Visioning Blastoff

Horizons Visioning event had 40 community members enjoy a delicious meal catered by Sporty’s. Over $100.00 worth of Door prizes were bought and given out, from Aker’s Drug Store, Randy’s Automotive, Blue Creek Floral, Valley Drug Store, The Deli and Westside Pizza.

1st graders from Gess School drew posters to express their vision of Chewelah 10 years from now. They want more family places to eat and family activities to do like a Zoo. We enjoyed their artistic input.
Jenkins High School Seniors wrote essays on what will Chewelah look like in 10 years.
Chad Cook writes: Future Chewelah: The year is 2017 I had just woken up to the sound of cartoons playing down stairs in the front room. My two boys, which are four and two years old, are old enough to turn the TV on when they wake up at 5:00 am After getting them ready and feeding them breakfast I drop them off at day care on my way to work. I worked as a regional manager for the Home Depot that had been put in the Chewelah valley just over a year ago. My wife spends most of her time with our youngest child that is 13 months old. Before having kids she was a pediatric surgeon at the hospital which had become one of the most advanced hospitals this side of the cascades.
You may be wondering how little old Chewelah has be come so diverse and populated in the last 10 years and the reason why is because are state passed funding for there to be a 4 lane highway all the way from Spokane through Chewelah onto Colville then into Canada. This made town look like a nice place outside of the big cities to live and raise a family. People had got sick of living in the Spokane which is like Los Angeles back in the 90’s.
For the local High School they have made it into a two story building where they put the lower classmen up stairs and the upper classmen downstairs. The football field has been upgraded by city volunteers that put in the bleachers that could accommodate the whole entire town. Chewelah Gold and Country Club had become a private members only course but the PGA professional had still let the high school Gold team come up to practice and play. Our soccer team had actually been undefeated for the last two years, amazing I know.
Now that the day is over it is time for me to turn the computer off and leave my office to go pick up the kids from day care. Then I think I will take the family to that new restaurant in town called the Outback Steak House. That’s for taking the time to learn about this wonderful town that I call home.

We heard the results of the survey of 262 respondents. The top 4 items for community improvement are:
1. Out of 175 answered 70% said Better/More Jobs
2. Out of 110 answered 44% said Improved Economy
3. Out of 103 answered 41.2% said Affordable Housing
4. Out of 85 answered 34.1 said Youth Activities
The members present were asked to separate into the four groups listed and prioritize and set the action plan for the next seven months of the program. Two of the groups will be meeting in January to continue working in More/Better Jobs and Youth Activities.
The forth and upcoming part will be putting the vision results into action. This phase will provide training and education and community involvement to assist Chewelah in the beginning steps to achieve their Vision. Community volunteers have been dedicated in meeting all the requirements for the prize of &10,000.00.
If you would like to participate in these ongoing committee’s please contact Debra Kollock at 684-2588 or dkollock@wsu.edu You may also view the information at the Chewelah blog address at http://chewelah.blogspot.com Karen Lyson Horizon’s PR