New Office Open House/Fund-Raiser Wrap-up By Nate Simons On a wet, windy autumn Sunday afternoon with dropping temperatures, friends of Blue Heron Ministries gathered to eat together, tour the existing and not-yet-completed facilities, and to give generously toward our new office project.

Thanks were given to board members Fred Wooley, Peg Zeis, Beth Williams, and Betsy Yankowiak for working together to plan for and put on the event. And thanks were also given to the sponsors of the event: Thrivent, Steuben County Community Foundation, the Fred and Jackie Wooley Fund of the SCCF, and Elten and Carolyn Powers.

While eating together, Nate took the opportunity to talk about the mission of Blue Heron Ministries…

…and to invite folks to give generously to the new office project.

With “emPower us to cross the finish line!” as our day’s banner, we enjoyed made-to-order Powers hamburgers fresh off the flattop. Jovone saved the day by driving from Fort Wayne to serve as our authentic Powers Hamburgers chef. Sechler’s Pickles were served. And Sweet Summers in Orland provided fresh-baked cookies. As about 75 folks sat down to devour the iconic sliders, I took the opportunity to present our mission and our need for the new space to carry on our mission.

Jovone (r) and Jacob (l) cooked up some iconic and delicious Powers hamburgers for the crowd.

The budget was presented and as Thrivent is wanting to teach us, we “live(d) generously” together. And then groups of satisfied friends received tours of our existing facilities (the shop and seed room have never looked so clean…and may never again…thanks to a full day of Blue Crew deep cleaning) and bid on generously-donated silent auction items located in the new office space.

Together we exceeded our Open House goal. We raised $21,606!

Ah! It was a good day. I get a bit stressed asking for money to help us out, but being in the presence of friends made the stress dissipate. Thank you for joining us that day! Thank you for giving! Thank you for looking like our Father who is so generous towards us and towards all he has made.

Donations kept trickling in after the event…and you are more than welcome to continue to give toward the project. We hope to be in our new space by the end of November and with less than $55,000 to go we are closing in on our hope to build debt-free. Donation link: https://tinyurl.com/yp4v8k8f

View from the Crew by Eva Curtis

I started out this month with an October Saturday seed collection! We collected seed from a prairie in Mongo and from our shop prairie in Angola.

Madi and I took advantage of the rainy days this month to work on our ATVs! We have been busy boom spraying this fall, and our ATVs have needed some extra love after all of their hard work!

The next day, Josh and I put the ATVs right back to work boom spraying herbicide. This Clear Lake Township Land Conservancy site was being prepped to be seeded with native prairie seed this winter.

In the middle of this month, I traveled to Arizona to hike and explore some beautiful places. This was the view from the top of Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.

Who knew there could be waterfalls in the middle of the desert? This was another stunning view on my trip. This was a view on the Canyon of the Waterfalls hike in Tonto National Forest.

When I returned to work, I got right back to doing community outreach! We had a fantastic group join us at Trine State Recreation Area to remove invasive shrubs. Thank you to everyone who came out!

The fall colors never fail to amaze me during this time of year. The Nature Conservancy’s Cline Lake Fen is one of my favorite sites to work at in the fall!

Madi and I spent this chilly day cleaning ATV tanks to get them ready to get back to work! Even days spent at the shop are full of natural beauty. Check out the lovely fall color of our shop prairie!

Here, Madi can be seen getting ready to harvest seed from some little bluestem! We are lucky to get so many opportunities to learn new skills, including how to use a seed stripper!

We have had help from over 150 kiddos this month with cleaning native seed! Madi and I have been hard at work, visiting all of our local elementary and middle schools to spread the word about how exciting native plants are. What an exciting partnership!

Upcoming Events

Thanksgiving Breakfast Saturday, November 22nd at 9AM

We welcome you to join us for our annual Thanksgiving Breakfast. It is a time we set aside to give thanks for the many gifts our Father has given us! This year, we will gather at Sweet Summers in Orland, IN (9495 SR 120, Orland, IN 46776). It will still be our traditional “pot-in or pitch-luck”. Please let us know if you’d like to join us!

Prairie Planting Party Saturday, December 6th from 1-4PM Throughout the summer and fall, the Blue Crew and volunteers harvest the seed of native plants. Each December, volunteers scatter the seed at the site of a new prairie. We invite you to join us this year! No experience is necessary to participate, and we welcome newcomers. Location information coming soon!