Happy Friday! Megan here.
Weather check: Ope, back to spring...or not? I can't keep it straight
This week, you'll meet a number of cool people doing cool stuff in our community including a local chess expert, as well as business owners showing that it's OK to slow down and do things with care and intention. You'll also learn about the reality of senior hunger in our community and how you can help.
And now, news:
COMMUNITY
How The Effort Aesthetic highlights unseen labor and passion
Simplified: It can be easy to miss the behind-the-scenes effort – the people brewing your coffee, arranging the flower bouquet for your table, putting candy out in the office candy bowl. A new video series from two local business owners aims to spotlight that unseen labor and build appreciation for "The Effort Aesthetic."
Why it matters
- Sidney Borrill-Patch, owner of Tea event venue Wynn + Wonder, said started "The Effort Aesthetic" video series out of a desire to highlight intentionality and community. Her inspiration was, in part, her own grandparents and the small things they did that made her stays with them so special – a beautifully set table, cider in crock pot, an always-full candy dish.
- Borrill-Patch teamed up with the husband and wife duo behind Brase Images to capture the stories of local business owners who put in that extra effort to make something beautiful.
- Each of the videos comes with a little challenge for viewers to put in their own effort. The idea is it takes work to be a part of a community. As Brase co-owner Brayden Peterson put it, that if people want to build a village, they have to be willing to be a villager.
"I want it to become a ripple effect," Borrill-Patch said.
Tell me more
COMMUNITY
More local seniors are going hungry. Here's how you can help.
Simplified: Meals on Wheels is seeing demand increase at the rate of about 20 new seniors per month. Active Generations, a nonprofit addressing senior nutrition and health, is working to raise $200,000 to make sure it can continue to afford to fund the need without putting people on a waitlist.
Why it matters
- Active Generations' "Meals for March" campaign aims to raise awareness of the nonprofit's senior nutrition services, which last year provided more than 281,000 meals for people age 60 and older. In total, 5,400 individuals were served.
- More than half of those seniors are living in poverty, and about four in every five of them live alone. For many of these folks, the daily visit from Meals on Wheels volunteers dropping off a hot meal is their only social interaction during the day.
- Right now, there isn't a waitlist for seniors who sign up to receive Meals on Wheels or Active Generation's in-person hot meals served daily. But it's getting harder to keep that up, President and CEO Betsy Schuster said, and there are already some people who are getting frozen meals less often instead of a hot meal every day.
"Ideally we want everybody to have a hot meal everyday," Schuster said. "Pretty soon, we'll have to continue to raise funds so we can even continue to do frozen routes. We do not want to turn anyone away."
Tell me more
TL;DR
Super Simplified Stories
- Everybody Reads. Siouxland Libraries is teaming up with local schools, universities and churches for the Everybody Reads program kicking off March 1 with the theme "Tales on the Trails!" The goal is to read 500,000 books as a community during the month of March. If the goal is met, sponsorship contributions collected by the Sioux Falls School District will be distributed to the nonprofit Reach Literacy. All ages are invited to participate, and you can learn more here.
- A symphonic festival. The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra this week announced a Shostakovich Festival this month, starting with a performance of Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 on March 7 at the Washington Pavilion. The festival continues with a rare screening of the 1929 landmark Soviet film "The New Babylon," which has only had six other documented screenings in U.S. history. The silent film will be accompanied by live music and screened in Brookings, Watertown and at Augustana University in Sioux Falls. Learn more and get tickets here.
COMMUNITY
Meet the business owner teaching life skills through chess
Simplified: Elliot Neff has been playing chess since before he can remember. Today, the Sioux Falls father and business owner runs Chess4Life, which was recognized this week as one of only a handful of small businesses nationwide to receive a Gusto Impact Award, beating out more than 10,000 applicants.
Why it matters
- Neff founded Chess4Life in 2005 as a way to teach life skills through the game of chess. He relocated to Sioux Falls in the spring of 2021, after pandemic closures in his home state of Washington forced him to close his in-person classes and pivot to a digital model.
- Chess4Life is designed to help kids as young as toddlers start to learn basic gameplay skills with as few as one or two pieces. Along the way, they're learning practical skills like math, strategy, resilience and the importance of knowing every loss is a chance to learn.
- The Gusto award, which comes with a $50,000 grand prize that Neff said will help accelerate the mission of his business and scale it beyond where it was pre-pandemic.
"I think too many people who don't play chess think of it as being hard and complex and smart kids play," Neff said. "Whereas in reality, if you learn it the right way, it is not too hard to learn. And it can help kids develop the skills that allow them to achieve."
Tell me more
THIS AND THAT
What I'm falling for this week:
ICYMI
More Simplified Stories
Megan Raposa
Megan Raposa
Megan Raposa
WANT TO HELP MORE PEOPLE FEEL THIS SMART?
Support Sioux Falls Simplified
Here are a few ways to ensure this smarter, easier local news outlet is here to stay:
- Forward this to a friend. Sharing is caring, and the best gifts are the ones that make your life easier – like this smarter, easier local news.
- Become a member. Consider buying into a smarter Sioux Falls by becoming a member and offering financial support to the no B.S. journalism you've been reading here.
- Give a one-time gift. Not ready to commit to a membership? That's OK! If you want to help in a smaller way, you can give a one-time gift here.
- Advertise with us. Tell the "simplified" story of your business to your target audience. Want more info? Reach out to megan@sfsimplified.com.
Thank you
Thank you to Sioux Falls Simplified sponsors, including SafeSplash Swim School, Dakota State University, Wayne & Mary's Nutrition Center, Startup Sioux Falls, Redmond Prime Cuts, Encompass Mental Health, the Sioux Falls YMCA, EmBe, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, Barre3 Sioux Falls, the Sioux Falls Zoo and Aquarium, the Washington Pavilion, The Premiere Playhouse, The Good Night Theatre Collective and the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance. When you support them, you're also supporting Sioux Falls Simplified.
Oh, by the way
Your feedback is extremely helpful – hit the reply button and send any news tips, typos, complaints, compliments or cups of coffee my way. ❤️
