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This year almost 20 families took part
in the program, up from nine families last year. This is the second
year that the program has been part of the Lincoln Christmas season.
"Sponsors for the families come from
three local groups," said Tony Shuff, Salvation Army director for
Logan and Mason County. "We get partners from churches, businesses
and families who want to help out."
This year the families enjoyed a
visit with Santa, as well as cookies and hot chocolate.
[By CURT FOX]
 Safe Rides available Christmas Eve
There's a safer alternative
to driving for anyone who has too much to drink while celebrating the
Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve, Safe Ride will be available in Lincoln
to those who need it. Safe Ride is a free ride home, sponsored by the
Healthy Communities Partnership.
"Christmas is a time of spending time
with friends and families. Often alcohol is part of the celebration.
The Healthy Communities Partnership offers Safe Rides to help keep
the streets safer for everyone who is celebrating," said Angela
Stoltzenburg, community partnerships manager. "Our hope is that the
community will remember the service is available and that bartenders
will suggest it when necessary."
Safe Ride will also be available on
New Year's Eve.
To receive a free ride home within
the city limits on those nights, call the cab company, A Green Cab
of Lincoln, at 732-TAXI (8294).
Healthy Communities Partnership is
a collaborative organization comprised of community agencies and
private individuals striving to create the healthiest community in
America. The partnership is supported by the Abraham Lincoln
Healthcare Foundation. For more information or for updates, like
Healthy Communities Partnership on
Facebook or call 217-605-5008.
Blessing of 18th Logan County Habitat home Sunday
Habitat for Humanity of
Logan County will celebrate its 18th home blessing on Sunday, Dec. 22, at
2:30 p.m. The house at 705 N. Madison St. will become a home for Amber Senters and her children: Anthony, Hayden and Clara. The site for the home was donated to
Habitat for Humanity by the Joe Pelc family.
The public is invited to celebrate
with the family, take a tour of the home after the program and enjoy
refreshments.
Habitat for Humanity's goal is to
provide decent and affordable housing to those unable to secure it
through more traditional means. Eligibility is based upon need,
income and a willingness to partner with the organization.
Families and individuals chosen for
Habitat for Humanity homes do not receive a handout but a hand up.
Habitat homes are financed with affordable, no-interest loans.
Mortgage payments are made locally to Habitat for Humanity of Logan
County, which in turn uses the funds to build or rehabilitate other
homes within the county. Families must have the financial ability to
make monthly mortgage payments. In addition to a monetary down
payment, families must provide 350 hours and individuals must
provide 250 hours of "sweat equity" into the completion of their
home and homes of others.
Habitat for Humanity builds homes,
lives and a sense of community.
For more information on Habitat for
Humanity of Logan County, call 217-732-6412 or visit
www.habitatlogan.org.
'We
Are Lincoln'
Putting words into action — Part 4
Last week Wednesday as the second meeting of the "We Are Lincoln"
group began to wind down, Patrick Doolin said he would like to see a
progress report at the January meeting that showed: "This is what we
talked about, and this is what we did about it."
He noted that he wanted this movement to progress from talk to
action, and in one month he wanted them to be able to check off what
they have done.
Doolin's comments then segued into a discussion about smart
goals. Moderator Michael Gowin said the group needed to set smart
goals that are measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
Gowin said the action to take place should be identified, and
then the progress documented to show how it is moving along. The
goals chosen should be reasonable and attainable goals. He said each
goal should have a timeline of sorts that outlines when the goal
should be achieved.
Patrick Doolin also commented that what the group is talking
about is a master project that will never be completed; it will
always be changing and evolving into another step.
Jeanette Harris said one project she would like to get involved
in would be a collaboration of all public service agencies, where
multiple agencies could meet and share resources and information.
Aaron Cantrell said he would volunteer to work with her on that
project.
April Doolin said she would post a comment on the Facebook page
asking people to list their action item from tonight. She asked the
group to be proactive in posting to the page, letting the public
know what is being worked on and encouraging others to join in.
Another member of the group said there needed to be something
that addressed the youth and young adults in the community. She said
there are lots of young people wandering about aimlessly because
there isn't much for them to do in Lincoln.
Patrick Doolin said this had come up at the last meeting, and it
was Craig Lindvahl who said that no matter what town you live in,
the kids of that town are going to say there is nothing there for
them to do.
This moved the group into talking about education and retention.
Andi Hake, director of the Lincoln/Logan Chamber of Commerce, said
the chamber does have a college outreach program and scholarship
programs. She said she didn't know how many other organizations in
town have scholarship programs for the local colleges.
Robert Bagby talked about the Lincoln High School Foundation and
said it has given out $72,000 in local scholarships. He said the
high school partners with Lincoln College to give kids an
opportunity to earn college credits while in high school. The high
school also offers a vocational program and is working on a
partnership with Heartland College to get vocational students
enrolled there to finish their associate degree. He said LCHS also
has its own alternative school and will soon graduate the 100th
student from the alternative school.
Also on hand was next year's president of the Lincoln Jaycees.
Tom Hackett said that while the Jaycees have been in Lincoln for 60
years, they are currently one of the lesser known organizations in
town. However, he said one of his goals this coming year is to
correct that and bring more attention to the organization.
He told the group that Jaycees is a youth-oriented program for
young business people. He wants to increase involvement of those
young professionals, and he wants to do more in the community to
help local youth. He encouraged those in the room to offer comments
and suggestions and to get involved with the Jaycees.
At the end of the night, Gowin had a list of projects that will
be the first priorities of the We Are Lincoln group. He asked if the
group could get together in a month and talk about the list and what
has been accomplished. After a few moments of discussion, the group
came up with a tentative date of Jan. 9 for the next meeting. The
date and time will be confirmed on the Facebook page.
The Facebook page for We Are Lincoln can be found by pasting the
following URL into your browser:
https://www.facebook.com/wearelincolnillinois.
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related articles
'We Are Lincoln'
County
announces holiday hours
The Logan County chief
justice has announced that the circuit clerk's office and all courts will
observe the Christmas holiday by being closed the entire day of Christmas
Eve as well as Christmas Day. The state's attorney's office will
also be closed all day on Christmas Eve.
All other Logan County offices will be
open until noon on Christmas Eve by order of the Logan County Board.
Darla Ludolph named 2013 ALMH Employee of the Year
Darla Ludolph of Williamsville has been named
the 2013 Employee of the Year at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in
Lincoln. Dolan Dalpoas, CEO of the hospital, presented the award to Ludolph
at the ALMH Holiday and Award Celebration on Dec. 6 at the Knights of
Columbus in Lincoln. Ludolph works as
a radiologic technologist at ALMH. Her caring and professional
approach is what caught the attention of her nominator and the
co-workers who gave her the honor.
"From the time
she greets me with a smile in the lobby until the time we say
goodbye, Darla makes the mammogram an experience I no longer dread,"
said the patient who nominated her for the recognition. "She is
caring, yet professional, and I appreciate her explanation of the
X-rays in a manner I can understand. To sum it up, she is a jewel,"
Ludolph was
born at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. Growing up in a
military family, she lived in 10 states, including Hawaii, and in
the Philippines. 1974 was a momentous year for her. After graduating
from St. Francis School of Radiologic Technology in Peoria, she took
a position at ALMH and also married Rich Ludolph. Her marriage and
career are both going strong after 39 years.
"ALMH has
always been like a family to me," she said. "I work with great
friends. And most importantly, I work with state-of-the-art
equipment, which allows me to perform excellent exams for my
mammography patients."
Ludolph was one of the 12 ALMH Employees of the Month in 2013.
The others were Brian Bishop, a dietary employee; Rita Wells, in
accounting; Cheryl Boyd, environmental services; Kathy Hopwood,
acute care; Moses Hernandez, environmental services; Ariel Stanton,
dietary; Tim Sedlacek, emergency; Ina Tjelle, patient accounts; Judy
Hamrick, medical records; Roger McCoy, emergency; and Tom Frost,
special services.
ALMH, at 200 Stahlhut Drive in Lincoln, is a 25-bed
critical-access hospital affiliated with Memorial Health System.
ALMH employs over 310 in a variety of roles. For more information,
visit www.almh.org.
'We
Are Lincoln'
Putting words into action — Part 3
When the "We Are Lincoln" group met last week, a large portion of the
meeting was a continuation from their first meeting, in November. At that
session, lists were compiled by those in attendance, naming projects that
needed to be started or completed in Lincoln. The goal was to identify what
is needed in order to make Lincoln a better place, and also how to draw
attention to the good things that are already going on in the city. Later in the evening, moderator Michael Gowin moved the discussion
to identifying new issues that were not already on the pages on the
wall.
Jeanette Harris said there was not enough information regarding
services for those in bad situations. Harris spoke about those who
are in poverty and also have other issues in their lives, such as
difficulty finding work because they have a criminal background.
Harris reminded the group that in society, most of those who live
in poverty are victims of generational poverty, where children are
following in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents. She
said there needed to be more done in the community to help break
these generational cycles.
Patrick Doolin also updated the group on what is going on with
the downtown revitalization programs. He told them that the steering
committee had presented two recommendations to the city council for
actions to be taken in 2014 that would start showing physical
evidence of the revitalization.
He said that in addition to what has been recommended, there are
other projects that other groups are trying to get going. He
mentioned as a for-instance, an empty lot near the Lincoln Public
Library that will be developed into additional downtown parking.
David Doolin said there are several things going on in the
community that are not just a "snapshot in time"; they are ongoing,
continual efforts. He named specifically the Together for Lincoln
program that annually does work to improve the lives of those less
fortunate or unable to maintain their homes due to health or age.
He said the We Are Lincoln group could be an aggregate for new
ideas for existing movements, and that they could team together and
help each other in making improvements in Lincoln.
Aaron Cantrell, who is involved with Together for Lincoln, said
there is a new men's group forming at Jefferson Street Church as a
spinoff of Together for Lincoln. He said the group is going to be
starting soon with a new outreach that will offer assistance to
widows and single-parent families.
Gowin then moved the topics along, asking members of the group to
talk about why they were there.
Andi Hake of the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce spoke
up first, saying that she had missed the first We Are Lincoln
meeting because she had to attend another meeting, but that she had
been very excited to hear how many people had come to the initial
session.
She said the work this group wants to do is something that in
the big picture will make her job easier. As the executive
director of the chamber of commerce, her role is to promote the
community, bring new business into town and help the city grow.
She said groups working together and making Lincoln a better
place through projects such as the dog park make Lincoln more
attractive to those looking to come here.
Another member of the audience said Lincoln was her husband's
hometown. As a couple they had left Lincoln, but they returned 10
years ago to raise their family here. She said she wanted her kids
to be proud of their hometown and to want to stay right here.
David Lanterman said he was part of the group because he wants to
help improve Lincoln.
Harris spoke again. She explained that she is a single mom with
kids, and she's working to receive her education at Lincoln
Christian University. She said typically those who are poor and
struggling don't often participate in meetings like this one.
However, she said she had built up her courage and come to the
meeting because she wanted to be a voice for those who are afraid to
participate, and she wants the betterment of Lincoln to include the
betterment of those people.
Blinn Bates said he felt that many of those who were in the room
were there for the betterment of the city, and they had come from a
desire to be a part of it. He commented that on a very cold night,
his home was safe and warm, but he felt a need to be a part of this
movement that would move the city forward in the future.
As the one-hour mark passed at the meeting, the question was
asked, "Can we make a list of things we want to do?"
___
In the final segment of this series, the group discusses how to
promote the We Are Lincoln group and the community as a whole.
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related articles
'We Are Lincoln'
[to top of second
column] |
'We
Are Lincoln'
Group putting words into action — Part 2
Last Wednesday evening, the We Are Lincoln group met at Abraham Lincoln
Memorial Hospital to continue discussions on what they can do to draw
attention to the good in our community, and also to identify areas where the
city needs improvement. The goal of the group is to work together with city
government and other entities to help create a better community. Michael
Gowin served as the moderator for the meeting and led the group
through a list of wants and needs that had been compiled in November
at the first meeting.
The talks began with how to go about creating a single source of
information for everyone in the community. The topic of building a
one-stop-shop website where anyone could find out anything they
wanted to know about Lincoln continued to come back into the
discussion throughout the evening.
Gowin moved the discussion forward, asking if anyone had
addressed the topic of job shadowing that appeared on one of the
lists. No one commented.
Gowin moved on to the list that included downtown revitalization.
It was brought up that there are revitalization projects in the
works.
Gowin built on that, saying that there are many things happening
that folks don't know about. He said it wasn't just about what was
going on in projects, but also what is going on in area civic
organizations, as well as churches and other social bodies.
Patrick Doolin commented that it might be a good first step for
someone to "inventory" the local organizations, find out what they
do and offer information about them. Andi Hake of the chamber of
commerce said the job might be easier than one would expect because
the Healthy Communities Partnership is already working on a similar
directory.
Jeanette Harris is a newcomer to the Lincoln community. She
talked about her former community in McLean County and how the
United Way was working on a central directory of all social services
in the county. She thought it would be great for the Logan County
community to have something like this as well. She said she would be
happy to help work on something like this for Logan County.
After her comments, it was noted that the Logan County United Way
is working on a 211 phone project and recently had a meeting to
inform the public on this project.
Gowin moved on to the page that mentioned cultivating the arts.
He asked if anyone had talked about this or done anything with it.
Kathy Vinyard said there is already a visual arts group in
Lincoln. The Logan County Arts group meets at the Lincoln Art
Institute. Vinyard said they have monthly art shows, and they want
to do more in the community to promote the arts.
It was also mentioned that there is a creative writing group in
Lincoln.
Another item on the need list was for a dog park in Lincoln.
David Lanterman said that he, Brittney McLaughlin and Angela
Stoltzenburg have been discussing this. He said, however, what it
came down to was not just a discussion about a dog park, but rather
all the green spaces in Lincoln. He said the three had discussed how
the green spaces are being used and how they could be used better.
He mentioned the APEX at City Center, the community garden spaces
and more. He said he thought there needed to be an inventory of all
the green spaces in the city and determine how they can be better
used.
Lanterman said that in addition to the three who are currently
working on this, perhaps the city and the park district needed to be
in these discussions as well.
In regard to the APEX, he noted that while it has been started,
it needs to be moving forward.
At the first meeting, it was mentioned that there needed to be a
curbside recycling program in Lincoln. At the meeting Wednesday
evening, Mitzi Rohlfs of the Joint Solid Waste Agency was on hand to
review this proposal. That agency is the recycling program serving
Lincoln and other locations in Logan County.
Rohlfs offered a little bit of background on why the city does
not have curbside recycling at the moment. Prior to 2010, there was
a curbside program with Area Disposal picking up recycling materials
free of charge as part of their trash collection service in the
city.
However, in 2010 the company determined that they could no longer
offer the service for free and implemented a $5 monthly charge on
recycling pickup. Rohlfs said more than 50 percent of the households
dropped the service then, but they didn't stop recycling. The Joint
Solid Waste Agency offers recycling in a variety of venues. There
are large dumpsters on the city lot on North Kickapoo for paper and
plastic. The agency partners with the Logan County Habitat for
Humanity for electronics recycling, and glass for recycling is
collected at the Logan County Fairgrounds from spring to fall, with
the service stopping during the winter months.
Lanterman said he was the one who brought up the household
recycling at the first meeting. He said that recycling at home was
something that could be a family activity, and it would be
educational for kids to get them started in the habit of recycling.
Rohlfs said she would support the change completely. Lincoln
Mayor Keith Snyder said that one way to possibly bring this back
would be to offer a waste hauler exclusive rights in the city and in
offering that exclusivity require that recycling be a part of the
program.
Lanterman said that another part of the problem is that homes are
not required to subscribe to a waste service. He added that if they
were required, and if the fee for recycling was included in the
monthly rate, more households would participate in curbside
recycling.
It was also brought up that there was a need for electronics
recycling and glass recycling. Rohlfs explained that those programs
are already in place. The second Saturday of every month there is an
electronics recycling collection at the Habitat for Humanity
warehouse, and glass for recycling is collected at the fairgrounds
in season. She said she provides public notices to all three local
media outlets the week prior to the Saturday events.
___
In Part 3 of this report, Gowin leads the group through bringing
up new ideas that were not on the original list from the first
meeting.
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related article
'We
Are Lincoln'
Group moves forward with putting words into
action — Part 1
Last Wednesday evening a group of about 25
Lincoln citizens met at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital. The goal of the
meeting was to find a starting point for putting words into actions. The group is an evolution from the
recent "Boomtown USA" meetings hosted by the Lincoln/Logan County
Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network.
Michael Gowin
served as the moderator with assistance from Patrick Doolin. Gowin
told the group he was not the leader of the group, but had been
asked to serve only as the moderator of all discussions. He said he
wanted to start by talking about what has taken place since the last
meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, Gowin talked about "We Are
Lincoln" versus Boomtown, saying that it was somewhat of a
misinterpretation to connect the We Are Lincoln movement with
Boomtown USA, though admittedly, the group has evolved from that to
what it is now.
The first Boomtown meeting came in October at Lincoln Community
High School and focused on creating a sense of entrepreneurship in
local youth, finding ways to keep them in the community after
college, and interacting with them in a productive way in the
interim.
Guest speakers Craig Lindvahl and Jack Schultz spoke at the first
meeting about the talent they have discovered in other areas by
implementing a CEO program for high school-age students. They spoke
on the "Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities" program that was
started in Effingham and how students there became involved in their
own small-business projects. They also talked about some of the
tremendous successes those students have realized after completing
the program.
The CEO program is something the chamber is still very interested
in pursuing, but it was what came after that first meeting that lit
the fire for We Are Lincoln.
After that first meeting, the Young Professionals Network set a
date for a Boomtown Roundtable meeting to occur at ALMH. At
practically the same time, an article written by a former Lincolnite
was published and broadcast through National Public Radio that
painted Lincoln as a decaying city with drug issues and high crime.
Many local citizens were offended by the article, but they were
also motivated. They were driven to ask themselves if that was the
perception of the city to people outside the community, and if it
was, how that could be addressed and changed.
The end result was that so many RSVP'd to the Boomtown Roundtable
that the venue had to be changed to the Lincoln Park District
Ballroom. When the meeting took place, the discussion quickly veered
to the negative article and discussions of how to make the city a
better place.
At that meeting, Doolin served as the moderator with assistance
from Blinn Bates of the YPN, and Craig Lindvahl was on hand.
Throughout the evening, members of the audience openly talked about
what is needed in the city of Lincoln to make it more attractive to
young professionals, people looking to move into Lincoln and those
who visit.
A wide variety of ideas came out of that meeting. At the end of
the night, Doolin told the group that talk was good, but what was
needed was action. He offered them an opportunity to make lists on
large pieces of paper outlining what needed to be done.
Last Wednesday evening, when the group met for the first time as
We Are Lincoln, those same pieces of paper were brought out again,
and the group was encouraged to talk about their lists and how to
accomplish the goals on the lists.
Doolin talked about the CEO program and said that it was a
project he intended to stay involved in, along with the chamber.
In the audience was Lincoln High School Superintendent Robert
Bagby.
Doolin said there have been discussions with Bagby regarding the
CEO program, and the wheels are in motion. He told the group that
the CEO program won't come soon, though, because Lindvahl is
limiting the number of programs he opens each year so as to maintain
the integrity of the program. Opening a few each year allows
Lindvahl to be certain that each new program gets plenty of
attention from him and gets off to a good start.
Doolin concluded that Lindvahl knows there is interest here in
Lincoln for the CEO program, and it will come within the next couple
of years.
After Doolin's update, Gowin returned to the lists. He asked
about the need for a single resource for information about Lincoln.
David Doolin then spoke about this.
He told the group that preparing for a single source of
information was going to be a large undertaking, but something that
was needed. He said when searching Lincoln on the Internet, one can
come up with several bits and pieces, but there is no one place that
puts everything together to make a complete picture. He said for
those who are not familiar with the area, having a single location
for everything is very important.
He said he saw the single source as a "hub in the wheel"
resource. He said the idea was to create a site that would bring
searchers in, based on a broad search. Then, once they are at the
site, they would have options of other places to go to see more
specific information about the community.
Patrick Doolin commented on this from the last meeting, saying
this single source was something people seemed to want: a source
where they could track what is going on in the community and also
learn about the various organizations and other points of interest.
This report will continue in Part 2, when the group moves on to
other items on the first set of lists and talks what to do next to
move certain projects forward.
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related articles
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