You have two chances a year to donate your blood to the American Red Cross. The Red Cross team was here on Monday, January 28th at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church to welcome anyone willing to donate. For the past few years, the Gackle Progress Homemakers group has helped in the calling, scheduling, and assisting with the blood drive. The blood drive will be held again in June of this year in case you missed out this time.
Carmen Rath-Wald, NDSU Extension Agent, Logan County, submitted the following information to me about the valuable work she is doing in the Gackle Elementary School.
She did lessons for the kindergarten through 6th grade classes on Good Personal Hygiene, with a special focus on clean teeth.
Carmen contacted Kim Yineman, Oral Health Program Director at the Department of Health, located in the capitol and she provided toothbrushes for all the students K-6 as well as some dental floss and timers. Carmen visited with the students about how oral health dictates that we should change our toothbrushes about every three months, etc., February is Children’s Dental Health Month and so it seemed a good time to include that information. With the older children, she talked about sugarless gum and gum with sorbital.
Carmen will be doing monthly additional lessons through May. Coming up are lessons on phone etiquette especially with regard to taking messages and giving out information. Also coming up is a table setting lesson and behaviors in a social setting (like school).
The Gackle community came out in large numbers Friday, January 25th to help support our local cafe. Carolyn Zacher became the new leasee of the Gackle Community Cafe last fall and really enjoys being in our community, but as we all know, rising costs for keeping doors open becomes a challenge at times. 
The Gackle cafe board, consisting of Mary Jo Fries, Barb Schmidt, and Sandi Rivinius, have continued to work to find ways to help offset these costs. What better way to get people out but make some dough food! And lots of it! The menu included: knephla, baked rice, lazy cheese buttons, kraut buns, fleishkechla, bread pudding, strudels, kuchen bars, and pickled beets. I myself was in the kitchen learning some of the traditional ways to make these special foods. We had lots of volunteers to help bring everything together and sponsors for expenses, bingo prizes, and raffle items. 
We estimated serving about 180 people and the cafe stayed full afterwards for bingo. The board plans to continue to do fundraiser like this and is planning to do a raffle in the near future. Stay tuned for updates and thanks again to everyone who came out to support!
These Limericks about Gackle’s Horizon milestones were composed by Mary Conrad and read by Tom Isern at the January 19th, 2008 Pep Rally. Thanks to Buck at Tri-County News for the kick-off, conversation circles, and computer chat photographs shown below.
CLICK HERE to see & hear some of the Limericks on VIDEO
HORIZONS PROJECT LAUNCH / KICKOFF EVENT (January 27, 2007)
There once was a town on the prairieWhose future appeared downright scary Till they’d all had enough Of that hopelessness stuff And regrouped in the high school library.
CONVERSATION CIRCLES (January-February 2007)
In small circles, folks shared hopes and fearsWith friends, relatives, neighbors and peers “We can do this,” they said “If we just use our head “Why, it works just like greasing the gears!”
LEADERSHIP PLENTY® TRAINING (April 2007)
Leadership Plenty®, Horizons insisted, Would make teammates of those who persisted Chad and Deane made folks smile Training turned out worthwhile For all those arms Mary Conrad had twisted.
“ROCK THE PARK” CELEBRATION (July 4, 2007)
July Fourth’s crowd went way past the markWith its picnic and rocks for the park Fun and games, music too Merged old memories with new As the fireworks flared long after dark.
FARMERS MARKET (August-October 2007)
Garden produce and good things to eat Gave folks reasons to be back on Main Street Our Farmers Market can grow Into a regional show That helps business get back on its feet.
“COMMUNITY COMPUTER CHAT” (November 13, 2007)
Our computer chat shaped with precisionOur town’s twenty-first century vision We’ve got a plan geared for action And we’re not losing traction To move forward’s an easy decision!
MISSION AND STRATEGIC PLAN (November 30, 2007)
Our best features we’re eager to demonstrateOn the details we’ll gladly elaborate The ideas we generate Create causes to celebrate So…collaborate! collaborate! collaborate!
Awesome pictures and articles about the pep rally! What an exciting way to present a vision and plan for a community’s future. I want you to know that I shared your story with our extension staff and administration across the state - Gackle’s enthusiasm is catchy!
P.S. Your blog looks excellent by the way! 
Lynette Flage - ND Horizons Director
rock the parkBoy did we have a blast putting this event together! Our Horizon’s food and event committee consisted of Sandi Rivinius, Stacy Ruff, Melody Owens, and Peggy Schroeder. We also had numerous volunteers who helped put everything together. Our community really had a great time for food, games, music, and fireworks. We had over 300 people come out for this event to not only celebrate the 4th of July, but to help the park board literally “rock the park”. It was also a great opportunity to continue to promote Horizon’s involvement in our community and reach out to some people we had not been able to involve yet. We had a booth set up in the park pavilion for those interested more in Horizons.
Earlier in the year, the Gackle Park Board began working on numerous projects in the north and south parks. Numerous trees were removed and some were moved in their place. The north park lies in a low waterway area through town and needed to be relandscaped to be more useful. The idea to rock the waterway came from my own backyard where I did the same thing. Other accomplishments made in the park included cementing a pad and walkway to the pavilion for handicap accessibility, new playground surface and drainage control, and a bridge over the waterway. Other beautification items included a new flower bed, new trees, clean up all around, and a new grill. The park board will continue to have plans for this year, but are amazed at all that was accomplished this past year. A big thankyou to everyone who helped and joined in the fun. Plans are in the works to make this year’s celebration even better!
This opportunity was brought to my attention by Stephen “Doc” Dockter who read the Gackle Blog!! He wanted to make sure that our students from Gackle & Streeter know about this opportunity if they wish to attend Valley City State University.
Stephanie Dockter Memorial Scholarship (2005)
A scholarship in memory of Stephanie Marie Dockter has been established by her father, Stephen Dockter, class of 1969. The interest earnings from this fund will fund a scholarship (s) up to $500 annually. Preference will be given to children of the 581 postal employees and graduates of either Streeter-Gackle, ND, or Barnesville, MN, high schools. In the event that there are no candidates from these respective high schools, the scholarship will be awarded at the discretion of Valley City State University. The scholarship may be renewed for more than one year, and shall be awarded to a student who has demonstrated financial aid.
I talked to VCSU and they said that technically the deadline (Jan 15) has passed, but if students get paperwork in ASAP, no later than early February 2008, that they could still be considered (I’d call to double check this). Please contact Betty Kuss Schumacher, Director Student Financial Aid, at email: betty.schumacher@vcsu.edu for more information. The address would be Betty Schumacher, VCSU, Financial Aid Office, 101 College Street, Valley City, ND 58072, phone: 701-845-7412.
Despite the below zero weather and sports tournaments, a group of hardy souls gathered in the Gackle School Library to be immersed in energy and enthusiasm for the next phase of Horizons. The ACTION Phase.
The unveiling of the Strategic Plan was interspersed throughout the evening’s program. We were entertained by Horizons-inspired “cheers” led by Gackle Mayor Ritchie Jacobson and some “adult” cheerleaders. Tom Isern, Professor of History, North Dakota State University and Plains FolkTM self-syndicated newspaper columnist, sang with his guitar and recited Horizons-inspired limericks. We watched an inspirational DVD by National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones about “taking action.” This is the third Dewitt Jones DVD we have viewed and I highly recommend it for anyone or any organization.
Jodi Bruns, Extension Agent for NDSU Community Economic Development & Leadership discussed upcoming conferences and opportunities Gackle might want to attend. These conferences are posted to the “main” North Dakota Community Blog page. Check back to this link often for updates on what’s happening.
Sally Jeppson updated the group on the Gackle Community Blog site and encouraged participation. Everyone received a business card with the Blog address shown at right.
Russ Pollock discussed Miner County, South Dakota’s revitalization as a “model” we could look to for our own revitalization. Logan County and Miner County have similar demographics so there is great potential! Sometime soon we hope to host a Miner County representative to discuss their process.
Finally, the Strategic Plan was outlined in a Power Point presentation and then distributed to every attendee. The evening was capped off with a delicious assortment of fingerfoods provided by Carolyn’s Cafe in Gackle.
More on the Plan will be discussed in future blog entries.
This advertisement was created by Gackle Mayor, Ritchie Jacobson, it appeared in the Tri-County News on page 4, Wednesday, January 16, 2008. The event announces the upcoming unveiling of the community strategic plan.
This article appeared in the Tri-County News in December. It was written by Mary Conrad–the person who has been the MAJOR! mover and shaker responsible for getting Gackle involved in the Horizons Program.
Click on the image to read the text. 
