Sac City, IA

     Amy Peyton, a local teen serving on the Horizons steering committee, submitted a grant pre-application as part of the Case Foundation’s “Make It Your Own” award program.  Drawing from study circle and action forum discussions about the need for a community resource center and the need for improvements at the city’s senior center facility, her proposal involved locating the two centers in the same facility and included some volunteer staffing.  The award rules required that each application come from an individual, not from an organization.  Amy did ask members of the Horizons steering committee for input, but took responsibility for the proposal on her own.  Even though the pre-proposal was not selected for the second round, it is exciting to have a young person step up and apply for funds to better the community.  In addition, the thought she put into the proposal will undoubtedly prove valuable as Sac City works toward addressing poverty.

Sherrill/Amy

Senior Center:  There is a meeting set for January.  A member stated that an architect was in town and looked at the present senior center and will provide a proposal within a week or two at no cost.  The proposed remodeling will retain the historic integrity of the building while improving its function and accessibility.

 Community Resource Center:  Three members visited out of town resource centers and reported on their findings.  The information was valuable and gave them ideas to pass along for our future center.

Volunteer Database:  The survey, needed to supply information for our computerized database, is completed and in the process of being printed and distributed.  When the information is analyzed and computerized, the major jobs of the committee will have been accomplished and the majority of the members will be offering their help to the other committees.

Mentoring/Education:  The group met in December and a Mentor training is scheduled for January 2nd and an educational program is set for early January.

Scholarship:  They are looking into Dolars for Scholars and consulting with nearby towns to learn about their scholarship programs.  They are considering options for scholarship guidelines.

     As shown above, things are beginning to advance at a lively pace and the enthusiasm is contagious and wonderful to see.

Sherrill/Amy

     Our steering committee membership has been finalized with Chamber/Main Street, Sac City Council, County Services, Youth, and a member of each of the 5 work groups being represented.

     Election of officers included Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.  Also, two reporters were appointed.

     There have been verbal reports from each of the work groups which consist of Senior Center Committee, Community Resource Center Committee, Volunteer Database Committee, Mentoring/Education Committee, and Scholarship Committee.  All of the committees have had a least one meeting and more are scheduled.  The reports from these committees have been very encouraging and things seem to be progressing as anticipated.

     It was decided that the 3rd Monday of each month would be an appropriate time for the Steering Committee to meet.

Sherrill/Amy

     A survey entitled “People Helping People” has been completed and is in the process of being printed and distributed.

     The purpose of this survey is to identify community residents who have skills they are willing to share with those in need.  For example:  a person needing a broken window repaired might get help from a volunteer rather than needing to hire a professional for a simple job. 

     The survey contains nine specific skills, plus breakdowns, and one miscellaneous.  Some of those included are Auto skills, Household skills, Outdoor skills, Computer skills etc.

     The survey will be included in our weekly “Reminder” and will be distributed to all addresses in the city limits.  When the surveys are completed they can be dropped off at the grocery store and drug store.

     Upon our receipt of these surveys, the information will be entered into our computer database and the information will become available for those in need of the services.

 Sherrill/Amy

     Our final visioning meeting was an unadulterated success.  There was a large turnout and the people attending were very interested and co-operative participants.

     The audience was led through a process of prioritizing a realistic set of action tasks for the community in the short-term and five work groups were identified by a process of each person present being allowed to vote their preference.

     After the voting process, the audience broke up into the five groups they had decided on and the committees each had their first meeting, listing their members, the immediate goals of their committee, their next meeting place and time, and elected the chairman of their group.

     It was very heartwarming to see so many people gathered in one spot and all with one goal in mind - to try to accomplish some projects that would help alleviate poverty and improve our community.

Sherrill/Amy

     In August of 2007 our first project was introduced to the community.  It was called the Sac County Resource Directory and contained sixteen different categories.  Example:  Financial & Income Assistance, Housing Assistance, Food Resources, Transportation, Older Adults, Family Safety and others.  Within each category there were listed all the agencies and resouces available in the county along with an explanation of each agency and their telephone numbers and addresses.

     This directory was professionally printed and consists of 23 pages.  These 800 copies were printed with $300 Horizons funds, along with an additional grant of $500 from Community Partnerships for Protecting Children and a generous discount from the Sac Sun, which made it possible to be distributed county-wide.

     This project was completed and available for distribution at the final visioning meeting and is currently available through local agencies, churches and other means.

Sherrill/Amy