Submitted by Jerry Aaker
Several of us have decided to put a hold on officially signing an agreement with Montana Community Foundation and any promotion of the Ruby Valley Foundation (brochure printing and distribution) until we have organized a board of directors. We need good input and a commitment from a group that represents the valley before proceeding on. More later on a meeting date and agenda.
Last night, I went to the meeting about the plan to create a Ruby Valley Foundation. It was very enlightening. Jerry Aaker did a great presentation on the finalization of the Sheridan and Twin Bridges Horizons projects, and the visions that were developed through that process by our communities. Irv Hedegaard, from Whitehall, shared his experience as founding member of the Jefferson Valley Community Foundation - here is their latest flyer Jefferson Valley Community Foundation Flyer.
Right now, it appears that the overall goal of the Ruby Valley Foundation would be to establish a vehicle for those who wish to share their wealth (in the form of planned giving). The RVF would invest those funds with the Montana Community Foundation, which would, in turn, manage the funds and provide the administration and education for a percentage. As a member of the Montana Community Foundation, the Ruby Valley Foundation would have use of the investment income from the endowments and, in addition, would be eligible for disbursements from funds that are given to the Montana Community Foundation for general use. The Ruby Valley Foundation would then grant the funds to eligible community organizations for use here in the beautiful Ruby Valley.
As it stands currently, the coverage area for the RVF would be the Twin Bridges and Sheridan School Districts (basically, Waterloo to Alder). Those eligible to apply for grants from the RVF would be 501(c)3 and governmental entities. We would need to have an initial investment into the Montana Community Foundation of $25,000 in the first three years to be fully invested, but that should be easy once we get the word out about what is going on.
We need interested parties to help disseminate information. We also need representatives from all of the involved communities to serve on a Board. Within the next month, Jerry will be announcing another meeting for those who would like to serve on the board or on a committee to gather and start nailing down the plan.
I will give you more information as it comes.
Hello to all! Our new VISTA volunteer, Marguerite Jodry, will be coming to visit Sheridan for the first time this Sunday, June 6. She will be arriving in the afternoon and hanging out at Jackson’s Community Garden from around 2pm on… We are planning a potluck dinner to start around 6pm. Please bring yourselves, your kids, a dish and come meet Marguerite and play in the Garden!!!!! All are welcome - spread the word.
Warm Regards,
Rebecca Ramsey, Ruby Watershed Coordinator
What: A Tax Staffer from the office of US Senator Max Baucus in Washington D.C. will be in Madison County on Wednesday, May 26 to discuss the tax ramifications of the new health care law. Who: Kerra Melvin, a Butte native and a current staff member of Senator Baucus in Washington D.C. When: Kerra will be in Montana for one week. She will be coming to Madison County on Wednesday, May 26th to host two meetings. The first is in the Ruby Valley from 9 to 11 AM at the Conference Room at the Ruby Valley Aviation Building in Twin Bridges. The second meeting is scheduled for Ennis from 1 to 3 PM in the down stairs community room at the First Madison Valley Bank. Who Should Attend: The meeting is intended for CPAs, financial planners, small business owners, and entrepreneurs to better understand the tax policies related to the health care law. Please come with your questions on how the new law may or may not impact your business. For more information, please contact Sam Korsmoe at 682-5923 or Debra McNeil at 684-5344. Please let us know if you plan to attend so we can make appropriate arrangements. Thanks
The Twin Bridges Community Association held a special meeting on Tuesday to complete the roster of projects that will be voted on at Friday’s election (April 16th, 8:30am, The Old Hotel). Projects proposed include merchant support for the Bike Camp, an Artists Co-op & Education Center, a river webcam (it would be the only one in the state!), Main St. beautification and increased support for the Floating Flotillas & Fish Fantasies festival. Please click here for a complete list of the agenda items.
Please don’t forget come to The Old Hotel on Friday morning to vote for your preferred projects. Remember, if you don’t vote, you can’t _____________. If you would like to see the TBCA take the baton and move on with the projects that came out during the Study Circles in the Horizons Project, please come and enjoy the coffee that Paul and Bill brew up for us at the meeting!
The graduating class of the Twin Bridges Community’s Core Four curriculum left Monday’s class equipped to succeed at business, and that is saying something in this economy. In addition to some fine food each evening, we were inundated with a wealth of knowledge and resources from our instructors. I know that my workbook will be heavliy used as a reference material. This workshop was put on by the Twin Bridges Communities Horizons group. The Horizons executive committee decided that this would be a good program to bring to our community to give our citizens an opportunity to improve themselves and continue to move in a positive direction. I can say, as a committee member and as a workshop attendee, it sure lived up to the hype.
Thanks to the Twin Bridges school for allowing us to use their facility, especially Mr. Ballou this past Monday. Thanks, also, to The Shack and the Main Street Market for providing us delicious meals and snacks.
On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to meet with Mary Emory, NCRCRD Fellow and Tribal College Liason from Iowa. She was traveling Montana interviewing community members and community coaches to understand how communities view community coaching and coaches. She had a lot of very interesting questions about my thought on this topic. It really got me thinking.
I truly believe that our community wouldn’t be in this “community responsibility growth phase” that we are experiencing if it had not been for the Horizons Project and the community coaching provided by Tara and Tom.
Mary asked what I thought the most important skills for a good community coach were. What impressed me the most was our coaches use of silence. I am a person who hates silence. It makes me uncomfortable. But we, as a Steering Committee, have made the most progress when Tom and Tara see us struggling with a concept and just sit back and let us work through it ourselves. After we start rolling again, they will encourage us (they won’t let us invent the wheel again, as that has already been done).
The goal of a community coach is to facilitate the success of a group of people who are working toward a goal of their own. The good, effective coaches do not have a personal agenda to promote in the process. They are looking at group dynamics, making sure that all voices are heard, not just the loud ones (guilty!). Coaches are motivating, helping us avoid stall and burnout.
We were (are) very fortunate to have Tara Mastel and Tom Harrington as local resources through the MSU Extension Office in Whitehall. Bringing in ‘outsiders’ worked so well. We need to look outside our community once in a while to get a fresh perspective on the big projects that are on the agenda. I am excited about the forward direction of our community. Let’s keep it going!
I’m so far behind, my kids may get their Christmas sometime near Valentine’s Day! Paula Kinoshita and I attended the meeting of the Twin Bridges Senior & Community Center board earlier this month. Louise Ellingsworth, board secretary, promptly sent me a draft of the minutes (my apologies Louise!). Please click here for a copy of the minutes. This project was, by far, the most popular project from our community survey. Paula and I were VERY impressed with the progress the board has made in developing the plans and infrastructure for the Center. If you voted for Senior & Community Center as a top priority for our community, we encourage you to attend the next meetings on December 9th or January 13th at 6pm at the Masonic Hall.
My darling husband and I went for a walk yesterday afternoon, and we decided to try the new part of the Riverside Park walking trail that extends around Jessen Park. We had our dogs with us, and it was a really nice afternoon. We started along the trail, which goes right along the river. Wow, the river is really full. Lots of water. We get to the part that crosses under the Highway 41 and were greeted by a bunch of water (like around three feet) covering where the trail is supposed to go. Evidently, with the rise in ground water there is a little problem with the low elevation of the trail route. So, we jumped the highway and got on the trail on the other side of the highway and continued our walk. It is beautiful, except for the part where you need a Venician pole boat to get under the highway. We were talking about how they are going to keep that part of the trail dry, and we really can’t see how they will. Twin Bridges has a very high water table. We have water in our crawl space during the wet months, and since we can’t have a sump pump (against ordinance) unless it pumps out into the yard (ummm, where is the water going to go except back into the crawl space), we just had anti-mold/mildew stuff sprayed down there and hope for the best. Any ideas from all you civil engineers out there?????
Don’t forget to send in your letter this week supporting the Madison County Fairgrounds Grandstands Reconstruction Project. The What’s Happening section of the Ruby Valley Chamber’s website has the details.