Volunteering

William K. Murphy Honored

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Lauren and Mr. Murphy (reduced)I’ve spoken about my grandfather, Bill Murphy, here before.  Yesterday some students from Plymouth interviewed him as part of a project to record the memories of World War II veterans for the Marshall County Museum Historic Crossroads Center.  Considering that my grandfather turned 100 years old this year, the pool of survivors has to be getting shallow.

ABC 57 picked up the interview and had a short clip on the news last night.  You can see it here if you’re interested.  In the quote on the website he says that he was drafted, but actually Grandpa worked at Kingsbury Ordinance Plant and since that was a necessary service, he was not eligible for the draft.  He quit that job and volunteered for the service, turning down the waiver.

Picture Source:  Kelsey Flynn

ECC Volunteers

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Julie Heise and Bob Cooper at Culver's Relay for LIfe event
Julie Heise and Bob Cooper at Culver’s Relay for LIfe event

I put a lot on the blog about the volunteer work I do… mainly because that’s at the forefront of my mind.  But there’s no doubt that I’m not the only community minded employee at Easterday Construction Co., Inc.  Pictured at the right are two other ECC employees, Julie Heise and Bob Cooper, at the Culver Relay for Life event.  According to the website they were part of 432 participants raising nearly $42,000 in donations.

Julie is very involved in volunteer projects at the school with sports and cheerleading.  Bob is a volunteer with Culver EMS and serves on their board of directors.  We proud of all our employees that give back to the community.  While they’re not doing this as representatives of Easterday Construction, they no doubt enhance our image with their efforts.  Great Job!

PIDCO

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PIDCO Logo 1-21-14I attended the PIDCO (Plymouth Industrial Development Corporation) Annual Meeting today and was voted into a position on the Board of Directors.  I have voiced some disappointment with PIDCO’s squandered potential the last few years and I guess now I have to put up or shut up!  Easterday Construction has long been a shareholder in PIDCO.  We’ve believed in the mission and the work they have done for Plymouth and Marshall County has been impressive.  I look forward to helping them recapture and advance their agenda for the betterment of the community.

There was a presentation from Dan Zuerner of Garmong Construction regarding his thoughts on economic development and the new shell building that is being built on PIDCO property.  This project is a combined effort with PIDCO, MCEDC, City of Plymouth and the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission.  This will give us a flexible state of the art building to offer on the market.  The presentation was interesting and hopefully a wake-up call to the PIDCO members and city officials that were there.  He chastised the City for high fees and difficult requirements that have added costs and slowed the project.  If this is a difficulty for a company we’re partnering with, just imagine the view from a new business looking to expand here…

Marshall County Economic Development For the Future (cont.)

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Last Wednesday I attended the third MCEDC Economic Development For the Future Meeting at Swan Lake.  Culver was represented at this meeting by Bill Githens, Dave Schoeff and Ginny Munroe.  This meeting had a “report card” kind of feel.  In the previous two meetings we talked about what MCEDC needed in order to help the communities and about a list of goals for each of the communities.  At this meeting we listed all of those goals along with all of the associated action steps on poster boards and asked the communities to report on their progress.  All of them were able to point to some of the good things they have done and areas where work was needed.  A couple even added additional goals to their list.

Culver Objectives 8-13Culver’s list was one of the longest, but that is partly due to me being an activist, as you can see from my comp plan map   The Culver list is shown at the right and you can blow it up to see what is on it (feel free to step up and accomplish anything on there you would like to!)

This meeting was the first that Ginny had attended and it was interesting to hear her comments on how it energized her. Seeing how other community representatives were stepping up and taking ownership on projects was an important goal for MCEDC in these meetings. We hope to instill some civic pride and civic competition and we seem to be achieving some success.

We have already scheduled a follow up meeting for the fourth quarter of 2013 and hope to build on the successes we have seen so far.  This program is already paying back with some exciting dividends.

Culver Fall Fest

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With Lakefest almost upon us, the Culver Chamber of Commerce is already looking ahead to the Culver Fall Fest.  One of the events they would really like to push is the Scarecrow Contest.  The scarecrow contest has withered, so to speak, over the last few years.  The Chamber believes if they can get a good turn out for this, they can draw in media for a news spot on the scarecrows and thus the rest of the events.  They think critical mass on this will be a minimum of 50 scarecrows.  Put your creative thinking caps on and see what you can come up with!

The entry fee for the contest is $10 and there is a $200 prize for the best scarecrow.  To help support this, I am offering to reimburse the entry fee for any Easterday Construction Co., Inc. employee or employee family member.  (I will ask that they credit Easterday Construction on their entry so we can keep track.)  I will also offer a $100 prize to match the Chamber $200 prize if an ECC entry win!  Kathy and Julie have already accepted the challenge.  Any ECC entries will be highlighted and credit here.