Near and Dear
Weekly Update 10/29/2023 to 11/4/2023 #197
We all have our causes that are near and dear to our hearts. Let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America with you before I share about one of mine.
The weather was just right for Seymour Main Street’s Downtown Trick or Treat followed up by the Seymour Evening Lions Club Parade. Congratulations to all the costume winners after the parade and congratulations to 13th Floor Music for winning the Spookiest Stop award from Main Street. Thank you to everyone who came out and helped make the event a success. I look forward to seeing you all and more in 2024.
This week saw the retirement of Greg Prange from Seymour High School. The school sent him out with a bang with several pieces happening on the 31st. After the morning announcements where I was able to share the Prange Day proclamation and that the school was renaming their roadway to Prange Way, a parade was held with the students lining the parade route to say goodbye. Thank you, Greg Prange, for your service to our students and our community.
This week there were several meetings in connection with the South Central Talent Region consisting of our partners in Bartholomew and Jennings Counties for the READI program. Planning work has been ongoing as we prepare for READI 2.0 and hope to receive up to $75 million for work in the region. Of course, this is all while we continue our work on the $30 million we were awarded for READI 1.0. With three counties and dozens of projects, tracking it all is not an easy task, but we have great partners and will continue to work towards tomorrow. Stay tuned over the next six months to see what new and exciting things qualify and emerge.
Time to get back to those causes near and dear to our hearts. One of mine is Jackson County Special Olympics. It all started back in 2019 when an area athlete asked if I would come watch their basketball game. The next year, I was invited to join the Polar Plunge team and help keep Indiana Special Olympics free for all. Now this week, I have signed up for the fifth year of going into a cold and sometimes frozen lake in mid February 2024. This will actually be my sixth plunge as I became a super plunger last year and did a second plunge in March. I am not alone in these adventures, though, as I am surrounded by a great team, the Seymour Tsunamis. Today, I am asking if you would like to join us by dipping your toes and more next February for one of my favorite causes. No worries if that is not your thing though, but I hope you will consider making a donation via my page or one of my teammates pages by following the link. https://secure.e2rm.com/p2p/fundraising/385634/participant/5240928/en-CA Whatever your passion is support it. If you are not sure what cause you are passionate about, visit different groups until you find it. Local service organizations are always looking for members and volunteers to help with their work. Even the littlest actions make the world a better place, and as those start to add to one another, we are left with a much better place. Today, I will leave you with a quote from Mother Teresa that I reflect back on often, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."