Community Connection for July 27 2023

Things to celebrate…

Rhett Miller has been actively working on his paver project for his Eagle Scout project in the community gathering space on Main Street and it’s so fun to see such quick progress! When he presented his project to Oakes Enhancement at their July meeting, he said he believes this project will be a legacy project, meaning that it will endure for generations to come. We agree, Rhett, and we’re so proud to partner with you to bring this dream to life! 

News to know…

Aren’t the hanging flower baskets on Main Street just beautiful? We haven’t heard a single person ever say they don’t love the way they make our community look so well-kept, vibrant, and welcoming. The flowers were originally an idea that was born out of a local leadership project. At the time, a small group of individuals managed the ordering, planting, hanging, and watering of the flowers. The Chamber of Commerce took this over as one of its initiatives after the original time commitment of the group project elapsed. Each year, we struggle to find people willing to help with watering. It only takes 2 people and about an hour to accomplish and they do need to be watered every day, especially when it gets hot and dry. We’d like to encourage our businesses to consider using this as a community giveback opportunity. The calendar is located in the entryway of Growing Small Towns and if you take a look, you’ll see that there are very few individuals who step up to help (and boy, do we appreciate this small group of helpers!). Everyone benefits from this beautiful enhancement to Oakes, but it really does take all hands on deck! Please consider helping us keep Main Street gorgeous! We even have a video to make it easy to learn what to do. Call Kausha at the Chamber with any questions.

Ideas to spread…

We were recently at a conference and someone in the audience asked how we get more people to volunteer for things in small communities. The answer that was offered was twofold: 1. Ask people. This seems pretty obvious but usually, we don’t ask people why they are or aren’t getting involved with something. Most people actually do want to contribute but they are never asked what would make them happy about volunteering their time. 2. Consider if there are ways we can make volunteering for our thing more enticing. Now, we’re not talking about offering incentives or paying them or anything that seems like bribing them, but rather, we’re talking about the way things are structured. Is there an opportunity to revise the volunteer needs? Is there a way we could incorporate some of what we learned from idea #1? If we need help, we have nothing to lose by trying one of these two ideas. Ask people what they think and be willing to be flexible in your process. When we actively engage people in participating in community events/projects, it increases their commitment to and love for our communities.

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