Elmwood News- March 27, 2017

  Cass County News     Community Center    Library News    Calendar of Events   SUBMIT NEWS 

Short Story Submission- Why I Love the Letter G

Nebraska Flood Relief

A HUGE shout out to the communities and neighbors from Elmwood, Murdock, and Eagle for the SUPER generous donation of everything from shovels, buckets, food, diapers, and the list goes on and on and on.

What started off as a trickle just inside the front door of the Quonset became a flood. 

The pile was moved to the skating rink area as more people brought supplies in on Friday.

A huge thank you to Rod and Matt Fritz for driving our load over and helping load and unload. We had the trailer and my party van and Miki Bruns' car packed. Thank you to Stock See Farm for the use of the trailer!! We are blessed!

This is a wonderful example of communities coming together to support each other. If you are in need or know someone in need, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Cass County Behind the Badge on Facebook so we can get you what you need to Begin to rebuild and recover.

Here are some of the places your donation went. First Julie and the crew went to the donation gathering point at Cass County Behind the Badge. They are an organization that supports our first responders who serve and protect Cass County in "their" time of need.

They, in turn, arranged the monetary donation of over $2,000 with the Salvation Army and other organizations. 

Food, food, toiletries, and cleaning supplies went to the local South Eastern Nebraska Community Action (SENCA) partnership organization. The local high school also picked up water to supply to students and staff affected by the flooding.

The local Boy Scout troop in Weeping Water also arranged to coordinate their donations through Cass County Behind the Badge.

Thank you to all that helped load the trailers, collect supplies and donation.

This is why we are NEBRASKA STRONG!!

The St. Patricks Day Dance has been rescheduled. The band is from Fremont and, for obvious reasons, could not make it to Elmwood that afternoon. The proceeds will now be going to the American Legion National Emergency fund for the Nebraska flood victims. 

 Egg My Yard for Easter

What a fun Easter tradition. The Elmwood Murdock Knights Cheer team will "Egg" you yard with candy-filled plastic eggs. You don't have to go out at the insane hour of 5 am to try and hide the fact you are the Easter Bunny. 

Just wake up weary-eyed with your kids and look out at a yard covered with eggs.   

 Elmwood Community Center  

The Mexican Dinner on Monday night was a HIT!!! Enchiladas, burritos, Mexican salad, and desserts. Thank you to Julie for providing the photos. Unfortunately I have to work on Monday nights, otherwise, I WOULD BE THERE. This monthly buffet is the last Monday of the month and a great way to start the week.

The library received a little bit of everything this week!

American Sign Language: For those interested in learning ASL, we’ve got “The Complete Beginner’s Guide,” with pictures and easy-to-follow instructions on every page!

The First Lady: For our amateur sleuths, we have the new James Patterson novel. The First Lady is missing after the wake of a scandalous revelation that her husband was having an affair.

Grumpy Monkey: A fun new children’s book that’s about negative emotions in primates (and toddlers)!

  Preschool Story Time 

Thursdays 10:30 am

Ages 3-5 

Library cards are available for non-residents for only $10.00 What does this include? Access to the books, movies, and services at the library, PLUS e-books for your Kindle, or tablet reader. 

Spread the word about the Elmwood Public Library!

Visit the Overdrive website for more information on checking out electronic books and media. 
www.help.overdrive.com 

Library hours

Monday 3- 8pm

Tuesday 2-6pm

Wednesday 2 pm -6 pm

Thursday 10 am - 2 pm

Saturday 10 am - 2 pm 

Help Aiden Keckeinsen

Little Aiden Keckeisen was born with a heart condition known as atrioventricular septal defect. He had a difficult time gaining weight, and he struggled to breathe due to excess blood flow to his lungs.

At just 4 months old, Aiden underwent surgery to correct the defect. He received a unit of red blood cells and platelets during the procedure.

“When we heard Aiden would need blood products, it made it very apparent that I (and my husband) needed to get back to donating again,” said Aiden’s mother, Ranae. “I am forever grateful to the donors who gave the blood and platelets used for Aiden and pray that the blood we donated has a similar life-saving use or story. I would encourage anyone to look at Aiden's sweet face and consider taking 30 minutes out of their day to go donate blood.”

Make your appointment now to donate your life-saving gift at the

Elmwood Murdock High School Blood Drive on Thursday, April 4th from 1 PM – 7 PM.

Blood Mobile
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Elmwood Murdock High School
300 Wyoming
Murdock, NE 68407
1:00 PM - 06:00 PM 

Did you know we have a Community Calendar on the website? 

 (click here or on the banner above to find the monthly calendar for the month) 

This week I received an email from a former Elmwood resident, Ralph Parish. He has fond memories of Elmwood and is quite the writer.   He sent me a story he wrote about his childhood in Elmwood and I thought it would make a wonderful "Series" Addition to the weekly news. This will be a multi-part story series, so make sure to come back each week.

A little bit about Ralph Parish. A few people may still remember him.

I was born in Elmwood Jan 1, 1935. I’m 84 now and have started writing, nothing spectacular yet, but I think a lot about my years in Elmwood and regret that I didn’t pay more attention to the people around me. The population then was three hundred forty-five according to a sign posted beside state route 1 where the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks crossed the highway.

The Elmwood Leader Echo was being printed then by a man named George Blessing and his wife. Her name escapes me just now. One name that will never escape me, if I’m lucky is, Miss Kunz. I've written a short story about her that I have titled, “Why I Love the Letter g”.

Miss Kunz taught First Grade through Third Grade for more years than I could then remember. She taught four of the five Parish children.

Why I Love the Letter g - Part 1

It was the first week of September nineteen forty. I had turned five the previous January one. We lived in a house known as the Wall House.

Many homes had names. I was born in the Barber House, a two-story frame building located a block north of the town square and two and a half blocks west, the second house on the south side. Street names and house numbers hadn’t reached Elmwood in Cass County Nebraska.

Our town had a population of three hundred seventy-five. If you were curious about such things as the altitude of Elmwood all you had to do was go to the lawn that grew under the water tower and look for a bronze monument placed there by the U.S Coast and Geodetic Survey Dept. I can’t count the times that I did just that and always wondered how they determined that it was 1289 feet. Something in me wants to go look for it again.  

My eldest sisters, Dona, sometimes called Squeak and Marianna, known then as Duffy,* and my brother John, two years older than me, walked to school that morning. (A block and a half south and two and a half blocks east.)  All directions were given in terms of blocks and compass points.

I was a bit self-conscious and just a bit frightened. Under my left arm was a red tablet with an Indian chief’s head emblazoned on the cover.  Though I’m not certain about this next detail, I was probably carrying a yellow number two Ticonderoga pencil and a Pink Pearl eraser. In short, I was outfitted with the standard tools for entering the first grade. No, that isn't mistaken. Kindergarten had not come to our town nor to many others so far as I knew.

*If you are curious about Nike Names, I was called Fezzer, sometimes Digger. Many adults were known by names such as Sodey Green, Runt Linder, Bowz Shreev, Shorty West, Puff Preston, Nig Idamiller… the list goes on.

There were only two students in the first grade that year, Shirley Kunz and myself. I have a vague recollection of one other student arriving later in the year. Our teacher was Miss Kunz, probably an aunt to Shirley. I never knew what their relationship was nor did I inquire and no one volunteered the information. 

Character building began early.  During the winter months, it wasn't uncommon to have two or more feet of snowfall overnight. The county roads might not get cleared early enough for parents to get their children to school on time. That being the case, Shirley might not get to school at all that day.  I tried not to show my glee but, what the Germans call schadenfreude, rejoicing in someone else’s misfortune, was being introduced to my character development. Unfortunately, I didn’t resist it.

To be continued..

Highway 63 UPDATE

The first phase of the project from I-80 to Church road was completed in 2017. This opened Church road east-west and connected it to I80.

Last year, 2018, was supposed to be culverts, grading and paving from South of Church road to Alvo.
The weather put the culvert work, grading work and utility relocation work behind schedule. By the time we had the subgrade stabilized and embankments constructed it was too cold to pave.

We will go to work on subgrade reconstruction and foundation placement once the frost is out of the ground and we get some drying weather.
Paving should go fast and we hope to be paved out by July.

I know it is frustrating but grading work is very susceptible to delays with wet weather and last year had a lot of rain.

It is with the hope that we can open in July.
Please encourage anyone interested to call the district office for updates.

402-471-0850.

Our project manager is Jesse DeLosSantos.
Our Construction Engineer is Curt Mueting.

Tom Goodbarn
District Highway Engineer

 Elmwood Christian Church Update 

St. Paul United Methodist Church
400 West G Street
Elmwood, NE 68349 

Sunday School (Sept.-May) 9:30 a.m.
Sunday Worship Services 10:30 a.m.

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 NICOLE MEYER

ELMWOOD MURDOCK HIGH SCHOOL

This week our Student of the Week Winner is Nicole Meyer. She is a senior at Elmwood Murdock High School. Her activities include FBLA, volleyball, track, choir, and band. She is the daughter of Vince and Susan Meyer.

She was nominated for these reasons:
- She is always friendly and polite
- She is consistently setting goals for herself and working hard to achieve them
- She has been given a scholarship to play volleyball at Bellevue University
- She is admired by both students and staff

Nicole, Susan, and Vince are invited to stop by (we are located under the water tower in Louisville), call (402.234.3333) or email (dan@wittephysicaltherapy.com) to get their Witte Physical Therapy t-shirts!

The next Student of the Week winner will be announced on 4/10/19

 NEW ELMWOOD-MURDOCK SCHOOL WEBSITE

There is a wealth of information on the new Elmwood-Murdock website. It is updated on a daily basis by various teachers and department heads.    

Check out the calendar on the Elmwood Website

If the date is TAN (Beige) then there is something to do in town that day!! 

Send me Elmwood-Murdock events you would like me to place on the calendar.

Even photos of the past events, at editor@elmwoodnebraska.com   

 Elmwood #LittleFreePantry

The Little Free Pantry is located between Hufstader Chiropractor, the Elmwood Meat Market, and the Village Hall. 

You may not get out as often, but people are still in need of emergency supplies and cupboards are bare in some Elmwood homes. 

Questions? Call 866.394.8336 or email info@nolimitsnebraska.com

We are currently serving hard ice cream in dishes.
we have 8 different flavors to choose from.

Elmwood C Store
402-994-3305

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