UpRiver Community News Letter

Up River Visioning Rally:

On September 7th, 2007 at the St Maries Art Walk, the art of NANCY LANDT will be on display throughout the month. Nancy is one of the featured artists for September and is on display from 5pm till 7pm at Happy's Place. The topic is "Reflections of the upriver area and celebrating the people of Benewah County". CHERYL HALVERSON's art will be on display at the frame shop.

Emida Post Office: Cheri Carney is still collecting letters requesting an Emida Post Office. Currently we are at a standstill, people are still working on it. We currently have 32 letters, we would like 50 letters to submit to the Postmaster General in Boise. No form letters please, just a few sentences stating why you need an Emida Post Office. Something like "I have to go to St. Maries to get my mail" or "Thugs steal my mail from my mail box", etc. Contact Cheri Carney at 245-1031.

Emida has a new welcoming sign. The sign was put up on Friday afternoon, August 31, 2007, by Jim (Drifter's), Bucky, Kye and Scott. It was donated by Keith & Joan Jenkerson of Santa Creek Road and made by Kathy Burdett-McRee of McRee's Multi-Services in Post Falls, ID.

Emida youth went on a camping trip, August 16, 17, 18 we all made it back alive. The yellow jackets were really bad this year. The kids didn't give up and we had allot of fun.

Upriver United Action Committee Reports:

Horizons Steering Committee: We have made it to the final phase of the Horizons Program! We have accomplished so much in the last year, such as our community conversations, leadership training, action teams, etc. In this final phase, community funding will come in two forms: 1. Grant funds from the Northwest Area Foundation; and 2. Learning and capacity building funds from the University of Idaho.

Upriver United is sponsoring a community wide event on September 12 at the UpRiver school. There will be a free bar-b-q dinner served at 5 - 6 PM with the visioning rally starting at 6:13 PM. All UpRiver residents age 15 and over are welcome to attend. Childcare cost assistance is available upon request. Our guest speaker for the evening will be David Beurle, an internationally-famous community and economic development expert from Australia. He will facilitate the 3 hr evening program which will include: inspiring case studies of successful small, rural communities and the key lessons of success, exploration of local issues, community brainstorming on our vision for the future and creating a vision statement of how we want our community to be in 10 - 15 years! The Visioning Launch will be on September 24, at 7 pm in the Fernwood CAF building, where we will start taking action on the great ideas generated at the Rally.

Upriver Community United, Inc. We have our paperwork back from the state, we are incorporated now. We don't have the bylaws or anything else done yet. We are currently working on an agreement with the Benewah County Commissioners so the Community Center Committee can start fixing up the CAF building. We will schedule another meeting after the visioning rally. For more information, call Debby Powell 245-3097 or Judy Turner 245-1050.

Upriver Website: The Upriver website committe has started to make some major changes to our website; We have started our upriver Calendar, upriver Business Directory, upriver News, etc. Visit our site at www.upriverunited.org. Our next Website Committee meeting will be September 17th at 4:30 pm at Drifters Cafe in Emida. Come and help us improve our website. For more information or to give us info for the website, contact Richard Pullman at 245-9183.

Cell Tower Communications: This committee will be working to get cell phone service in the UpRiver area. We will schedule a meeting after the Visioning Rally. For more information call Valdasue Steele 245-2422.

Community Center: Our project to fix up the Fernwood Community center is in limbo. The county commissioners want an insurance agreement with our new non-profit orgainization, Upriver Community United, Inc., before we can fix up the CAF building. We are currently working on that agreement. We will plan a committee meeting after the visioning rally. For more information call Debby Powell 245-3097 or Chris Ashmead 245-3869.

Transportation: This committee has not met but a carpool page will soon be up on the website. For more information call Valdasue Steele 245-2422.

Emida Basketball Court: The ground is all levelled and we have all the wood for the concrete forms. It needs to be laser leveled. The gravel is paid for and will be delivered. We are currently working to raise the money for the rest of the rebar. We already have the money for the concrete pour and are hoping to be done soon. If you are interested in helping out contact Mandy Quincy at 245-2017.

Everyone is encouraged to participate on the action committees, it is not too late to get involved and they are open to everyone. The more people who participate the better!

Mark Your Calendar!
September 8 & 9, 2007 Santa Barter Fair
September 10, 2007 Emida Youth meeting
September 12, 2007 Up River Visioning Rally
September 16, 2007 Emida Community Meeting
September 17, 2007 Website Committee Meeting
September 24, 2007 Horizons Visioning Launch
September 29, 2007 MANGY MOOSE FUN RUN/WALK
October 13, 2007 Crab Feed
November 17, 2007 Craft Fair

Pick up your free newsletter at Drifters Cafe in Emida, Santa Post Office community board, the Tri-Community Library or the Mercantile reader board in Fernwood. To contribute articles for our newsletter, drop off areas are the Tri-Community Library in Fernwood or the Drifters Cafe in Emida. More people are needed to help us with information and articles for our newsletter. Contact Richard Pullman at 245-9183 if you are interested in contributing.