One passion both Nathan and I share that we did not know we even had within us until we moved to the prairie is rural development.
Economic growth.
Job creation.
Sustaining what we have.
Maintaining our school.
Promoting our community and our strengths.
Laying the groundwork for a future on the prairie.
Growing.
The newest appointed school board member? That would be my husband.
The vice-president of our local hospital board? Ditto.
The Job Development Authority board of directors? Yes he is on that board too.
Dollars for Scholars? Just one more board that Nathan serves on as he was the first ever scholarship winner in our community when the Dollars of Scholars program first started.
And for me, what is that I do for our community? I have babies. Living in the most elderly per capita county…in the nation…having two baby girls since moving to the prairie is quite a gift I think.
But in my spare time…
I teach Sunday School on a weekly basis to a handful of pre-school children. We need many activities to stay occupied for an hour. If every child will come on the same Sunday we would have thirteen children. Thankfully, my friend Paula helps every week and at least one or two parents stay to help and the class is usually about 5 to 7 kids. But one Sunday if every child comes to Sunday School, I would be thrilled.
I teach water aerobics for the eight weeks of the year that we can actually swim in our prairie outdoor swimming pool.
I volunteer time to our economic development groups for marketing and communications work.
I tweet.
Yes I tweet as in Twitter.
Believe it or not, three of us in Wishek are actively using Twitter.
Leading up to Sauerkraut Day, I tweeted to promote the event and create some buzz about our rural community.
Someone was listening to my tweeting. Mike Knutson contacted me and wrote a feature on his blog, ReImagine Rural. Mike is a leader in rural development and has transformed Howard, South Dakota and Miner County into a rural development hub, creating the ReImagine Rural Center.
In my one hour phone conversation with him last Friday, I was inspired even more to dig into rural development. Today, you can read his blog post: How about a little Twitter with that Sauerkraut?
I would love for Mike to get some great feedback on this blog post so feel free to leave a comment on the post and share with your friends.
And then, ReImagine Rural.
What could we do for rural America?
I love the sense of involvement in a small community. Growing up in a town of 246 people, both of my parents were first responders, my mom was on the school board (first ever woman!), my dad was mayor, etc.
One drawback in living in suburbia is how easy it is to not get involved…be anonymous. But then again, no one is calling our house when the neighbors dog is barking too loud! 🙂
But maybe one day I’ll get my act together and run for the city council. Gotta start somewhere, right?? 🙂
Katie, I love that you and your husband are so active in your community. We need more people like the two of you in the world.
My husband sits on many boards as well and it seems the more active one is, the more one is asked to do and it would be nice to have more of a community involvement with the younger generation, especially when speaking of Ag.
You do a great job of inspiring people to become involved! Keep it up!
I love small, rural towns. I think they are a great place to live and raise a family. That being said, I think small towns need to ensure good schools and safe neighborhoods as their calling card for reasons to come live there. And in these tough economic times everyone who lives in small towns should do their part to volunteer at schools and community centers and neighborhood watch programs to keep these services active. Just be a good neighbor and people will want to come live there.