Villisca, IA

The attendees at the Action Forum Meeting on Sunday, November 9th voted on a short term action item to be completed by January 2009. Each person had three sticker dots which they could use to vote on a the project that they wanted to move forward on in the short term. Developing a Community Resource and Working toward the Armory Project came with one point of each other, Developing a Community Resource Project coming out ahead. Committees were formed to work further on both areas with a small group being determined to move forward on developing some special celebrations for Villisca.

We had a great turnout at this forum and everyone seemed very motivated to get moving!

One Villisca Study Group took action on an identified issue during the time the group continued to meet. In talking with some of the most vulnerable Villiscans to poverty, the aging, they decided to write a letter to the editor regarding the status of teh Villisca Good Samaritan, a local care center. They decided that it could not wait to take to the Action Forum so the letter was written, and circulated during the week for refining and then was further refined at the Study Group and signed my many in the study group. Keeping with the rules of the room, no one was pressed to sign, although almost all present chose to sign.

Another action that takes place annually in our community for years is the rummage sale at the Villisca Presbyterian Church. The year because of many people meeting new people at the Horizons’ Study Group and the discussion about making a difference in the lives of those in poverty - a group member who herself is currently qualified as being in poverty - dropped off at the rummage sale coats her children had outgrown. This is a reflection of the understanding that even those in poverty have an opportunity to help reduce poverty.

Hello everyone, I am Julie Wainwright, I will be a blogger for the Villisca group. Roxanna Sieber will also be a blogger. We had our kick off supper/first study circle that went great on September 28th at 4:30-7:30pm at the Enarson Elementary School.

New and established residents a like met and shared a great meal catered by our local grocery store. We have 6 facilitators for 3 groups. We had 38 people present that night and had introductions of the steering committee meeting members, as well as Joyce, Bill and Kerin said a few words describing the journey we are beginning. We had a great mix of people, the mood was positive and excited, all involved felt this was a great program that we could be apart of.

We broke off into our groups at 5:30-7:30pm and got started!

All three groups will be meeting at the Enarson Elementary building, 2 of the groups meet on Sunday evenings at 6 pm and the other group meets on Wednesday evening at 6 pm.

A great positive “gossip” has begun to spread around our small town and will hopefully bring more involved in the second part of this journey. It is common knowledge of our community needing desperate help with poverty issues and we are really seeing the community come together to help one another.

Villisca is located in South West Iowa.  It has a population of 1,344 individuals and a poverty rate of 12.9%.  Steering Committee members for the project are: Kerin Wright, Melissa Feilmeier, Kevin Skipworth, Clarence Peterson, Teresa Nook, Margaret Heard, Larry Figgins, Manuel Zavala, Roxanna Sieber, Julie Wainwright, Jill Burgess, Tamra Haley, Emma Wright, and Amanda Johnston.  Bill Drey and Joyce Lash are Extension staff members who are working with the community.    The next meeting for the group is planned for Monday, October 27, 2008 at the high school library beginning at 5:30 pm.  The regular meeting time for the group has been set for the third Monday of each month.  Committee members feel that their is great potential for the Horizons activities to create some positive results for the community.  Follow our blog as we share our experiences and build a thriving community.