Conde, SD

The Horizons II program may be winding down but that hasn’t stopped the momentum here in Conde. A successful breadbaking and bead bracelet workshop was held Monday, June 19th with several youngsters taking home a loaf of homemade bread and many enjoying the art of making bead bracelets and necklaces. We are still working with the Conde City on improvements to the city park. Several women gathered in the evenings to donate time and talent to do some painting there and we hope that the new slide is installed soon. Our hardworking group with the help of others, have planned and prepared an area for the delivery of our stone welcome sign. We hope to have this project completed in time for guests coming to town for the Conde High All-school reunion. Another workshop is to be help on the 23rd for beginning wordworking and sewing. We will soon be planning for our graduation and an August “Fall Festival”. We hope to keep up the enthusiasm and inspire more citizens to join in the fun!!

Monday, May 19th will be the clean-up day for the city. We have the flyers out to start at 2:00 with a supper to be served at 6:00 for all the workers. We have new leadership for the event and good leadership it is. We will have a dumpster sitting across from the park and that will remain from the 14th through the 23rd. Because of sound leadership lots of questions have come up about various kinds of trash….what about that old paint and batteries? It sounds like people are ready to clean up!

The school children did a fine job two weeks ago along main street and around the school, this should complete the job for most of the town and be completed by Memorial Day. There are other projects such as some old cars that will be dealt with when a crusher is available and we hope that is completed by the end of June and before the All School Reunion. Am sure the Senior Citizens will offer a good meal to make us all glad we came.

The work on the will not be started with the clean up as The Young Men’s Club will help with that as a new slide needs to be put in, the old one taken down and protective ground cover put in place. We called in the City Insurance Representative for a most informative safety regulations to be followed. I didn’t know it but slides are made for the young to 5 years old and then 5 and up. Our new slide is for the 5 to 12 years old and we need to make sure that information is on the slide. We need to make sure that the park is segmented to the age groups so that there is less possibility for little ones getting trampled by bigger ones. Also, always place swings of like ages together and do not mix them. All these things sound so reasonable and who would know those regulations until you asked especially when your town is so small and you don’t have a Park and Rec. Department. We are so pleased that we will know the standards before we start.

In reference to category 8, question: what structural changes have been made in how the community does it’s work/makes decisions? I don’t know if this would be considered structural but I believe we have started to include people in some projects that would normally not get involved. This is important in creating substantial changes as the same few people cannot do it all. We have obtained the help of a local young man to set up a web site for Conde, by involving him in this we may stir up his community interest and involvement. The same goes for city wide cleanup committees. The more “new ” people we get involved the more new ideas we may acquire. If we involve them in planning and decision making they will be more interested in helping.

Saturday, April 26th a Mentoring workshop will be held in Conde at the Community Center for all adults that wish to attend. Sign up is requested and contacting Bev Wright at (605-897-6536) will get you a fun day, a meal and $25.00 for yourself or your favorite organization.

The mentoring workshop is possible through a grant awarded to our Field Education Unit. Since mentoring was one of the projects Conde Horizons is working on, our town was chosen for the workshop.

The Extension Educators will be covering the following topics: 1.Community Service as part of your Youth/Mentorship Program. 2.Civic Engagement - Encouraging Civic-Minded Youth. 3.Positive Youth Development. 4.Program/Mentorship Management. 5. Positive Guidance & Discipline. 6.Parents as Parners. 6.What if bullying issues come up.

Come join us!

Thanks Northeast Area Foundation and Horizons II for providing Conde with the opportunity to host the ” Marketing Your Area” seminar with Milan Wall. His presentation was very enjoyable and eduacational. I think there were several of us that went home that night with a renewed sense of hope that the community can survive without our school. Thanks to the ladies who prepared and served the meal and to all those who attended. If we continue to stick together and work toward a common goal we will always be ” a place to call home.”

If the school should close Conde will be devistated! The many families being affected with loosing their jobs, kids having to travel so far to another school will lead to the possiblity of moving from our community. Therefore, we need the training of knowing how to Market what we have and the possibilities there might be for employment with new jobs here and elsewhere. That is why it was so enlightning to have so many interested in the seminar on Marketing. We are coming together and thanks to all who have shown interest in the program. Horizons could not have come at a better time! We are looking into the possibility of more housing, possibly some tax relief and have many ideas of contacting businesses in other towns for people who may need jobs. We have been told that the best place to star gaze in the whole state is north of Conde as it has a stretch that is void of fabricated light; wind energy is being looked into as is the expanding of our already well established hunting opportunities in the community.

In what ways is our community operating or working differently? The biggest thing is that people are starting to talk and wanting to work together. We are very fortunate to have a new Conde housing development owner from Aberdeen who has been most helpful in our endeavors for Horizons. His law degree backgound has been most helpful and we are so thankful for his genuine interest.

One of the structures that is being created is the pride for the town. We have, as an example, the mini golf course to be repaired. We are really working on ways to create responsibility for the privilege of having something like this in town. This spring we will again have our clean-up day and with the anticipation of the All School Reunion in June, we have a deadline to meet and that will keep us focused.

The Study Circles set us up and we didn’t know how much we needed it until it hit us in the face! The School chosen to close because we didn’t have 100 students, even though we receive no state aid! Last spring it brought us to action to be informed, letter writing took place to our Legislators and Governor. This fall the action was still there, Legislators again visited, trips to Pierre, more trips to Pierre, students, teachers and patrons giving testimony. Every type of emotion has taken place in our lives; so what is poverty? It is the uncertainty of an unstable future, however with our community action we have all become much stronger in our conviction to be better informed, we know we CAN make a difference and we are trying to be uplifting to each other in trying to hold on to our school. It was so true in the study circles when we learned that poverty is MORE than money! We still do not know our true destiny but it has been a very educational process for the whole community, it has kept us together, talking and taking action together. We will be proof of the old adage that we will have the ability to face if one door closes, another will open.

The Noetlich family of Doland stood in awe of the gifts from the community that were delivered just one week ago tonight. They had lost EVERYTHING in a house fire on a minus 24 degree night in January. Horizons had provided the seed of laundry basket and essentials and the community filled it to more than over flowing. It was, indeed, a Happy Valentines day for the family and a Valentines Day they will remember!

Several members of Conde’s Horizon group met on Sunday, February 10th to test their baking skills. Approximately 8 doz. large, heart-shaped, sugar cookies were baked and beautifully decorated to be sold at the DC girls’ Valentine basketball game in Conde. The event was a success as those in attendance purchased the cookies as a treat for themselves or for their Valentine ” sweetie.” Proceeds from the cookie sale will help the Conde High School student council sponsor a spring semi-formal dance. Thanks to the gals who donated supplies, baked and decorated the cookies and sold them the night of the game. The Conde students thank you and appreciate the community’s support of their activities.

Have you ever heard of a Pizza Garden? We hadn’t either, however, through Cooperative Extension we have learned that it is a wonderful tool to bring all segments of our town together. Conde has a place and now we are going to be having a sign up for those that want to be a part of it. We are poling the Sr. Citizens tomorrow as a start and will contact the school children and their parents soon. Naturally plenty of plans will need to be in place so that we are ready for gardening time this spring.
The Garden is planted in a circle; naturally you plant vegetables (herbs, onions, tomatoes, peppers) that are needed for Pizza sauce. Some wheat is planted to signify the wheat for the flour. Some corn is planted to signify the food given to animals to have meat for your pizza. Naturally, when the vegetables are ready we will host a canning class and then have a pizza party with all of those who helped with the educational project.