✋ A High 5 for 5 Good Things Goin’ ’Round Town
Sometimes the good news isn’t loud. Sometimes it looks like a backpack ready for the first day of school, a new doctor coming to town, a park being given new life, neighbors gathering together, or a young person discovering just how much they’re capable of.
Here are five good things Goin’ ’Round Town! ❤️
✋ 1. Sixty Backpacks~ and Sixty Reasons to Smile 🎒
Some Eastern Allamakee students are heading into the new school year with a little something extra on their shoulders.
Through a partnership involving Amazon, The Good Life Gallery & Frame Shop in Lansing and the Eastern Allamakee Community School District, Amazon donated 60 backpacks filled with school supplies for local students.
The backpacks included items such as pencil cases, markers and earbuds and were distributed during school registration August 4 at Kee High School.
Sixty backpacks may sound like a number.
But put one on the back of a student who needed it, and suddenly it becomes something much bigger.
That deserves a High 5! ✋🎒
✋ 2. Another Doctor Is Coming to Serve Northeast Iowa 🩺❤️
Here’s some good news for families looking for healthcare closer to home.
Dr. Samantha Storts is joining the WinnMed medical team, bringing additional access to family medicine and obstetric care in the Decorah area.
Dr. Storts has a background in family medicine with particular interests in women’s health and rural medicine~ a pretty fitting combination for serving families right here in Northeast Iowa.
More healthcare close to home and another physician choosing to care for people in our corner of Iowa?
We’ll raise a hand to that.
High 5, Dr. Storts ~ and welcome to Northeast Iowa! ✋
✋ 3. Vesterheim Is Giving History a Beautiful New Place to Live 🌳
There are places where we preserve history behind glass.
And then there are places where we can walk right through it.
Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah will hold a dedication ceremony for its newly re-imagined Heritage Park Friday, August 21 at 1:30 p.m.
The landscaped park showcases Vesterheim’s historic buildings in an accessible outdoor setting designed to better connect the museum, its stories and the Decorah community.
It’s history, nature and community all meeting in one place ~ with room for generations yet to come and wander through it.
Preserving yesterday while building something beautiful for tomorrow?
HIGH 5! ✋🌳
✋ 4. County Fair Ribbons Aren’t the Only Things Kids Bring Home 🍀🏆
The ribbon may eventually wind up in a drawer.
But responsibility?
Confidence?
Learning how to solve a problem when things don’t go exactly according to plan?
Those can stick around for a lifetime.
A Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa story about the Bremer County Fair offers a wonderful reminder that what happens at a county fair goes far beyond what we see in the show ring.
For 4-H and FFA youth, those few days at the fair can represent months of caring for animals, managing projects, solving problems, learning responsibility and finally standing in front of others to present what they’ve accomplished.
And behind those kids?
Parents. Grandparents. Volunteers. Leaders. Businesses. Donors. Neighbors.
A whole community helping young people grow.
So this High 5 isn’t only for the champions.
It’s for every kid who tried something new, every volunteer who showed up, and every community that keeps giving young people a place to learn, stumble, try again and discover what they can do.
Now THAT is something worth a ribbon.
High 5! ✋❤️
✋ 5. Iowa Gave Away 1,776 Pork Chops on a Stick ~ Because Apparently One Just Wouldn’t Do 😂🐷
And finally…
We promised you good news.
We did NOT promise it would all be serious. 😂
The Iowa Pork Producers Association celebrated America’s 250th anniversary at the Iowa State Fair Sunday, August 16 by giving away exactly 1,776 Pork Chops on a Stick.
Yes.
One thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six pork chops.
On sticks.
The “1776 Pork Chop Salute” celebrated both America’s milestone birthday and the Iowa farm families who have been putting food on tables for generations.
And really, is there a more Iowa way to celebrate than standing at the State Fair holding a pork chop by the bone?
We’re not sure there is.
So here’s a slightly greasy ~ but very enthusiastic~
HIGH 5! ✋🐷😂
❤️ And that’s this week’s High 5!
Five reminders that good things really ARE happening ’round town~ sometimes in big ways and sometimes one backpack, one conversation, one young person or one helping hand at a time.
See something good happening in your corner of Northeast Iowa? Word ’Round Town wants to hear about it.
word-round-town.com
Keep Goin’ ‘Round Town
There’s always another story waiting just around the corner.