Estelline, SD

Through some generous individual donations and a lot of elbow grease by community members, an empty building on Main Street Estelline is now set to be used as a computer center by residents of all ages. The systems will offer high speed Internet services and allow youth and adults to have access to technology that they might not be able to afford in their homes. Estelline’s school was chosen this year to have all students receive lap-top computers, but not all students have good access to the Internet after school hours. This center will be supervised and accessible to all people. Harvey Donley described in the message that follows an evening of work which was done on the future tech center in Estelline.

“Last night 5 jacks showed up with volunteers to run them. I have to admit jacking up the south wall was a bit scary even for me. The old building made some noises that buildings shouldn’t make unless a bull dozer and a box of donuts are involved. With the creaks and groans aside by the end of the night we had the south wall lifted and leveled at a steady 8.5 inches above the foundation. Gravity and time were not good to the old buildings on main street made of wood. From here all we have left to do is to lay down one more row of foam on the floor and then lay the remaining heat pipes down. An extra hand or two to wrestle the plastic pipe would be great.

Last night’s work was not your average volunteer night. We literally lifted a 100 year old building up over 5 inches with wagon jacks and this building made some terrible noises. These volunteers continue to show up and do what ever is needed to make this project a success. I know for a fact that every one of them has a computer at home and that most of them don’t have students that will be using this building once it is done. That leads me to the only reasonable conclusion which is that they care about this community and are willing to do what ever it takes to make it a better place for anyone wishing to call it home. That fact in its own is reason enough for me to want to make this community my home.Thank you to all of the volunteers who have worked on this project thus far.”

 The Blue Hills Community Development Corporation develops new housing for rural communities providing homes for families, seniors, and singles.  First time home buyers participate in home maintenance programs to learn how to keep their homes in excellent repair.

Learning how to add pictures into the blog!

here we go again to find a picture.   South Dakota is the land of incredible sunsets, mostly because of the clear air and wide vistas.  Come home and enjoy them all over again. 

Estelline Horizons learned a new skill to increase communication - blogging.  This will prove to be a worthwhile skill to open more communication, especially during those long winter months.  As community members are huddled in their homes, they can still turn to their computers, blog,  and continue to make plans to reduce poverty in their community. 

The Estelline Horizons learned what it means to renovation as it has totally torn down and replaced the most ancient parts of the future technology center.  The small building, built at the turn of the century, housed barber shops and beauty shops for most of its existence.  One member of the Historical Society even stayed in the back room during her high school years.  The building will become the city’s Tech Center when renovation is completed.

Horizon members have learned many new skills including removing floors and sheet rock, remooving siding, lifting the structure to make sure it is solid, and climbing tall ladders to remove debris.