Get Involved: Mossyrock Blueberry Blues Fest!

Dear Festival Committee and other interested persons,

Let's get together and organize our work! We've done plenty of brainstorming and such; now it's time to dig in and get the work done! Thanks to the hard work of Ivy and Debbie and the generosity of the business community, we now have some money to work with. We'll need to decide who will manage that money (treasurer). We also need committee heads for all our activities, and people to work on those committees. Click this link to see a tentative organizational plan for us. It's not written in stone. We can change things around and add to it if you think something else might be better. Some of the committee head positions have already been filled.

Please take a look at it and decide where you could fit in. Think about the people you know, and who might want to help us. Bring as many of these people as you can to our meeting. We can recruit others later. The more we spread the work around the better! One of our goals is to get as many people in the community involved as possible. Judging from the response we've had from the business community and others, there is a great deal of interest in this festival. Let's get people going to get it done!

I've reserved the Mossyrock High School library for our next meeting: Tues. May 1st, 6:30 p.m.

The school art teacher said it is a bad time to try to get the kids to make a logo as they have too many other things to do right now. Please let me know what you think of the logo above. Wendy sent me the clip art of the blueberry pie, and I incorporated it into the logo I had already put together. I like it better. What do you think?

We have a little web page which will grow as we go. http://www.mossyrockfestivals.com/ Shelley put it up for us. (thanks Shelley) Notice our sponsorship forms are up there and also our vendor application form.

Several of us attended the Leadership Plenty training on Saturday. It was fun, and useful. However, we need more people to do this with us! This training is good for people in any organization, not just the Horizons group, and is free to all. The Horizons program requires us to have at least 25 people in this training in order to retain their sponsorship and funding. (Remember the up to $10,000 grant we are hoping to get for the community at the end of the program.) We need a few more people to meet the quota. Please join us if you can! There will be a makeup day for those who missed last Saturday, so it's not too late. The training is free and breakfast goodies and lunch are provided free too. More info: http://www.horizonsweb.info/LeadershipPlenty.htm I hope to see you there.

My best,

Jackie Morris, Mossyrock Blueberry Blues Fest coordinator
Email: info@mossyrockfestivals.com

LeadershipPlenty continues this Saturday!

Thanks to all who attended the first of five LeadershipPlenty training sessions on Sat., April 21. We covered module 1 and part of module 2 and we'd love to have more people join the class. Remember this is open to teens too! In fact, Paul Stewart (one of the facilitators and also director of the East Lewis County Chamber) visited the Onalaska school board meeting earlier this week to talk about Horizons, and some teachers asked about the possibility of bringing the LeadershipPlenty training to the high school next year.



We will have a make-up session for anyone who missed the first session, at a date that folks agree on. Let's get the word out about LeadershipPlenty this week -- in fact, as a special incentive, we'll have a gift for everyone who brings someone new to the group this Saturday!

The remaining dates are April 28, May 12, May 19, June 2, and one make-up date to be determined. The program runs from 9:30 am-2:30 pm in the Mossyrock Community Center. You can find flyers (in Spanish and English) and lots of information about Horizons and LeadershipPlenty online at http://www.horizonsweb.info

Thanks for your participation in creating a more thriving community!

Press Release--Community Leadership Training

Three East Lewis County community members -- Lynn Hamilton (Salkum), Chris Lambert (Mossyrock), and Paul Stewart (Mossyrock) -- recently attended a state-wide "train-the-trainer" conference in Moses Lake, as part of the Horizons community leadership program that is underway in seven states. They are now certified to teach the LeadershipPlenty® program to community members.

LeadershipPlenty® is a program developed by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change for people who want to work with others to take action in their communities. It is designed for people from different backgrounds and occupations who want to participate more effectively in community problem solving. It is free and open to teens and adults.

The 25-hour training covers 9 modules. Topics will include identifying community assets, managing conflict, planning for action, managing groups, making meetings work better, creating partnerships, measuring results, and race relations.

The intensive training will be held on five Saturdays: April 21 and 28, May 12 and 19, and June 2, 9:30 am-2:30 pm (participants are asked to commit to attend all five sessions). The classes will be held at the Mossyrock Community Center. Lunch will be provided.

LeadershipPlenty® training is available to anyone within the East Lewis County area that is interested, on a space available basis. Gas cards are available to help with transportation, and funds for child and elder care can be provided if requested in advance. The three certified trainers will also be available to present the program to other communities and groups later this year at no cost.

To sign up, or for more information, see http://www.horizonsweb.info/ or call the East Lewis County Chamber at 360-983-3778.

LeadershipPlenty® is part of the 18-month Horizons program, a community development program that seeks to reduce poverty through community leadership. It is coordinated locally by the East Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, delivered by WSU Extension (http://www.horizons.wsu.edu/), and funded by the Northwest Area Foundation (http://www.nwaf.org/).

Pam teaching video

Pam demonstrating video interview techniques

Shawn at work

Shawn hard at work...