Olin, IA

For many senior citizens, a hot meal and interaction with their peers can mean the difference in living longer in their home and community.   So an Olin Horizons participant who is a member with the Area Agency on Aging investigated the possibility of providing a meals program in Olin.  They are starting with monthly meals and had 50 at their meal in May.  Personal phone calls were made to potential participants and the attendance increased to 60 in June.  The plan is to continue the meals two times each month and provide occasional programs for participants.  

When flood waters rushed into Olin in June, the community knew they would need help. Over 100 homes were affected with either flood water, water in their basement or sewer back up.  Twenty-one homes had water on their first floor and will not be occupied going forward.  One home’s foundation gave way.  The flood has temporarily displaced approximately 59 people.  As sewage flowed into the streets, the city needed assistance to pump out the sewer lines and save homes and businesses in the community from major damage.  The city owns only one pump so they quickly contacted the Jones County Emergency Management Coordinator and Borst Brothers Construction for additional pumps which arrived within 2-3 days.  These pumps brought needed relief to the overflowing sewers.  Because of the health risks from contaminated water, Olin asked Community Health of Jones County to provide tetanus shots in the community.  Free shots were provided to many residents.  Neighboring communities reached out to Olin and donated much needed cleaning supplies.  Many joined in the sandbagging efforts, clean-up, and even directed traffic when roads were closed.  A group of 26 students and leaders from Ohio are spending a week assisting with clean up which has been a great help to residents impacted by the flooding.  Another group of 15 will be coming from the city of Maquoketa in a neighboring county to provide more assistance.  A group of community members, mostly from the churches in town, have been providing supper meals for 12 days and will continue to do so for many more days.  This has been a great partnership between churches and provided much needed sustenance for the volunteers. 

Horizons is partnering with the Olin School and Community Foundation to receive Northwest Area Foundation funding to address issues of poverty in the community.  With similar goals to meet the needs of the community, the partnership is a “good fit” for both organizations.  One of the Horizons action plans includes providing students from the school an opportunity to participate in career-focused, college credit courses with emphasis on academic and technical preparation to provide relevant skills for the workforce.   Representatives from both groups have met together and worked out a mutual agreement for management of the funds.  They look forward to working together to continue to make Olin a great place to live for all. 

Owners of an Olin Daycare wanted to give to community members affected by the recent flooding.  They researched the Red Cross website for a listing of contents that should be included in a clean up kit.  The search was then on to find the items for the kits.  They went to multiple stores, many who were already sold out of supplies.  But they were determined and gathered supplies wherever they could be found.  Each kit is worth about $60 and the daycare purchased 30 complete kits as well as $200 in additional items.  The owner said, “You can never have too much bleach in a situation like this.  We were not affected but we know a lot of people who were and a few of the kids who come to my daycare were affected.  We just want to help them get their houses back to as much as normal as we can.”  Source: Elsa Hirl

Thirty-eight children in Olin are developing new skills to stay safe in the water.  Children participated in two weeks of Red Cross swimming lessons at the pool in the neighboring community of Anamosa.  The Horizons project provided 20 scholarships to assist with the cost of the lessons.  Horizons funding also assisted with gasoline costs to transport the children to the classes.  Having swimming lessons available to all children is of special concern to the community because of the easy accessibility to the river and creeks in Olin and the drowning of two children nine years ago.  Scholarships are also being provided for children to participate in a day camp sponsored by Iowa State University Extension.  The camp will focus on experiential, research-based science activities and healthy, nutritional snacks will be served.  It had to be postponed until later summer because of flooding in the community. 

There was a need recently in the Olin Community.  One member of the community had a medical problem requiring the amputation of part of her leg with the possibility of having her other foot removed at yet a later date.  The steps up to her home would require her to use crutches instead of her wheelchair to get in and out of the house.  That was the problem.  It was determined that a ramp would be very beneficial to her.  It was at this time that several members of the Olin Community, including Horizons participants, came together and decided to help out.  As a result of the assistance and connections through the Lions’ Club to volunteers from two neighboring communities, who knew the requirements needed in building a ramp and had the expertise to guide the construction, the effort was a success.  In addition, the local Lion’s Club donated $250 for materials.  The ramp was built and members of the Olin Community had a learning experience while lending a helping hand.  At a later date plans are being made to have a community benefit for this family.  

Olin was awarded $1,000 to be used to purchase flowers and perennials for the newly created Unity Park.  LeadershipPlenty® graduate, Cindy Borst, wrote an essay to the Iowa Today magazine with only three days notice before the end of the contest to apply for the funding.   In the essay she emphasized the involvement of many volunteers of all ages and income levels in creating the park for use by everyone in the community.  The newly purchased flowers were planted by the local Girl Scout troop who also earned their community service badges for their involvement.  Pre-K and kindergarten students planted the boxes they designed.  Adults and the community youth group planted the city boxes and helped with other park projects.  A ribbon cutting ceremony for the new park was held on May 26^th.   Source: Elsa Hirl

The recently dedicated unity park is reaching out to all residents of Olin in new and exciting ways.  Entertainment is being provided throughout the summer at no cost to the community.  Plans include free  entertainment on Sundays and free movies.  A communication area is being developed where our community can post job opportunities, items for sale, and a list of free help information in Jones County. The park will be a great place for fund raisers for people in need such as for medical bills and other hardships. The park funds will provide two $250.00 scholarships each year for our graduating students.  Scholarship awards will be based on volunteerism. This will encourage our young adults to help people in need. Also our youth groups will keep selling memory bricks as a continuous fundraiser. All these things help in their own way without causing any prejudice or pride issues.

Local residents of the Olin Community in conjunction with the Horizons project recently shared free samples and recipes through a project called “Fresh from the Garden”.  The target audience was participants using the local food pantry.  The food pantry touches residents from Olin and surrounding areas.  The hope of this project is to give ideas for using things from the garden that are tasty, easy to fix, and are received during their visit to the food pantry.

In our quest through the Horizons Project to make a difference in our community, we have found one of our needs to be an awareness of issues that can affect the safety of children from all income levels. Recently, three Horizons members attended the Iowa Preventing Abuse Conference which explored issues on helping protect women and children from sexual exploitation and child abduction. A small community in Iowa located only 60 miles from Olin, became the home of a human trafficking and prostitution ring. At the conference several speakers spoke of Iowa being a corridor where predators could abduct a victim and travel any direction fairly quickly. At the conference one of the speakers said, “Sometimes we see things, but we don’t want to look.” Linda Daniels from the U.S. Defense Dept. said that a big part of solving the problem is an awareness of the problem. Suggested solutions for parents are being shared in our community to increase knowledge and create awareness as key elements in preventing sexual exploitation and child abductions in our community. Additional actions to increase safety in the community, such as the “Bee Safe” locations and fencing at the school, are being implemented.