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Main Street Matters: MSWB investment drive working well
by Mackenzie Krob, MSWB Program Director · Op-Ed · October 29, 2015
As director for Main Street West Branch, one thing you can count on is there will always be surprises — sometimes welcomed — sometimes less so.
Last Friday was no different. If you were walking by our office on Main Street you may have thought my shout of surprise was the latter. But make no mistake, the words you heard were expressing overwhelming joy.
After weeks of some good people working hard to get our Main Street West Branch investment drive going, I open the mail to find a response to the investment drive brochure.
While the fact that we just mailed them out and we already received a response was gratifying, my delight was for even better reasons. The fact that it was an extremely generous “$250 for three years” commitment was not the reason for my expressiveness. What really touched me was this came from a brand new investor to the Main Street program. Wow!
I immediately took a picture and sent it to one of my Board members and her response was perfect: “AWESOME! It’s working.”
Yes, awesome, it is working. The impact of the Main Street program on our community has been significant. It has been a successful redevelopment strategy made by small, easy to overlook, incremental steps.
One person believing at a time, leading to one new rehabilitation project at a time, leading to one new business at a time.
These moments build upon one another — and the next thing you know it’s been 10 years as a successful Main Street community, with over $3 million in private investment in the downtown and five new business starts this year alone.
And it keeps building. It builds with one generous commitment from one generous new supporter to the next.
The next incremental step is to get you involved. If you haven’t sent in your investment brochure yet, please do it today. If you did not receive one you can go to our Web site and download one, or use our online option to make an investment. Moreover, we love the good old-fashioned approach of person to person. Give me or one of our Board members a call. We love to hear from you so we can tell you how we are making West Branch better.
Whether you’re a long time investor or a new one, if its $20 or $2,000 committed, we are quite enthusiastic for your support, so much so, occasionally a salty word of two may slip from my office!
I am Mackenzie Krob, the Executive Director. Our Board of Directors includes Shane Staker, Board President; Mark VanLandschoot, Board Vice President; Ed Larew, Treasurer; Jodi Clemens, Secretary; Audrey Kofoed, Board Member; Tami Urmie, Board Member; Erin Morrison-Vincent, Board Member; and Nicki Brick, Board Member.
Mackenzie Krob is the program director for Main Street West Branch. You may contact her at 319-643-7100 or mainstreetwb@Lcom.net.
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