What I learned over the summer

With the announcement of our Project: Do Good winners early this week, it marked the unofficial end to my summer. Over the summer in support of Project: Do Good, I made nearly 60 visits to community group, service organizations, committees, boards and individuals asking for great ideas to improve the Mitchell community. 

That request was met with over 65 ideas for the community to make Mitchell a better place to live, work and play. On Monday, we announced eight award winners from 55 submissions in two of those categories. During the announcement, on a number of occasions I mentioned that we had far more good ideas than we had money available. That is what I learned over the summer, Mitchell is a vibrant place and our community has tremendous ideas for growth. 

When we give people a voice and allow them to chart a direction for our community, anything is possible. I look forward to working with the award winners to take these ideas and turn them into reality. I’m also excited for the potential and possibility that can come from the ideas we weren’t able to fund.

Please keep an eye on our progress as we’ll updating you as we go and if you have ideas for community please share them. If you have a personal stake in the improvement of Mitchell, please work to take on one of these projects and help make a difference.

Ideas? Check!

A portion of Project: Do Good closed earlier this week, as we cut off submissions for our LIVE and PLAY categories on Tuesday. The final tally? 55 ideas split between the two categories, an amazing response from the community. We currently have every submission displayed on our windows just inside the main entry of the mall (photo below) and invite you to stop out to see what ideas people have conjured up!

The next step is to review all of the submissions and select finalists (that is set to happen next week). We plan to meet with the finalists of the LIVE category on Monday, September 16th and convene with PLAY category finalists the following week on Tuesday, September 24th. From the finalists, we'll whittle it down a little further by choosing our winners and how we will divvy up the $7500 available in each category. Those winners will be announced at an event at the Highland Conference Center on September 30th.

Keep an eye on your email and the newspaper and an ear on the radio in the next week to learn who has earned their way into the finals.

Make a SPLASH!

Our annual community summer fun day is coming back later this month for it's third year. SUMMER SPLASH is set for Saturday, July 27th and offers FREE admission to the Mitchell Aquatic Center along with fun and games all day capped off by a poolside showing of HERE COMES THE BOOM after sunset (around 9pm).

When we prepare for events like Summer Splash, I'm reminded how great of a community we have in Mitchell. Let's keep that rolling and you can help make Mitchell a better place to LIVE, WORK and PLAY by sharing your ideas during PROJECT: DO GOOD (read more here: http://mit-tel.blogspot.com/2013/06/doing-good.html).

There is still time to participate and we encourage to check out www.DoGoodMitchell.com for more details and to submit your ideas to improve Mitchell. And, if we can ask you to do one more thing, please spread the word about Summer Splash and Project: Do Good.

Who's Hungry?

As a part of our Do Good Summer and Project: Do Good, we want to say thanks to our customers with our annual Customer Appreciation Lunch at Culver's next Tuesday. We're buying burgers, fries and sodas from 11:30am to 1:00pm on Tuesday, July 2nd - who's hungry?

Look for the Mitchell Telecom staff member at the restaurant (HINT: we'll be in the blue polo) and we'll get you hooked up with a voucher for lunch. You'll also see a stuffer in your July bill, which also has all the details.

The lunch is to say thanks to our customers for their continued support and is a part of our Project: Do Good (Read more here: http://mit-tel.blogspot.com/2013/06/doing-good.html). We'll have more information on how you can participate in sharing your ideas for making Mitchell a better place to LIVE, WORK and PLAY this summer.

We look forward to seeing you next week and hearing how we should make Mitchell better (between bites of course)!

Doing Good

Mitchell Telecom announced a new project aimed at repaying some of the goodwill the Mitchell community has bestowed upon our company since our launch. We unveiled Project: Do Good our initiative to make Mitchell a better place to LIVE, WORK and PLAY with over $30,000 of cash and in-kind support pledged to get the creative juices flowing.

So, let me ask you the question - What would you create or enhance to make Mitchell better? Tell us your ideas at www.DoGoodMitchell.com and let's make it happen!

Here's the full press release...

Mitchell Telecom unveils “Project: Do Good”  for  Mitchell!

Mitchell SD. 

Mitchell Telecom Subsidiary Manager Scott Peper held a press conference

Tuesday at the Highland Conference Center to announce a plan to return some of the “goodwill” the Mitchell community has provided to Mitchell Telecom since they installed their first customers in 2005 to today when the company’s fiber optic network provides service over 3,500 Mitchell homes and businesses.  

Mr. Peper  went on to say “ We are proud to call Mitchell home, and take great pride in Mitchell’s distinction as a Smart21 community of 2013. We’d like to think Mitchell Telecom, our network and services, played a role in gaining that distinction in conjunction with a number of individuals and businesses throughout Mitchell. It’s wonderful to see the some of the secrets that make Mitchell a great community, get a little notoriety. We take tremendous pleasure in announcing a project we are kicking off today and will work on this summer, fall and beyond. We’re calling it Project: DO GOOD , and it has ONE simple goal – TO MAKE MITCHELL BETTER! ”

Through Project: Do Good, Mitchell Telecom is searching for ideas that will make Mitchell a better place and the company is offering over $30,000 in cash and in kind support to kick start creative juices in three broad categories.

LIVE – ideas aimed at improving Mitchell’s quality of life.

WORK – searching for entrepreneurs in the community looking to develop a business

PLAY - ideas with the intent of enriching the experiences of young people.

Mr . Peper went on to say “If you have an idea that will make Mitchell a better place to LIVE, WORK or PLAY, we want to partner with you and make it happen. We will accept submissions until September and you can submit ideas or find out more about Project: Do Good  at www.DoGoodMitchell.com.”   

If you have any questions or would like Mitchell Telecom to get a time set aside to talk specifically with groups on how they can participate email Scott Peper at speper@mitchelltelecom.com