February 2022

The older I become, the more amazed I am of the human body. When everything is working properly, we are quite a magnificent creation…a “wellgreased machine” if you will! I guess as a young adult, I often took my health for granted, so I didn’t ever consider how intricate the human body really is.

Khou Lor of Tracy has joined Southwest Initiative Foundation’s (SWIF) staff to fill the new role of rural equity specialist. Lor will be a resource for communities across the region, while helping build and strengthen local Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) leaders and organizations in southwest Minnesota.

The Minnesota School Boards Association has set February 21-25 as Minnesota School Board Recognition Week to build awareness and understanding of the vital function elected school board members play in our society. Montevideo Public Schools is joining other public school districts from across the state to celebrate School Board Recognition Week to honor local board members for their commitment to Montevideo and its students.

At Monday evening's meeting of the Montevideo School Board, teacher David Vik accompanied his 4thgrade class to present a proposal for a video project to the board. The students, wearing matching "Hawks Making a Difference" t- shirts, began their presentation by showing the board a tourism video produced for a small town in another part of the country. The video is the inspiration for a project the 4th-grade class intends to work on in which they will produce a video of similar nature for Montevideo.

In June of 2020, David Giese opened Trash B Gone LLC, operating out of the Benson area but serving up to a 60-mile radius, sometimes further. Giese says he was inspired to start the business after having some family members pass away in 2012. “My stepdad and stepbrother passed away in Washington and I had to go out and help my mom go through a bunch of stuff, and it started me thinking. And then when my wife’s brother passed away, we had to clean out his apartment, and I thought about it again,” says Giese. When his mother passed away, finding himself back in Washington sorting through her home, he decided it was time to turn the ideas into a business.

Stephanie Poppe, an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner has moved her practice, Northland Prairie Care, which opened last August, from the Cornerstone Chiropractic building where she rented space since opening into a new location. The practice is now housed in the building on South 1st Street commonly known as the “white house” building. The move, she says, allows a better flow to her day, allowing additional space to separate her services into rooms. Because Poppe also does massage therapy, there is now a room exclusively set up for that work, while other rooms are set up for patient visits, waiting rooms, a place to do blood draws for lab work, and more.