Twin Bridges, MT

Wow! May I say again, Wow! I had such a great time at the Grant Writing Class that was hosted on Monday, February 15 by the Twin Bridges Horizons Program at the Montana Room at Twin Bridges School. Janet Cornish traveled the country (focusing especially on the Pipestone area) and led us through the confounding maze of presenting a winning grant appeal.

Our main focus was on how to get started, identifying resources, preparing the proposal, packaging the product and follow-up. There were so many things that I hadn’t even considered in the process, and now I feel like it is filed away in my brain for future reference. Janet usually presents the material in a two-day format, but condensed it for us. It was a lot of information, but the handouts that we got to take home will be good reference material when we get to our grant writing stage in our various agencies.

I was pleased with the turnout. We had 29 people from different areas; Whitehall, Twin Bridges, Sheridan, Dillon and Ennis. We ate a fabulous lunch, provided by the Main Street Market, and got to network with our neighbors. Police, pet rescue, community groups and personal growth were a few of the areas in which our attendees were involved.

Those of us that attended are excited about using the new skills we acquired. It is daunting, but we are now prepared.

Please click here for the minutes from the January 29th meeting. The next meeting is at 8:30am, February 19th at The Old Hotel.

The Twin Bridges School’s 2010 One Book, One Community Project will read The Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen. The Project will run from March 22nd through April 9th. This terrific book recounts Mortensen’s challenges to keep his promise to build a school near the Himilayas. Well….he thought he was going to build just one school. To date, Mortensen’s organization, Central Asia Institute, as built over 131 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This book is about fighting terrorism through literacy. Please call Principal Aaron Griffin at 684-5656 for information about the book, our community reading program and how you can participate.

The GRVCCA is redesigning the its brochure and would like your contribution. We need some outstanding photos of people having fun and the fabulous scenery in the Ruby Valley. The brochure will focus on the following topics –


We have a shortage of photos of families, especially kids, having fun participating in the activities listed above.

Our project has a small budget for photography and graphics. Photographers will be paid $25 for each photo selected for publication in the brochure. Photographers don’t need to be Chamber members to submit photographs.

All photographs must –

1. Have been taken on a digital camera, 3mp format minimum. Please no scanned photos.
2. Be full color with NO special effects (sepia, b/w, etc.)
3. Be submitted on a CD rom with the photographer’s name, phone number and address written in permanent ink.

If you’re submitting photos of children that are not your own, please have written permission from the parents. Photos do not need to be current.

The deadline for photo submissions is February 24th. If you have any questions, please contact Debra McNeill at 684-5344.

Get it?  Horizon? Horizon Program?  Tap, Tap…is this thing on?

Just a reminder that the Grant Writing workshop is Monday, February 15, 2010 at the Montana Room at Twin Bridges School.  It starts at 8:30 and ends at 4:30 with lunch provided.  We have 25 people signed up as of today, and cutoff for signup is February 10.  The fee is $10.  Call Heather at 596.2002 if you are interested.

This learning opportunity has been brough to you through Horizons funding and organized by the Horizons Steering Team.  If you are interested in bringing another topic to our area, please let us know.

The Twin Bridges Kid Country Daycare is having a benefit pig roast and auction on Saturday, April 17th. The event will take place in the Square Building at the Madison County Fairgrounds. We’ll have information on the cost and auction details shortly.

In case you didn’t know, Kid Country is a community daycare center and a non-profit. It operates for the benefit of the working parents of the Ruby Valley. The proceeds of the benefit pig roast will be used to cover operating expenses and maintenance of the daycare.

The Twin Bridges Horizons group is in the early planning stages of bringing a Core Four™ Business Planning Course to our area! The tentative dates are the following Mondays from 6 to 9 pm; March 15, 22, 29 and April 5.  We also have a tentative location of the Montana Room at the Twin Bridges School.  This program will be tweaked to fit a for profit or non profit organization, and there is something for everyone.  Please let us know what specific educational needs you have, so we can make sure that you are covered in the course.  Here is a tentative course outline:

 Part Two:  Market Planning

Part Three:  Cash Flow Planning

 Part Four:  Operations Planning

Dear Madison Marathon Runners & Supporters, Happy New Year (one more time!).   I hope you all received my email a couple weeks ago announcing the dates of the 3^rd annual Madison Marathon.  To repeat, so you will definitely put it on your training and running schedule, it is: 

Sunday, July 25, 2010Gravelly Range Road, Beaverhead Deerlodge National ForestStaging Area:  Clover MeadowsStarting Line:  Just south of Black Butte MountainFinishing Line:  Clover MeadowsStarting Time: 9:00 AM

Everything is the same as last year except the date.  I hope the July 25^th date works well with your schedules.  It is one week before the Headwaters Relay and three weeks before the Ed Anaker Bridger Ridge Run.   As race day draws near, you will receive more information on logistics, meeting places, shuttles, etc… We have a Facebook page, too, so please log on and become a ‘fan’ of the Madison Marathon to keep informed.

Aside from announcing the race date, I am sending this email out for two reasons.   First, I want to offer all 1^st and 2^nd annual Madison Marathon runners as well as supporters a discount on entry fees.  There will be no “early sign-up” fees this year.  There will just be the one fee and the sign up will be on active.com.  This year, unlike the past two years, we will not absorb the active.com processing fee.  It will be passed on (sorry, but the race is still losing money).  This means the runners will have to pay the active.com fee of 3 percent or so.  The online entry fees will be:  Full Marathon - $70, Half Marathon - $40, and Team Marathon - $140 plus the active.com fee. But for all of you receiving this email, the fees are:  Full Marathon - $65, Half Marathon - $35, and Team Marathon - $120 with no 3% attached because you will need to send in your fees by check (address below) or come by my office in the First Madison Valley Bank in Ennis to register in person and pay in cash or by check.  This is an admittedly small, but something nonetheless, financial incentive to sign up early and not use active.com.  You have until Memorial Day Weekend to take advantage of this offer.  After that, you have to use active.com and pay the new fees plus the processing fee.  The official fees will be posted on active.com sometime in March or whenever we get around to promoting the marathon.   Second, I am asking for your support to get something done.   I love innovation and great ideas. 

The Madison Marathon was an innovative and great idea and all of you made it happen.  I stumbled across another good idea and it is called Kickstarter.  This is a website that helps people raise small amounts of money from many, many people all around the globe.  The link below will take you to this site.  The objective is very simple.  We need to raise $3,000 to build a website for the Madison Marathon.  I am doing this through the Kickstarter.com website.  Click on the link and you will see what I mean.  Watch the video with yours truly making a pitch.  Then, do whatever you can do to help us build the website.   

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/49458284/the-madison-marathon-the-highest-road-maratho

 I launched this site only last Friday and I have since received five pledges:  one from Ennis, one from Bozeman, one from North Carolina, one from Japan, and one from a mystery person. I have no idea who or from where he or she is.  Such is the power of the internet and innovative ideas.   Take a look and consider helping us get this website built. As for the race, keep in touch and send me your questions on logistics, race day, schedules, ideas, etc…  I am so looking forward to this year’s race.  It will be fantastic. Train well my friends. 

Stay healthy, happy, and get ready to run the 3^rd annual Madison Marathon. Thanks 

Sam Korsmoe

Executive Director

Madison County Economic Development Council Inc.

PO Box 365

Virginia City, MT  59755

We will be having a meeting tomorrow morning, at 8:30 am at The Old Hotel.  We are going to work on our mission statement and the first year’s agenda.  We are also finalizing the Wine Tasting event.  Bring your ideas and enthusiasm and help the TBCA better our community! (The coffee will be hot and delicious).

Bill Casalara is helping patrons of the Twin Bridges Public Library with their computer skills. Contact the library to find out about schedules - 684-5416.