Newell Summer Blast Off 

SATURDAY, JUNE 21 – Newell City South Park

8 a.m. – 1 p.m.

COMMUNITY YARD SALE

Noon – 4 p.m.

FARMER’S MARKET

PRODUCT VENDOR’S

COMMUNITY CARNIVAL

Inflatables, bingo, dunk tank, games, food and FUN!  

Vendors Wanted – Call Kim Smeenk 456-0200  

Due to weather this event is postponed until Saturday 5/3! 

Community Action Team Holds OH

On Thursday, May 1st the NVN CATS will be holding an open house at their new building in Nisland, which is also the former Nisland Town Hall.

Check out their new services, which includes a clothing store!

CATS provides commodities, senior care packs, the Meals on Wheels program and many others!

Boom Concrete poured the concrete floor for the new park shelter today!

Finshed product!

Please answer below, this is a part of the Horizons blog requirements! 

8. Sustaining action and creating structural change around leadership  What is your community’s plan for maintaining a strong community leadership system?  How can your community sustain the changes it has already made in its leadership? What structural changes have been made in how the community does its work/makes decisions?   What structural changes have been made so that your community leadership sustains partnerships with others?

We have scheduled this night for Thursday, March 27th. We will eat at 6:00 p.m. and then work will begin at 6:30. We will be meeting at the Senior Citizen building. If you need to have research done before you can begin planning, please try to have it done before this night. The committee and their chairs are listed below. Committee Chairs please call your volunteers and let them know about this meeting. It is very important that we work hard until the end so we can receive our $10,000 dollar grant amount. We have worked too hard to lose it now. The end is in sight! If you have questions, please let me know! Thanks so much!

Beautification- Committee Chairs
Carol McCarthy
Scott Wince
Ann Hodgman
Cheryl McCann
Beautification Volunteers
Harlon Robbins
Kim Wince
Mike & Diane Petts
Donavan DeBoer
Heather Kari
Pinky Catron

Signage Committee Chairs
Carol McCarthy
Scott Wince
Ann Hodgman
Cheryl McCann
Signage Volunteers
Kim Wince
Michelle DeBoer
Lisa Nelson
Donavan DeBoer

Community Unity Committee Chairs
Kim Smeenk
Lisa Nelson
Fred Sulzbach

Local Businesses and Fund Raising Committee Chairs
Bob Newth
Donavan DeBoer
Kelsey Morovits
Sean McCann
Local Businesses and Fund Raising Volunteers
Roger Monson
Melanie Williamson
Kim Wince   Assisted Living Center Committee Chairs
Bob Newth
Donavan DeBoer
Kelsey Morovits
Sean McCann
Assisted Living Center Volunteers
Fred Sulzbach
Pinky Catron
Happy CatronIf you are not on a list, please feel free to come and join any committee you would like to. We welcome everyone!

Final Blog Report Card – Carolyn’s Communities

This is the last “report card” we will send to your community, but your work should continue through the end of the project. Many of you have followed the suggestions for improvement we had given you on the report cards sent in January/February.

 Shoot for the Stars (Laptop Computer) 

Faith, Newell & Whitewood – Would still like to see more active users, at this time there is one or two main bloggers, and a few others who have blogged once or twice. Technically you are meeting the requirement of having five bloggers for this incentive level, but only two of the five are “making contributions to the blog” consistently. Secondly, we would like to see posts specific to progress on your goals in the strategic plan. Overall, your community is still working at the Shoot for the Stars incentive…some, just barely. Your “to do list” through the end of Horizons:

1.       Get one or two more people to blog consistently though the end of the project.

2.       Add posts about the progress on strategic plans (Records of committee work, meeting minutes, photos of projects in action/completed, stories about people, how things have changed, etc.)

3.       If you haven’t already, include the answers to the monthly questions. We would like to read more than just one person’s perspective, for example, you may choose to give this as an assignment to committee members and/or other community members.

4.       Also, we would also like to stress quality versus quantity through the end of the project. We would really like to see specific posts on how your Strategic Plans are being implemented.

A few photos to get you thinking about where Newell Horizons was just a half a year ago…

The youngest Horizons members taking a quick break from painting benches at the Newell Church Museum.

Horizons members scrape old paint off, then paint primer at the Newell Public Library.

Horizons hosted the first Homecoming Festival on the Newell School Track!

March 15th began with the annual Community Club Easter Egg Hunt.

Lunch, fun and games provided by the Newell Horizons group.

Ending with roller skating sponsored by the local Cub Scout Pack at City Hall.

Proving that with three local groups cooperating and supporting each others events really is three times the fun!!!

The Valley Irrigator recently put on an indoor garage sale in Newell, with all proceeds from booth rentals being donated to the Newell Horizons group!

Horizons members also ran a concession stand during the event.

Newell’s newest bloggers practice their newly learned talents!

Learn to blog - TONIGHT!

At 5pm and 7pm at the Newell Public Library Horizons members will be on hand to teach you how to use the Newell blog. From setting up a free email account, basic web navigation to commenting and even posting your own blogs entries! It’s free, daycare and transportation are available if needed. So stop on by!

Here’s a few pictures from the 5th Grade’s Enterprise Fair held in the MS Gym yesterday. Look for an upcoming article in the Valley Irrigator on this talented class of entrepreneurs!

The Newell 5th graders have been working on a graded project lately - they have each come up with a handmade product they will be selling during during the Science Fair on Tuesday the 26th in the MSGym. Each students has made expense reports, learned about advertising and worked hard on their product - come see what they’ve got to offer - and don’t forget to bring a few dollars!

Newell High School Student Council will be putting on a Indian Taco Feed on Saturday, February 16th from 11am-7pm in the Multi-Purpose Room at Newell School. The funds raised will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

On the right hand side bar under pages you’ll notice a new option called TAKE A POLL! Here is where all past (yet still relevant) polls are in one handy to vote on and read page! If you haven’t checked out the results in a while, or forgot to vote - take a few minutes to look at this new added feature.

  There will be a blogging training class taught February 4th at 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. in the Newell City Library. Rides are available for those who need them. Please encourage everyone to come and see what all this blogging stuff is all about! Questions, call 456-2544 or 456-0200.

There are various committtees being formed in Newell to help research and develop plans to improve our city. Horizons needs your involvement to help better our town. Below is a list of committees; if you can be involved please call 456-2121 or simply leave a blog post under this blog.

City Signs/Street Signs
Centennial Planning
Beautification
Community Center
Assisted Living
Economic Development

Four School Boards seats are up for election this year. Starting March 1st interested individuals may obtain a petition from the Newell Schools Business Office, petitions MUST be returned by March 25th at 4pm.

The annual DADS (Dads are Doing Stories) Reading Night drew a good sized group of fathers and children spending quality time together reading books in the Newell High School Library. With insanely cold wind chills, it was neat to see so many make the night a priority!

Sunday the Newell City Hall was full of Scouts and handmade cars, the annual Derby netted a large group of spectators that cheered on their favorite cars.

Newell Cub Scouts is for children in first through fifth grade, if interested in joining or learning more contact Kurt Olson (Cub Master).

Saturday’s Benefit for Ramona Voeltz who lost her house in a fire earlier this week was well attended. A pancake feed, silent auction and bake sale were offered.

YOU can help! 

The Newell Lions Club has organized a benefit pancake feed for Ramona Voeltz who recently lost her home in a fire. On Saturday, Janauary 19th from 5-7pm at the NVN Center enjoy a meal, partake in the silent auction and buy some baked goodies to take home and enjoy all weekend.

Horizons had a nice break for the Holiday season. Now it’s time to get going again. We are having a meeting on Jan. 26th at 10:00 a.m. at TJ’s Cafe. We are asking the steering committee,strategic planning committee, and all committee members to attend. We will be getting an update of progress made, things that need done yet, resources needed and any other information that Carolyn has to share with us. Please plan to attend. Daycare is provided! Contact Amanda Keller or Julie VanDerBoom for more information.

Have you recently attended a meeting? An event?

Seen something neat happen in town? Witnessed a random act of kindness?

Do you have a brilliant idea that would benefit Newell in some way?

Have you seen leadership at work in our community recently?

Tell someone about it - POST A BLOG!