Terry pulled her lawnmower into her yard shed and headed up to the house for a glass of lemonade. By the time she walked back outside, it was on fire. Try as they may, the volunteer fire fighters didn’t get all of the flames put out, and the yard shed burned to the ground.

Now, when you live in a small town – sometimes your neighbors know your business before you do. As soon as she got the news, my mother-in-law, Murna, began calling in the support of Terry’s friends. “Terry’s barn burned down,” she began telling their mutual friend, Debbie.

 “I’ve got cake!” Debbie responded.

 This incident happened several years ago, but “I’ve got cake,” has become the slogan around here for rushing to the aid of those who need your help.

 I planned on writing today’s post about the Illinois 18^th District’s Annual Meeting. And maybe in a way that is what this post is really about. Because if I’ve learned anything from living in a small town and getting to know the ladies in the Bismarck Women’s Club – I’ve learned that small town people are there for each other.

 As I write this, Murna’s goat Betty has just died. Now that may seem like small potatoes to you, but around here animals play a very important role in our lives. In fact, around here, if your animal is sick, you call Murna. And if for some reason, your animal dies, you call her husband. Then he comes over with his back-hoe, digs a hole, and Murna holds your hand and lets you cry, while your beloved family member is buried.

But today, Murna’s husband is out of town working on a job site.

I don’t have a cake made and I’m definitely not quiet as adept at rushing to those in need as Murna is. I’m still a small-town-girl-in-training. So instead, I’ve taken the biggest pot I could find and the ingredients for soup and headed over to Murna’s house with my husband. He dug the hole, I made the dinner, we were there.

 This post is written in loving memory of Betty, the brown goat and for Murna who is teaching me what it means to be a good neighbor. 

Photo courtesy of Rita Crane Photography. 

“Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics and physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.” – Martin Luther King Jr. 

On MLK day this year, Oprah’s show, live from Washington D.C. included guests Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Along with the help of their friends they produced the following video (click on the link below). I hope it inspires you. I hope it reminds you why you are a volunteer, and why you are a clubwoman.

I Pledge

Explain the need
This portion of your funding request, isn’t the time to talk about your project, but where you state as clearly as possible the need in your community. Don’t write about your desire to build a playground. Instead talk about the need for safe places to play in your community. Talk about how childhood obesity is an important issue that your community wants to take a stand against.

It helps to back up your statement of need with research performed by outside credible sources. This is where you look to the scientific community for statistics on childhood obesity. Or, if you have a playground that has fallen into disrepair, take photos. The key is to state your need succinctly, but be able to provide stories, photos, and statistics to back up your statement.

Describe your project
This is the time to talk about your project in detail. Clearly state how this project will meet the need you see in your community. This project will need to include information on your project’s goals, objectives, and performance. You can do this simply by answering the following questions: What do you hope to achieve with this project, (goal statement)? How do you plan to achieve those goals, (objective statement)? How will you measure the success of your project, (performance statement)?

Plan your budget
Give a detailed description of how you plan to spend the money you are requesting. Be sure to list the total cost of the project, even if the grant amount you’re requesting is less than the total project cost. Be specific about what the funds you are requesting will pay for.

Raising private support for your project, by getting community members involved is a good way to show grantees that your club and your community are serious about your project. Include the money that your club raised privately as a part of the budget information.

Describe your organization
This section should be a brief history of your club. Does your club have a great track record of completing projects in your community? If so, this is the time to share those details.

Write the executive summary
When you present your grant request, the executive summary will be on top, but it is often easiest to write your executive summary once you have written the rest of the request. Your executive summary should be a very succinct summary of the need you see in your community, your project, the funds you are requesting as well as how you will use them. This is the time to be brief as you will elaborate on your points in the body of your proposal. Keep this summary to one page.

Before you begin writing
Think about the total cost of your project. In my example of a playground, the cost extends beyond playground equipment to shipping charges, wood chips for the area surrounding the equipment, and installation.

How will you publicize the grant support that you receive? While many family foundations wish to remain anonymous, corporate foundations want to make sure that you’ve considered how you will publicize both your project and the grant funding you have received.

If you are requesting funds for a project in your community and have further questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section below! Are you a seasoned grant applicant? If so, please share your tips with the rest of us!

One of the most important funding sources for our playground project has been a grant that our club applied for and received. Thankfully our club includes several elementary school teachers who have experience applying for grants. But if you’ve never done it yourself, don’t fear! – My next two posts will be dedicated to helping you find and apply for grants.

Most grants come from one of the following  three sources:

• Corporate foundations
  Think of any major corporation in your community, Lowes, McDonalds, Nike, Office Depot. Each of these corporations has a philanthropic foundation attached. Each of these foundations focus on different types of charity work in their community. They are a great resource for grant seekers and often their applications can be filled out online.

  Tip: Meet with your local store representative to let them know you intend to apply for their company’s corporate grant. Most corporate applications request this step and it is a great way to get the local store manager on board with your project. Your store manager may even have more tips for you.
   

• Federal, state, and local governments
  To find out about state and local grant opportunities, contact your districts representative. They might know of funding sources available and may be able to help you get support for your projects. To learn about federal grant money, visit www.grants.gov. Once you are on their site, click on “Find Grant Opportunities” on the far left on your screen. You will then be able to search for grant resources by categories like cultural affairs, community development, health, and natural resources.
   
• Private/family foundations
  Learning about these grant resources often takes a bit more digging. Begin by googling the topic you are seeking funds for with the keywords: grant, family foundation, private foundation. Many times these funding resources are available within your own community, but due to the modesty of the family making the grants, you may never know of their availability.

  Tip: When looking for money to complete your project, look to the community just down the road. Have they completed a similar project? Ask them how they did it.

Tell us about a grant that your club applied for and received. How did you find out about the grant? We would love to read your tips in the comment section below!

Last Wednesday, second graders poured out of buses full of energy and excitement. They walked quickly into the gym in single file lines, barely containing their enthusiasm. In the life of a second grader, there aren’t many school days better than FIELD TRIP days!!! These lucky kids were taking a walk through the body. They were going to get to see real pig hearts and lungs. They were going to touch bones and see X-rays. They were even going to get to see REAL cow eyes.

The students began their walk at the hand station where local nursing students greeted them by firmly shaking each hand. Then they got to put their hands into a black light box so that they could “see” all the germs the nursing students got all over their hands. Next it was through the mouth where they learned about dental hygiene and into the stomach where they sat in wading pools, pretending to be food particles. The nurses sprayed them with water and tossed enzymes (colorful sponges) onto them to break them down. After that, they were into the blood stream. They were pumped up into the heart and then into the lungs.

The students spent only five minutes in each spot. After their walk through the body the students traveled through stations teaching them about nutrition, safety, and healthy behaviors. This is where the Bismarck Women’s Club got involved.

Raising my hands high in the air, with as much energy as I could muster, I lead the second graders in shouting out the five fingers of water safety. “Wear sunscreen,” we started. “ALWAYS swim with a parent or other adult. Remember to wear a life jacket when you are boating. Always swim in SAFE water. And NEVER dive into shallow water.” We celebrated by slapping high fives before the kids rushed off to the next station on their Body Walk.

This event, held three times a year at local elementary schools sees all 1,000 second graders in Vermillion county, including children from private, parochial and home schools. In the state of Illinois, our Women’s Club special project focuses on child safety. Partnering with our local hospital, the Women’s Club will be able to touch hundreds of children and the families connected with those children. Thank you Provena United Samaritans’ Medical Center for this wonderful opportunity.

I don’t know about you, but I love a good makeover show. I don’t care if it is a bedroom makeover, a beauty makeover, a garden makeover, a car makeover, or anything else you can makeover. I love to see the before and after shots. I love the way the makeover transforms the lives of the people they touch.

Last summer the Bismarck Women’s Club began to makeover our local playground. While we’ve still got a ways to go to get to our “dream” playground, I thought I would share with you a few of our before shots.

Merry-go-round before, in Bismarck Lion's Club Park.

Merry-go-round with a fresh coat of paint, in Bismarck Lion's Club park with Clubwoman MaryJo Kelly.

One of the most special things to me about the Bismarck Women’s Club are meeting the generations of women that have served our community. On Valentine’s Day, my mother-in-law Murna and I helped deliver cookies to the local shut-ins and elderly. This was a great way for someone like me, new to the club and new to the community, to meet quite a few people in our community. My favorite stop by far was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, the parents of our club vice-president Nancy Gray. Mrs. Hall was one of the founding members of the Bismarck women’s club. During our visit I got to hear stories about Nancy and Murna as little girls. She encouraged us to continue to pass down this tradition of caring to new generations of women in Bismarck.

Christy and fellow club woman Connie

Last Saturday, I put on my best valentines apron, picked up a coffee pitcher, and took my place with other women in our community at the Lion’s Club Annual Pancake and Sausage breakfast. On the scale of community events – this one ranks right up at the top for our little town of Bismarck.

My husband’s birthday was the day before the breakfast. When I asked him if he would like to leave town for the weekend – to celebrate his birthday – he insisted there was no way we could miss the pancake breakfast. I grew up in a city, so the traditions of small-town, Midwestern farming communities are all new to me.  My husband, on the other hand, has been coming to this annual breakfast since he was a child. This year he flipped sausage patties in the kitchen and his dad served pancakes but in years past it was his grandfather flipping the pancakes.

As the Llion’s prepared pancakes and sausage, local women served coffee and second helpings, and boy scouts cleared and reset the tables. I particularly enjoyed walking over to tables with children and their parents and offering seconds on chocolate milk. I know their parents were thinking – they do not need any more sugar – but they gave in, because hey, it’s the pancake and sausage breakfast. It’s like Christmas – it’s only once a year. The chocolate milk seconds definitely made me a hero with more than one group of kids.

This multi-generational tradition serves about 1,000 community members a year – only, there aren’t 1,000 people in our community. People from across the regional area come out of the woodwork for this breakfast. Just pull one of the older women aside and ask her – this event draws a crowd rain or shine, snow or otherwise.

I’m sure the women of the Bismarck Women’s club will be reading this thinking, of course it does Christy. But I was definitely in shock at my first pancake breakfast when everyone I had EVER met in the town of Bismarck arrived. If you live in Bismarck, and you AREN’T at the pancake breakfast – it’s because you’re sick. But don’t worry, someone will bring by a few pancakes for you.

This year, the Lion’s gave our Women’s Club permission to host a bake sale in the lobby. As people were waiting in line for their pancakes (and there is ALWAYS a line) they purchased our baked wares. We brought valentine cupcakes, petit fours, mini loaves of bread, and breakfast muffins of every variety.

We also unveiled the first photo of the play structure we plan to purchase for the park. The kids were ecstatic. One of the boy scouts even asked me if we could get a few of those things for his school.

I love events like this because I can really see the depth of support in our community. Thanks to the generous people of Bismarck, (and the surrounding area), we sold every last cupcake and loaf of bread. We raised $300 which we will put towards the park playground equipment. Thank you Bismarck! Thank you Lion’s Club!

Flying down the big red slide.

As soon as our brown, Aerostar minivan pulled to a stop in the parking lot, seat-belts flew off and four kids bolted out of the van and across the playground. It was a race to see which one of us could get to the top of the Rocket Slide first. Then, only the bravest ones flew down the Big, Red Slide!

I can’t count the number of hours of my childhood I spent at that park – playing hide-n-seek, tag, make believe. There were numerous birthday parties, barbeques, and Fourth of Julys celebrated there. And when it was time to go home – someone always cried. I’m sure you have a similar place in your community, some place that takes you back to childhood instantly.

In the community of Bismarck, Illinois, that place is the Lion’s Club Park. Many of the women in our club remember the excitement of the playground equipment being installed – over 30 years ago! The park is home to Fourth of July celebrations and baseball tournaments. It is THE place to be on a warm summer evening.

Through several decades of wear, the community park fell into some disrepair. The Bismarck Women’s Club, with the support from our local Lion’s, decided to repaint, repair, and go about the job of raising money for new, state-of-the-art, fully accessible playground equipment. I hope to continue to share this adventure with you as well as photos of our progress.

Unil next time . . . I’d love to hear stories of where you played as a child. Please share in the comment section below.

Images courtesy of: George Campbell, a visitor to the Cedar River Exchange Park in Waterloo, Iowa rocket slide in 1974 and the Highland Park Business Club, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Mom and Christy

Everyone has their own version of success and the people in their lives who help them get there. True success for me is having my mom post something I’ve done on the fridge.  So, this piece is dedicated to my biggest fans, my moms, all of them. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you.

To my mother: Thanks for being there always, even when we are a thousand miles apart. You’ve taught me that small, thoughtful touches – a hand written note, a bouquet of flowers from the garden, a favorite candy on the nightstand – are an important use of time and can make a big impact.

To Charlene: Thank you for listening and listening and listening. Your silent display of unpuffed up spirituality continues to inspire me. You add a prayer or a scripture, not because it is the religious thing to do, but because God is speaking to your heart.

To Barb: Thank you for helping me learn some of the more practical lessons. Your patience and laughter at my faults – even when my fault was pouring candle wax down the drain – gave me a since of belonging when I was a thousand miles away from my own mother.

To Murna: Thanks for embarking on this new adventure with me. The excitement you share with everyone around you, on everything from joining the Women’s Club to baby cows to new recipes, makes me thrilled to be the newest member of your family.

Sometimes mentoring is a lot like mothering. So to all of you moms out there, know that we appreciate you, more than we will ever have the eloquence to say.