December 21, 2004
Minutes
Meeting began at
Meeting officiated by
Prayer was offered by Sam Verhagen
The Year in Review -
Last Year on
As a coalition we are not really an action group. We don’t even have a check book or elected officers. We are a group of people from various organizations interested in improving our community. But not being an action group doesn’t mean that we can’t have an affect. In fact through our diligence of meeting together each week to plan and discuss what we might do to improve our community a lot of things have been accomplished. Many of us have attended meetings, returned to the organizations we represent and have implanted the thing we’ve talked about.
At our meeting last year we agreed to:
Meet weekly to ensure that the momentum continues
Develop a mission statement
Established traditions to follow
Disseminate information
Support each other in our various goals of improving Nenana
Establish new groups in order to accomplish more
Work with groups outside of Nenana
Help increase attendance at city council meetings and,
Discuss and work towards implementation of anything that might improve wellness in Nenana.
We’ve done these things and much more!
Specifically:
1.) We’ve met weekly for almost every single week of the year. This is important because perseverance is an essential ingredient for getting things done.
2.) We assigned a committee to establish a mission statement and they proposed that we develop a simple mission statement by answering the who, what, when, why, where, and for whom questions that people would want to know about our group as follows:
|
Question |
Answer |
|
Name |
The |
|
Who |
representatives from many community organizations, agencies, groups and individuals |
|
What |
an alliance or coalition |
|
When |
meets weekly |
|
Why |
to stimulate, locate, evaluate, coordinate, consolidate and help implement plans for improving the wellness of the community and the quality of life |
|
Where |
|
|
For Whom |
community members and the community as a whole |
We changed the order, adopted their recommendations, and approved the following mission statement:
“The
3.) We established traditions to follow including: organizational structure, meeting format, method of keeping records, how to deal with complaints in a positive manner, etc.
4.) We developed methods of disseminating information and do so via email minutes, newspaper articles, through our website, and directly to the public at our annual wellness dinner.
5.) The various member organizations have written letters of support for each other when grants requests have been submitted. Such letters show broad-based support from the community - which is very important for receiving grants.
6.) We’ve helped foster the establishment of new groups in town to deal with issues that are not currently being address by any of our existing groups. The
7.) We’ve worked with various groups from outside of Nenana, many of whom have contacted us because they have heard about what we are doing. These include in-state and out-of-state groups. Two in particular are
8.) We’ve urged our members and others to become more involved locally by attending city council meetings. In order to foster that involvement we hold one meeting a month in the evening just before the regularly scheduled city council meeting. Attendance at many city council meetings has increased substantially.
Other things we’ve discussed that our various member organizations or others have helped move forward are:
9.) The
10.) Through the efforts and generosity of Chuck Hugny, Mike Hill, the Jauhola family and other volunteers, we now have a soccer field here in town.
11.) Through the efforts of
12.) We are working with the Cambridge Institute and the Boardwalk Group, who are helping us locate funding to buy or build the transitional housing that we agreed is sorely needed here in town.
13.) The
14.) The Chamber of Commerce has worked with the city and secure a location for a farmer’s market. They will continue to work to further develop the program.
15.) The Court System has worked with Native Council to provide transportation to and from
16.) The
17.) The court system worked with the school and Railbelt Mental Health to develop a community work service program to monitor kids in order to assure that they get their community work service done and that it proves to be of value to the community.
18.) We have discussed and are supportive of efforts on the part of the city and the tribe to develop a transfer station to which people will be able to bring their trash rather than having to haul it to the borough’s landfill.
19.) The
20.) The tribe has been successful at helping to ease the housing shortage by obtaining grants to build 4 new homes in the community. Several more are planned for next year.
21.) The court system has worked with
22.) The
23.) The court system continues to work towards development of a wellness court that will help address some of the problems that are not being addressed under the current system - such as getting treatment for those who need it while they are in custody rather than merely incarcerating them over and over again.
24.) The
25.) The court system, in conjunction with Ch’eghutsen,
Other progress over the last year has included: the paving of Front street, major improvements to the road leading to the Pioneer cemetery, the opening of K Street, and planning for curbs and sidewalks on Front, Second and Third streets. Erosion control has been approved to stabilize the river bank east of town, the Alaska railroad is moving forward with their plans to realign the railroad south of town and testing for natural gas is currently underway west of Nenana.
Progress is being made, people are excited and Nenana is a great place to live!
Comments after the year’s review included the following:
Gary Edwin suggested that Harlin Sweetsir might be interested in working with us in developing snowmobile races between the various villages including
Mike Anderson suggested that we might want to consider helping someone start a local snow-mobile tour business. He mentioned that he took some of the boarding school kids down to
Robin Campbell pointed out that we also have local instructors who would be willing to teach dance instruction.
Gary Edwin suggested that we might consider contacting and working with Habitat for Humanity.
Bud Krause said that if the tribe is having a difficult time locating drivers to take people up to
After the review we en
Next Wellness Meeting
Due to the many people being out of town for the holidays, the next regularly scheduled wellness meeting will be held on
Meeting Adjourned at
There were 21 people in attendance from the following organizations (and various interested citizens):
Nenana Visitor’s Center, Alaska Court System,
Bud Krause,
907-832-5454 (office)
907-378-5454 (cell)
Dear Dog Mushers and Friends,
The
In order to accomplish that, we will seek sponsorship for several new races each with significant purses. We will also work to establish a school in which many of you will be asked to participate as instructors and/or speakers and be paid for your services.
With this letter we are extending an invitation to the entire dog mushing community to attend a dinner and planning meeting scheduled for
The goal of the school would be for students to graduate with certification that will be recognized and accepted world-wide. Instruction will include lectures from veteran Iditarod, Quest, and other national and international mushers, veterinarians, nutritionists, business managers, clothing experts, bankers, etc. Additional subjects will include race preparation, equipment repair, selective breeding, exercise, trail preparation and maintenance, finding sponsors, etc.
The school will work with the world’s leading musher’s in developing the curricula, instruction manuals, workbooks, charts, etc., and see to it that graduates perform to accepted industry standards. After graduation students will serve internships with those of you who wish to contract with the school to take interns.
This will provide two positive results. You will have the benefit of interns who have significant training, and they will receive the practical training that cannot be taught in the classroom at the hands of some of the world’s greatest mushers. Their certification should make it easy for them to get a mushing job anywhere in the world, not to mention what the training and experience could mean to them if they get into racing (or guiding, etc.) themselves.
Nenana is home to many of Dog-Mushing’s greatest competitors, both current and past, is located on the major highway between
Please pass this information on to anyone you know throughout the state who might also be interested and feel free to contact us with suggestions or for further information.
Sincerely,