Oprah’ Big Give
THE BIG GIVE in the LITTLE TOWN THAT COULD
We’re known as the Little Town That Could. Melstone, Mt established 1908
Our ball started rolling in 2006 when our Boys bb team took the state Championship with a team of 12 boys with 6 of whom were freshman. With only 19 kids in the High School, Melstone became the smallest school to ever take a state championship. The pride in our community was contagious. We knew we had something and that we could use it to improve our community. We started by holding the first annual Melstone Mania. It was a community celebration with a petting zoo and games for the kids, horse drawn wagon rides, community garage sale, splash bash dinner, ending with a karaoke dance. This was a success and lots of fun. Although we wanted it to be something to bring outsiders in,it ended up being mostly locals. However we held it again last year and will do it again this year hoping to expand and bring in people to share in the fun of small town life.
Since that first year we have been working on leadership training, learning to recognize our assets and how to use them to display our community strengths. We have started The Melstone area Chamber with several sub-committees. Our youth committee has been very active in getting a youth center up and running with much success.
We have worked very hard at figuring out how can we bring in jobs for those already living here and how can we bring our youth back to the community. By looking within we feel that we have many talents in the area and it would be to our best interest to capitalize on these, By encouraging residents to market what they know. By Implementing a Business Incubator, providing the administrative and technical support we can get several home based businesses get up and running. We are already working with our school’s FFA program to develop a steer manure packaging plant. This is a business they are researching and putting together to get it up and running and then sell it to someone within the community to run. They then will take those profits and work on another business to the same with. These kids just competed at the State Marketing contest this last Friday with this plan and won First place and will be competing Nationally in Oct at the National FFA Convention. We feel our youth are our eyes to the future and by them having a say in what the community represents they are more apt to come back after college .
We have brain stormed with several individuals and have lots of good ideas and just need something to pull it all together. By having this Business Incubator operating we can be of the assistance to making everyone a success .
By being part of the Billings Big Give the money raised would give us the opportunity to implement this Business Incubator. This would make such a difference in our community.
The Big Give in Melstone,MT
By receiving this opportunity to be part of the BIG GIVE we will take the $1,000 seed money and invest it in promoting a Live and Silent Auction featuring donated big ticket items along with local items and helping hand services. We hope to acquire a celebrity auctioneer.
We will also have a Wild game meat cook off. This will be open to anyone wishing to showcase their cooking abilities using wild meat. There will charge to be in the cook off and we will charge spectators a nominal fee to sample food items. We intend to contact returning hunters to participate with either donations or cooking in the cook off. We will also be contacting an area chef to be featured.
A Coyote Derby is also in the works. There will be fee to enter both as individuals and as teams. Prizes will be awarded in several categories.
We are known for our extensive hunting opportunities in the area and by doing these feature events we can high light our community.
Week One will be spent letting the community know what is going on and how they can help in being part of the BIG GIVE. We would challenge them all to raise as much cash as they could individually. We will offer some prize for the most cash raised. We will ask everyone to contact any hunters they know to participate in any way that they can.
Week Two would be spent gathering donated items for the auction. These items could include a stay at a Guest Ranch, a Cattle Drive Vacation, a Elk Hunt, a Handmade Quilt,
Local Artist Painting, Branding help, Night watch during Lambing, Babysitting, ect…
We will be collecting prizes from both in and out of the area.
Again we will offer a prize for the most auction items collected.
Week Three will be spent gathering participants for both the cook off and coyote derby. Again the person with the most participants registered will receive a prize for their efforts.
Week Four will be spent collecting and putting it all together for the Big Event.
Friday April 11th registration for the Coyote Derby will be at 6pm with the hunt going until Saturday at 3pm. Categories are still to be determined.
Saturday April 12th Cook off will begin in the morning with tasting starting at 3 pm
Judging will be by extension homemakers and people’s choice.
Silent Auction will be open at 3 pm with live auction starting at 6pm
We will feature this contest on our web site, registration forms will be on the site also.
We hope by doing these types of events we will both raise a lot of money and recognition for our community.