Murdo, SD

Pictures of the “Paint SD” house that we did in Murdo.  The first/last picture is of the house before we started the project.  The middle pictures are of various volunteers working on the house.  The last picture is the house upon completion of the project! (Click on the captions for description of picture)

The Murdo Chamber of Commerce spearheaded the “Paint South Dakota” project by helping community members fill out applications.   The home of Claude and Betty Baker was chosen from the applicants and the paint was ordered.  We did have a bit of struggle finding the time and volunteers to begin scraping, taping windows and putting on a coat of primer and paint but we were able to complete the project before the final “extended” date of August 15th and finished the house the first weekend of August!!  Thank you to ALL the volunteers for your hard work on completing this project.  A special “Thank You” goes out to Lori W. for everything she did to help make this project a success!    

After many hours of volunteer work and diligence, we graduated from the Horizon II project.  We celebrated by having a potluck meal at our city park along with delicious cake for dessert.  After the meal, Dr. Gary Lemme, Dean of the SDSU’s College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, offered his congratulations to our community for completing the 20-month Horizon project.  Next, several of our community Horizon members spoke and gave updates on the projects/goals that have been started here in the Murdo Area. 

We saved the best for last and had Dan O. and Kari F. share their perspectives of our accomplishments throughout the project.  Several awards were earned for the community through our work in Horizons II.  A digital camera was earned in the first stages of the Horizon II project for work that was initially done on our blog.  Throughout the past 20 months we fulfilled the requirements for the blog and earned the laptop computer and printer.  All of these items are being kept at the city office and can be checked out to use by anyone in the community.  Two metal signs stating that Murdo is a Horizon Community were given to the community.  These signs will be placed at the east and west edges of town for people to see as they first come into Murdo.  The final award was the HUGE check for $8,500, which is the rest of the funds offered by the Northwest Area Foundation for participating in the Horizons II Project.  The Murdo Area has gained so much from this partnership with Horizons, SDSU, and the Northwest Area Foundation. Many citizens have gained a wealth of knowledge through leadership plenty trainings and other trainings that have been held over the past 20 months!  GOOD JOB FOLKS!!

Here are some pictures of our 2008 Community Garden!  So far we have gotten lots of leaf lettuce and some radishes from our Community Garden that we have shared with several of the Murdo Area residents.  There has also been a poster up on our community board, located at the post office, letting people know that they are welcome to come to the Community Garden and cut some lettuce and/or pull a few radishes.  Not sure if you can see them, but there are “blossoms” (or whatever they are called) on the peas and there are also a few beans on the bean plants.  As you might be able to see, I took these pictures of the garden on Sunday evening while the corn, radishes, peas and lettuce were being watered, and I was getting eaten alive by all those pesky mosquitoes!!  :-) 

HORIZON’S POTLUCK GRADUATION CELEBRATION!! 

WHEN:  THURSDAY, JULY 17^th 

WHERE:  MURDO CITY PARK 

TIME:  6:30 p.m. 

PLEASE COME AND JOIN US IN A POTLUCK GRADUATION CELEBRATION FROM THE HORIZON II PROGRAM 

THE HORIZON II GROUP WILL BE BRINGING CAKE AND BOTTLED WATER TO CELEBRATE WITH US!

Horizon’s will also be providing plates, utensils & napkins.

  ***Rain location—Mini gym***

THE REAL COST OF SHOPPING OUT-OF-TOWN 

As I have sat back and watched the price of gas keep going up and up and up, I began really thinking about what I read on the Presho blog months ago about the true cost of shopping out of the towns we live in.  Each time we choose to do our shopping out of town, there are costs in doing this that we may not be taking into consideration.  Here is an example of how much it would cost to shop in Pierre, South Dakota.  These figures are just estimates and averages for a couple (2 people) to drive to Pierre to shop. 

Pierre 106 miles (round trip)  106 divided by 20 (average of miles per gallon) = 5.3 gallons 5.3 X $4.00 (average cost per gallon) = $21.20 

Fast food meal for the two persons in the vehicle would be approximately $7.00 per person, which would equal $14.00 if one meal/snack is purchased. 

The time it takes to drive to Pierre to shop is approximately 1 hour, which equals to 2 hours drive time for a round trip.  Using a low hourly wage of $8.00 per hour, we then take the drive time of 2 hours X $8.00 per hour to equal $16.00. (This is not considering the time that is spent shopping.)  

Total cost of driving to Pierre to shop: 

$21.20 (fuel)

$14.00 (food)

$16.00 (time) 

$51.20 total  

The wear and tear on your vehicle is not included in this cost and because you are driving out of town to shop, you increase your chances of getting a speeding ticket and/or having an accident.  You can use this same formula if you choose to shop in Mitchell (254 miles round trip) or Sioux Falls (408 miles round trip) or Rapid City (260 miles round trip). 

The further one travels out of Murdo to shop, the more it will cost in time, gas, food, etc.  Needless to say, there are some things that a person cannot purchase in Murdo but I know from experience that several of the businesses here are willing to order and try to get the item that is needed. 

Opinion Polls & Market Research

To see poll results: 

http://www.vizu.com/poll-vote.html?n=67998

This was the sound the contents from the “Change Murdo” canisters made as it was being counted at the bank.  The canisters have been in several of the businesses in Murdo for just over a month and $77.04  was the total amount collected so far for our “Welcome U to Murdo” program!!  WAY TO GO PEOPLE!! 

Thank you for supporting these Horizon projects that have been started in Murdo.  It truly is amazing to see how a “little bit of change” can really add up to help MAKE changes happen!! 

We will be needing new ideas for projects to sponsor with the “Change Murdo” money.  How about starting a much needed FOOD PANTRY or some type of THRIFT shop??  Please comment here on the blog with any ideas you may have for our community.  Ideas from other communities welcome too!! 

A big THANK YOU to PRESHO for the great idea you started with your “Change Presho” idea.   

I have extra tomato plants that I would give to the community garden or to anyone who could use them. I have mostly Large Red Cherry Tomatoes and a few Jellybean Tomatoes. Also have some Rutgers and a few other large type tomato plants. Please call Elaine Roghair at 669-2819

Another Murdo Area Horizons project is becoming a reality as the Murdo Area Volunteers are in the process of getting their program off the ground.  Michele M. and Cheryl M. have volunteered to coordinate and organize this program.  The idea behind the program is to help people with projects they can’t do on their own.  Once they know what your needs are, they can then match those needs/jobs to the list of volunteers.  Here are some examples of tasks that a person might need help with:

INSIDE EXAMPLES:  Minor house cleaning, changing light bulbs, moving or arranging furniture.

OUTSIDE EXAMPLES:  Cleaning out gutters, changing storm windows, mowing yards, shoveling snow from sidewalk, etc.

 OTHER EXAMPLES:  Rides to places in town, groceries picked up, rides to personal appointments, etc. 

The community is asked to spread the news about the Murdo Area Volunteer Program to everyone in the community.  They will be placing posters around town as a reminder that the volunteers are only a phone call away.  Please call Michele M. at 669-2553 (anytime) or Cheryl M. (evenings) at 669-2674 with your volunteer needs. 

One of the first projects include volunteers to give rides on June 3 to vote in the primary election.  Give them a call if you would like a ride!

If you would like to be one of the volunteers in the program, they will certainly take your help.  Give Michele or Cheryl a call to get your name on the list. 

 We had a VERY successful evening of training for our Murdo Area blog on Tuesday evening.  There were a total of nine people there for the training, and we were able to help each of them register as new users.  Since the training on Tuesday—there has already been one comment and one post done by the new users!   

I would like to thank all of the new users for coming to our blog training open house.  The training would not have been a success without each of you.  I would also like to thank those who helped with the details to make this training session possible.  A big thank you goes to Gary and the Jones County school for allowing us to use the tech room and their internet access.  A HUGE thank you to Kit for setting up the laptops along with making sure we had the correct connection to the school’s internet service.  Also, a big thank you to Jewell for getting the computers to use for the evening along with a thank you to Dan O. for taking them back to Rapid City for us.  Thank you to those who were there to help with the training, which included Kevin, Anita, Kit, Lori and Jim. 

Last but not forgotten is a big THANK YOU to those who baked cookies, Lori who provided water, Dan O. for the Horizon tablets and to the Murdo Area Horizon group for donating the “big” door prize of $20.00 in Murdo Bucks.