When Ballard Blaze 4-H member Elise Volger started
her Huxley Calendar project two months ago, she was in uncharted waters.
No one in Huxley had ever made a calendar that featured the community.
Two months and $1,600.50 later it seems all of Elise's heart-felt,
hard work paid off.
The 2007 calendar titled, "Heart, Home, Huxley: Life, Landmarks
and History of Huxley, Iowa" was sponsored by many local businesses and
sold in many store fronts in Huxley. The project melded photos from the
past and present and was a fundraiser for the Blaze and Huxley's
Historical Society.
"I think the single factor that made this calendar so special was
when Nels and Elise found each other," her dad, George said. "Blending
the old and new photos made it a cross-generational project. It made the
project conversational... Just talking to Nels about some of the old
photos, I learned a lot about Huxley's history that I've never known
before."
Split down the middle, each of the organizations received an
$800.25 check from Elise. According to Nels Nord, Huxley Mayor and
historical society member, "Elise deserves all of the credit. She did a
great job."
Blaze advisor Ruth Taylor said the club doesn't have any plans at
this point for the money Elise raised. "We parked it in our savings
account." Taylor said she likes it when her 4-Hers pursue their own
interests when working on projects and it's always gratifying when a
member does follow-through on a project."
Elise did more than follow-through. As the project moved along,
she found additional ways to involve her community.
"I decided to go house to house with my mom and dad a couple
nights each week," Elise explained.
"We got a map of Huxley from Nels and we probably went down 85
percent of the streets in town" George added.
Elise admits she was a little shy at first and felt out of her
comfort zone, but she eventually warmed up to the idea. "I thought it
would be a good idea to try and personally sell some of the calendars-to
try to get people who don't go to businesses in Huxley,"she said.
Elise also added a community service element to her project,
donating over 30 calendars to residents at Ballard Creek Community, the
assisted living facility in Huxley.
Nord said the Historical Society sent out flyers to all Huxley
High graduates, seeking membership. On those flyers they also plugged
the calendar for Elise. Nord said they had received 23 requests for
calendars back so far, including Indiana and Malibu, Calif.
Like many 4-H parents, Pat and George were involved in every
aspect of Elise's project. By the smile on George's face, you can tell
he's just as ecstatic (if not more) as Elise by the project's success.
"It was a rewarding experience for her in several ways -
generating support from local businesses, learning about the printing
process, working with a variety of different people to make the project
a success, overcoming obstacles, striving for goals," George said. "But
I think the most rewarding part may have been the overwhelming positive
response from people in town who really appreciated this unique, special
piece that sort of brings the town together, old and new."
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Meeting Minutes News letter archive can be accessed at the bottom of this page GO THERE NOW |
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Huxley Historical Society (HHS) June 23, 2008 - Call to order at 7 Pm in the Council Chambers by President Nord. Attendees: Nels Nord, Michele Kalsem, Scott Petersen, Don Duncan, Ikey Lee, Arlene Lande, John Hendricks, Yvonne (Daisy) Fjelland, Vivian and Arnold Larson, Ron Krull, Laverne Helland, Darlene Kalsem, Bonny Eriockson, Delila Roberts, Javerna Maland, Sandy Halverson and John Kalsem
Secretary Kalsem read the past minutes. Treasurer Scott Petersen reported a balance on 6-23-08 was $7315.07 Web Master Kalsem reported the web site is up and mostly current. Collections committee gave no report. All reports were approved as read. Old Business While discussing how to get the HHS to the community we discussed publishing a new Centennial book. One possibility is to have it ready to sell for July 4th celebration 2010. Additional ideas were taping stories from community members to publish to a DVD and having members tell stories during the Prairie Fest celebration. Also discussed was taping small groups – we asked for volunteers to be our ginny pigs at our July meeting. For Prairie Fest celebration we plan to have a float possibly carrying people from different graduation years or representing decades in some way. We will also run our 50/50 raffle again this year in addition to selling memberships and DVD’s. Ron Krull mentioned the Ballard Cemetery was growing rampant again and we need to get someone on that project. It was suggested since we have some funding for the cemetery we should see if the 4-H kids might want to assist us in up keep. We have a Ballard family researcher coming from Canada in the fall to visit and we might get a special interest story in the Tri – County Times about her. New Business For the August meeting we hope to have Arlen Twedt, Coordinator Central Iowa Norwegian Project come talk to us. Our meeting time will move up to 6:30pm in September. Meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM Secretary Kalsem
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Thanks to Elise AND The Times for this fabulous article.....YOU GO GIRL! 'Calendar Girl' raises big bucks
Ballard Blaze 4-H member Elise Volger (center) presents profits from her recent Huxley Calendar project to Blaze advisor Ruth Taylor and Nels Nord, mayor of Huxley and president of the Huxley Historical Society. Volger raised $1,600.50, which was split evenly between the two groups.
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