Sand Hill Farm Logo
I used the new Sand Hill Farm Logo today in a post to Town, Gown and Lake about the Habitat for Humanity site at Sand Hill Farm. (If you’re not on Town, Gown and Lake and and want to read that post, I’ve included it below.) I chose to work with Shelly Schrimsher of Unlocked Creativity since this is a local project. I’d seen her work through her assistance to the Town on the Stellar projects and the new Town Logo. She helped me work through some of the ideas I already had and I think the collaboration resulted in something versatile that I can use for years.
Sand Hill Farm Site Sign Concept
I wanted to include a graphic that brought the sand hill and associated woods into the logo. She did this in a creative way bringing the curve of the hill slope into the “s” in sand. I also asked for the graphic to be independent of the words to make it more versatile and she was able to to do that. And finally I had a vision of the entry sign made from rusted, cut, multi-layer metal on a gabion base/background to carry through the Culver Charrette field stone theme. From several examples I showed her, she was able to provide a mock-up capturing the concept. Now I can show the fabricators what the goal is – which makes it more likely they’ll achieve it for me. This is out for quotes now.
Overall this was a good experience and I am pleased with the results. You’ll be seeing the logo show up more and more as the project moves forward. Give Shelly a shot if you have similar needs.
Barn Owls
Picture from the Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife Wild Bulletin
As further evidence of my eclectic interests, here’s a picture of a Barn Owl and the story about it from the DNR Wild Bulletin.
The barn owl pair on a DNR nest cam in southern Indiana is raising a second brood of chicks unusually late into the nesting season.
The existence of a bonus round of chicks in 2017 is good news for barn owls because they are an endangered species in Indiana. In 2015, only 10 barn owl nests were reported statewide.
The mother owl laid this second clutch of eggs in late September, which is just within the standard barn owl breeding season from March to October. But this year was the first time this pair laid eggs that late while on the nest cam.
Habitat For Humanity at Sand Hill Farm
Image from Habitat for Humanity of Marshall County website
I have always had a plan to include a Habitat for Humanity site at Sand Hill Farm. I recently met with representatives of Habitat for Humanity of Marshall County and the Town of Culver to discuss this. They were excited about the opportunity and were happy to provide additional information.
If you’re interested in possibly participating in a Habitat Home at Sand Hill Farm, I encourage you to look at the information on their site and fill out an application. Copies of the application can be found on their website here and can be picked up at the Town Hall in Culver. The plan would be to offer a home in late 2018 or sometime in 2019. Once accepted, an applicant must put in 100 hours of service before the build starts, so the sooner you start the process, the better.
Habitat for Humanity is always looking for volunteers, so if you would like to volunteer you can check out those opportunities on their website here. If you would like to contribute, they accept donations directly at: 116 South Walnut Street, Plymouth, IN and for convenience, you can also contribute to them through Marshall County Community Foundation where they have an established fund. The Community Foundation site accepts credit card donations.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Thanks to Robert Dragani and LPL Financial for their gift of a fresh wreath to help us celebrate the season!
Regional Cities Initiative Helping
To the right is an article that appeared in The Pilot News, December 18, 2017 discussing the impact of the Regional Cities Initiative. The study was conducted by Ball State University and concluded that it is making a noticeable difference in attracting talented young workers to the area.
Marshall County is part of the North Central Region along with St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties. Most of the funds for our region have been allocated and in Marshall County we’re seeing the impact through assistance in worker housing, manufacturing centers, expanded Boys & Girls Club facilities and an Aquatic Center. In Culver alone, the initiative has helped the Town provide infrastructure to Sand Hill Farm for entry-level housing and money has been set aside for assistance with an E-Commerce center which may provide entrepreneurial opportunities and worker training space. (Culver was in line for additional RCI grants, but the 60% private equity requirement proved daunting for a small community to achieve.)
It’s important to recognize what our local organizations have done to achieve these goals. Marshall County would not have had this opportunity without the foresight of the Marshall County Community Foundation (MCCF) and their initial investment of $10k into the program. That seed money was what put us on the map for this and made the initial connections to St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties. If Linda Yoder hadn’t taking this to the MCCF board and sold it, it wouldn’t have happened.
The hand-off from there went to Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC). Without their efforts, many of the projects submitted by Marshall County would not have made the list before the application was submitted. Then the follow up to keep the dollars allocated to Marshall County stayed with Marshall County largely came down to the shepherding of Jerry Chavez and MCEDC. They were able to get a reallocation of funds to housing initiatives when original projects fell through and then when one of the four housing projects didn’t come to fruition, they were able to secure the money towards the other projects that were viable.
The money that went to the housing project in Culver helped Culver achieve Stellar Community designation this year. It’s a domino effect and currently the dominos are falling in our direction. This was former Governor Mike Pence’s vision when he spearheaded this program. Inject funds into regions that demonstrate the desire and determination to move forward and great things can happen. Let’s hope this continues to buoy our region, county and communities creating the excitement and drive to move us forward.
