Rocklake, ND

Only in a small town does the whole community come together to support someone in need. On April 5 a benefit was held for Shane Oakland who is taking treatments for cancer. And on June 15 a benefit was held for Dakota Ray-Price who has Neurofibromatosis. The turn out was unbelievable at both of the benefits. Check out the CaringBridge site to follow along on how they are doing and give them some support.

Agriculture is the backbone of our community. If it disappears so does our community. So the question is do you want cheap food or safe food? Our state is number one in eleven different crops and second in three other crops. You can get cheap food from other places but safe food comes from here. Once the American farmer & rancher is gone they won’t be back, and if you think fuel prices are high, it isn’t nothing compared to what food prices will be!!!! SUPPORT AGRICLTURE AND HELP KEEP OUR COMMUNITIES ALIVE!!!!

I attended a grant writing workshop in Devils Lake at the college. It was held on April 23 and sponsored by the NDSU Center for Community vitality. The presenter for the workshop was Dr Lynette Krenelka , director of Distance Degree Programs at UND. Grantwriting seems like a troubling word but when you get a little instruction in the art and some direction from a professional it doesn’t seem quite as scary!!! Dr Krenelka does a very enjoyable presentation and throws humor in when needed so the time seemed to fly by for a day long workshop!! Gayle Gette, Diana Sitz and Jo Rodenbiker also attended the workshop from our area. Grantwriting is no easy task and is very time consuming but if we need money for projects the time and energy may have to be put to the test. How bad do we want it????

We have two youth that have decided to make a difference in our community. The first one is Crystal Thomas. She has purchased the Hair Affair from retiring owner-operater Mavis Carter. The second one is Joshlyn Odegaard. She has taken over the management of the Rock Lake Cafe. Thanks to these two individuals the businesses will stay open.

The Rock Lake School Senior Class of seven, six girls and one boy, graduated today. Is a class size of seven to small? Do they get a better or worse education than larger classes? How small, of a class, is to small?

Because of the Horizons program we now have a welcoming committee. When someone new moves into the community they are delivered baked goods and a flyer with the list of businesses and organizations along with other important information.

The committee consists of five people: Jannell Lagein, Kelly Mitchell, Mavis Carter, Jennifer Hunt, Gary Hunt.  

They are still working on the project as they would like a package of local coupons to share with new residents.

The Rock Lake 2nd Annual Spring Fling was held March 22, 2008 at various locations in Rock Lake. The day consisted of a free meal, Easter egg hunting, egg dying, ice golfing, BINGO, and an Around the World Experience. The free meal was served at the Rock Lake Cafe and was provided by the Horizons program. The Easter egg hunt was very entertaining for the children who came to participate in the days activities. Prizes were given out at the end of the hunt. The children also participated in the egg dying that was held at the VFW Hall. BINGO was enjoyed by a variety of people. It was also held at the VFW Hall. Ice golfing took place out on the lake and many people participated. The Around the World Experience was a chance for adults to try food and drink from different countries. The people were moved from site to site by pickups pulling trailers.

The Rock Lake Ambulance Service held EMT training on March 1 & 2 at the ambulance hall.  The instructor was from Golden Heart Services out of Rugby, ND. They trained in medical and trauma emergencies. The medical emergencies included anything from an allergic reaction to food, to OB delivery, to diabetic reaction. The trauma emergencies was from broken bones, to penetrating objects, to a bad car wreck. Also trained on removing a helmet from a trauma patient.

The Rock Lake Ambulance has a very skilled and will trained staff of care providers and drivers. They also do training every month at the monthly squad meetings to keep up on anything that is new or different. These dedicated individuals provide a life saving service to the community. Giving many hours of their time to the service (24 hours a day 7 days a week). They deserve a big THANK YOU for all they do.

The ones that took the training were Danny Krumweide, Gary Hunt, Rob Peterson, Duane Kaleva, Connie Odegaard, Kinsey Oakland, Malynda Carter, Aja Odegaard.

Anyone interested in joining as a EMT contact one of the above members.

Nine students from the Rock Lake School participated in the District STAR events. STAR stands for Students Taking Action with Recognition. It is part of the FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) program. Districts was held in Edmore on February 27th. Nicole Jacobsen, Crystal Haberstroh, and Alyson Leas did an Entrepenurship project in the senior divison. They rescieved a gold placing and are going to State. Rachael Lagein, Vicki Lonier, and Danielle Wiener did a National Programs in Action project with emphasis on Communtity Service in the senior divison. They received a gold placing and are going to State. Ashley Johnston and Julia Clouse did a Chapter Service project in the senior division. They recieved a silver placing. Caitlin Swanson did an Illustrated Talk project in the senior division. She recieved a bronze placing. Congratulations to all! Nicole, Crystal, Alyson, Rachael, Vicki, and Danielle will be going to the State convention on April 6, 7, and 8. Good Luck!

On Tuesday, February 12 at 2:00 p.m., Gretchen Dawley, Miss Teen North Dakota 2008, visited the Rock Lake Public School. She is a senior from Munich. She described herself and the Miss Teen North Dakota program. Her platform is literacy and building character. She stressed the importance of reading everyday. She explained the importance of respect to yourself, and the people around you. At the end of her program, she handed out signed pictures.

Check out the new Rock Lake website. Another accomplishment thanks to the Horizons Program. It’s amazing all the businesses in the community, that you don’t realize, until you look at the list. If you or someone you know has a business that is not listed on the website let me know, so it can be added. The main ones behind this project are Eugene Norheim and Myron Jacobsen.

The community enjoyed an evening at the new beach area to the West of the park in Rock Lake. This was the show off day for one of the Horizons projects that was worked on during the summer and fall months. The event was held on a Sunday afternoon in Sept. Over 150 people from the community and surrounding areas attend the event. There was good food prepared by some awesome cooks!! Games were enjoyed by the youth and whoever was game enough to play and show up the young people. There were numerous positive comments about how nice the beach area looked . Carl Swanson was the man behind the machine that put the landscaping touches to the beach area. The park/beach is a place that if free of charge and is accessible to anyone who would like to bring their family and friends to a nice quiet place, grill some burgers and enjoy the scenery. Bring the binoculars and watch the numerous species of birds on the lake. What better place to spend a day at the beach!!!!

There was over forty people, adult and youth, at the study circles. They were held in early Febuary 2007. At the study circles we learned there are many different kinds of poverty. We also learned that everyone has many skills and talants that on one knew about. By putting these skills and talents to work we are able to make many structural changes in our community and in poverty. We are able to make this a great community to live in and be a part of. We also learned that we have many leaders in our community that are very good at it. By the end of the study circle we had came up with a list of action items to act on. Of them ideas two of them are up and running already and one more will be up and running in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned to find out which one that is.

The leaders of the study circles were: Jo Ann Rodenbiker, Kelly Mitchell, Mavis Carter, Jannell Lagein, Brock Mitchell, Darrel Lagein.

Mark the date on your calendars for Rock Lake Winter Fun Day!  It is scheduled for Saturday March, 22.  LOTS of fun planned including the 2nd annual Around the World Experience!  Contact committee members Diane Schwandt, Cindi Swanson, Jennifer Lautt, Teresa Krumwiede, Chris McConnell or Kelly Mitchell if you would like to help!   

The Handy-Thrifty Helpers 4-H Club of Egeland has been busy sewing quilts and purchasing food for those in need this holiday season.  Leaders Deb Odegaard, Jannell Lagein, and Tina Koehn organized several quilting sessions for interested 4-H members over the past year. Three quilts were completed and recently presented by club members to Sarah Anderson, one of the SAFE house directors in Devils Lake. Supply costs for this project were supplemented with donations by the Young Riders 4-H club of Rocklake and Walmart of Devils Lake. Club members also purchased food to contribute to the Cando Area Food Pantry.

Handy-Thrifty Helpers 4-H members who participated in the Quilt and Food Pantry donations are:  Casey and Coty H, Danielle W, Corinna and Mandy K, Vicki L, Amanda L, Rachael, Traci, Jill, Jessi and Ben L, Kayla and Brenna D, and Karly and Adam H.  Leaders and parents who participated were Deb Odegaard, Dave and Jannell Lagein, Tina Koehn, and Gail Harder.

The Rock Lake School held it’s Christmas program tonight in the school gym. All the kids did a great job. The teachers put a lot of time in the program to make it a big success. Good job Teachers and Students!!!! Here are some pictures of the concert.