By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
At the tail end of September several groups of Elkhorn community members came together to help clean up the city and serve the surrounding community.
Mayor Brian Olson commended the group publicly at a recent City of Elkhorn Common Council meeting and via his Facebook page.
Olson said groups of community members came together to clean up trash around town, replace and clean flower beds and even wax Elkhorn Police Department vehicles.
Furthermore, Olson said this same group built a pathway over at West Side Elementary School for not only the community to enjoy, but to help ensure the safety of children walking to the school. According to Olson, constructing the pathway, something the city had been looking into and trying to find an economical solution for, took the help of the school, the city, a private landowner and the “dedicated group of individuals who share a ‘sense of community.’”
“Building a sense of community is not done by one individual,” he said via Facebook.
Olson said the group comes from Refresh Churches, a group of 17 churches in the county which give their time and shut their doors on a Sunday to give back to the communities that support them in lieu of a typical Sunday at church. He said this is all done regardless of each individual’s beliefs, with a larger goal of supporting the community kept in mind.
“I personally called Pastor Sean Sweetman and Pastor Tom Degroot to thank them and was told how proud they are of our community,” he said via Facebook.
“It takes good people like the folks of Refresh Churches to remind us to not focus on the negative but to enhance what is right in front of you.”
Olson further thanked Elkhorn Area School District Administrator Jason Tadlock, Police Chief Joel Christensen, City Engineer Paul Vanhenkelum, private landowner Dick Howirth and all of the volunteers who remained dedicated to the community.
