Ogallala Commons Newsletter: May 2011

Above: OC Community Interns at their Orientation in Nazareth, TX
Back row (l-r): Cara Young, Liz Hill, Weston Nieman, Briony Haachten, Reba Garrison, Greg Laudenslager, Tara Fox, Larissa Gardner, James Coffee. Middle row (l-r): Elisa Elizondo, Karen Bone, Kristin Bingham, Samantha Carter, Heather Mitchell, Catherine Jenkinson, DeLesa Villa, Kara Lacey, Michelle Wait, Aleece Methvin. Front row (l-r): Megan England, Adan Pena, Sarah Reeves, Raylyn Bowers, and Teresa Gonzales
(Interns not pictured: Delissa Villa and Savanna Bragg)
Photo courtesy of Julie Hodges, OC Education Coordinator

Intern Orientations: Starting off on the Right Foot
by Darryl Birkenfeld

After 8 months of partner prospecting, intern recruitment, and organizing, Ogallala Commons has launched over 30 Community Internships in the past two weeks. Successful internships require an orientation, and because of the size, number, and diverse schedules of our interns…we held orientations in Kansas and Texas.

On March 24, I traveled to Tribune, Kansas to give an orientation to Shancee Howell and Katie Reynolds, their supervisor, Christy Hopkins, and two supervisors from Wallace County, Kansas. On March 25th, I drove over to Great Bend, Kansas with OC Board Member Tom Giessel, to conduct an orientation with two interns who are students at Barton County Community College: Mary Bitter and Shauna Koester. Both of these women were bringing their spring semester-long internships to a close, but both are interested in doing a fuller Community Internship in 2012.

A grand two days of Orientation was also held in Nazareth, Texas on June 2-3 for 26 Community Interns and 28 supervisors and community leaders from Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado. This particular gathering featured a Bus Tour on June 3rd, which traveled to a nearby booming agricultural-based business, Soil Mender Products, LP, to the cities of Silverton and Quitaque, Texas, and to Caprock Canyons State Park. The tour helped interns to enjoy more one-on-one visiting, to visualize the unique sense of place they are gifted with, and to learn information about wind energy, nonprofit work, and additional tools for exploring their communities and potential careers.

Each of the three Orientations was enhanced and supported by a fantastic Intern Resource Book that Julie Hodges and I designed for Ogallala Commons. But the most important outcome from the Orientations is a chance for interns to meet, get acquainted, learn helpful information and insights (like their Personality Type), and to recognize that they are part of an amazing program. Clearly, this group of interns is highly accomplished, talented, and capable of returning tremendous value to their communities and institutions. Community Interns are truly our commonwealth, and I hope you will follow the weekly OC Newsletters during June and July, to learn more about each one of these 32 interns.

Above: Interns on the Bus Tour at Caprock Canyons State Park

A Place of Power: An Intern’s Perspective on the 2011 Intern Orientation
By Megan England
While attending the intern orientation and bus tour on June 2nd and 3rd in Nazareth, Texas, I was constantly reminded of one of my favorite quotes:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Meade

It was thrilling to see interns and supervisors sharing ideas, laughs, and conversation. Throughout the two days I spent with over forty interns and supervisors, I was struck by the potential our group has to change the world. We come from at least four different states, representing over twenty communities. We are high school students, college students, graduate students, educators, community leaders, business people, lawyers… and the list goes on. Even more thrilling however, was the passion visible in each of those attending the orientation.

The work of Ogallala Commons and Ogallala Commons interns is proof that small groups of people with passion have great power to change communities and I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the 2011 interns and their communities.

Good luck to you all!

Intern Profile: Cara Young
By Cara Young

The High Plains Food Bank is well known for their can drives, but did you know that they also have a large garden that contributes to their food production? I will spend my summer as an intern in this garden with Marc Jansing and Morgan Dezendorf of the food bank. Marc and Morgan have created quite a garden which contributed over 20,000 pounds of produce to the food bank last year! But they didn't achieve this by themselves. Volunteers are crucial to the garden's success. They not only help increase production numbers, but their participation encourages others in the community to share in the education and awareness of something that many in the nation have become far removed from, the ability to cultivate your own produce. With effort and education, we can all produce delicious, fresh foods that can virtually go straight from our yards to our plates, and the food bank garden is the perfect place to learn these processes for yourself while helping to provide nutritionally valuable food for others. You can learn to compost, weed, trellis, plant from seed or seedling, identify beneficial and harmful pests all while getting to spend some time outside getting a tan and making a positive influence in your community. The garden is a resource for food production and education, and its free. Workshops are offered in the garden on a variety of topics. Last year the topics ranged from staring a garden to cooking classes, and this year there will be so many more! I have learned so much in the short amount of time I have been there and I am looking forward to the many other things there are to learn and what I personally will be contributing to my community as a result.


Intern Profile: Local Foods
By Kristin Bingham

Above Left: Apple Blossom Festival at the Orchard.
(Photo courtesy of Susan Britts)
Above Right: Apple Country Orchards Information

This summer, I am working as a local foods community intern for the Ogallala Commons. I have had the supreme enjoyment of working with the Commons over the last two years on various projects and events and am so excited to continue promoting local farmers and producers in the Lubbock community.

I began my internship in late April working from home to develop a new website and update content for Hi-Plains Apple Country Orchard of Idalou, TX. Apple Country has been owned and operated by Cal and Susan Brints for over thirty years and is a wonderful place for families and friend to gather and celebrate the changing seasons. Not only does Apple Country offer a wide variety of apples and apple products, they have also begun a community supported agriculture (CSA) program this year. Apple Country also participates in four farmer’s markets in and around the Lubbock area, including one hosted at the Orchard on Saturdays. The Orchard is also an amazing place for educational tours and special events including weddings. During this first facet of my summer-long internship, I have focused on updating and migrating content from their current website to a new site that provides a very navigable interface as well as creating a unique Facebook page to increase visibility in the Lubbock area. The Brints and Apple Country Orchards are very involved in the local foods movement in Lubbock, and provide many services to serve our community including Farm-to-School and Farm-to-Work programs. The Farm-to-School program has been an incredible success in the Lubbock school districts, and I will be working later this summer to develop an extension that will serve the Nazareth, Hart and Olton school districts. You can view the work I’ve been doing at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Idalou/Apple-Country-Orchards/145961765437488
http://applecountryorchards.wordpress.com/

Next week, I begin the next portion of my internship, working with Lubbock producer Dr. Ellen Peffley Harp of From the Garden to help harvest and distribute fruits and vegetables to customers in Lubbock. I will also be working to help create a “local foods” blog for the Commons that will showcase various Lubbock producers and what is available around the South Plains.

Intern Profile: Megan England
By Megan England

My name is Megan England and I am a senior at Campo High School in the beautiful little town of Campo, Colorado. I’m part rancher, part emergency rescuer’s daughter, and part teacher’s kid—usually a bit of a crazy combination!

I first heard of Ogallala Commons as a shy seventh grader through a community service group at my school. That group (the Youth Advisory Council or “YAC”) and Ogallala Commons have opened some amazing doors of opportunity in my life and I can’t tell you how honored I am to continue working with them this year!

Through those venues, I’ve traveled/spoken in seven states, met hundreds of great people, spoken in front of hundreds of people, learned how to conduct oral history interviews, interned for a professional film crew, helped to plan community events, hosted children’s leadership camps, participated in numerous service projects, led tours, built websites, and most importantly gained an even greater passion for rural communities!

This is my third year working as an intern and I love it. This summer, I get the pleasure of bugging all the interns about writing for the newsletter, blogging, attending intern events, getting the intern equipment and a variety of generally fun stuff! In my own community, I will be hosting another leadership camp, and volunteering with our city clerk by helping create a community map and updating our town’s website.

I am really excited for this summer’s internship, and even more excited about learning what all the other interns are doing in their communities. Like everyone else, I will blogging every week, so you can keep up with me at http://ogallalaintern6.blogspot.com/, as I hope to keep up with many of you!