iteration of our Mission Statement.

The Horizons Community Strategic Planning Team makes a commitment to stay active in the life of Presho through the implementation of the plan. We will do this by tapping the skills and talents of our residents to make changes for a better community. Utilizing our community’s human assets will have the greatest payoff for our future. We will do this by inviting community members to engage in community-wide improvement activities. We will be inclusive and respectful of the diverse opinions among community members and work focusing human energy toward cooperative action.

 Movie goers settle in for the feature film Saturday evening at the second Movies in the Park, After Dark, an event started by the Presho Horizons Project. Recently, the Horizons Project funded the purchase of a DVD, outdoor speakers and a fabric for a screen in order for Presho to host more entertainment for the community, such as movies outdoors or indoors.   Lyman County Herald photo