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Boyden, Iowa — The Iowa Transportation Commission awarded the community of Boyden a grant of nearly 285-thousand dollars on Tuesday, September 8th. The grant is for street improvements to property for a new business. Boyden Mayor Tim Lammers talked to the commission about the project.

(as he says)”Our community has been blessed with a kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We’re a little town of 700 people — a total tax base of about 32 million — and we have a feed company/elevator that is looking to spend 15 million dollars in our community,” Lammers says.

He says the new Farmers Coop Society feed mill will replace one in town and be in a better location and increase its capacity.

(as he says)”With the increased flow — we are currently doing about 700 tons a day — this will be about upwards of three-thousand ton,” Lammers explains. “So we are looking at about one hundred semi loads of feed being produced each day.”

Lammers says the new mill will help area farmers.

(as he says)”It’ll enhance the corn prices in the local area and it should by estimates bring about an extra million dollars of income to local growers. Because of our location being up in the northwest corner we’re about 30 miles from Minnesota and about 30 miles from South Dakota. So, we have the ability to export some of this extra feed to Minnesota and South Dakota.”

Lammers says the new mill will bring in at least 20 new good-paying jobs.

(as he says)”The average estimate from F-C-S is in that 47 to 49-thousand dollars a year. And they are sustainable jobs,” Lammers says. “They are actually investing also in the pork production. They are building about 50-thousand pig spaces themselves — so they are actually providing the feed for their own buildings that they’ll be contracting to local growers.”

Lammers told the Transportation Commission the 20 new jobs is a conservative estimate, and the company thinks it could eventually have as many as 40 new jobs. The grant is part of the RISE, or Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy program.

Story from Radio Iowa

Sheldon, Iowa — Do you know what BEECIN is? (Pronounced “beacon”) If you’ve been in Sheldon for a while, you may have heard of BEECIN, or perhaps you’ve seen their soft drink can drop off points around town.

We had a chance to visit with someone who helps the BEECIN foundation. April Grooters tells us what BEECIN is.

She says BEECIN is an acronym.

Grooters says they’re a local foundation.

She says a growing part of what they do is help to provide palliative care.

She says palliative care takes the whole person into account, and not just the disease from which they are suffering. She says BEECIN covers palliative care completely, and Sanford bills BEECIN at a reduced rate.

Grooters says while BEECIN is separate from Sanford Home Health and Hospice, BEECIN is the only non-profit that provides these services to Sanford and Sanford patients in O’Brien and Lyon Counties. So any donations do not go directly to Sanford.

She tells us how you can volunteer and/or support BEECIN. She says many people have seen their can bins around the area. Not only can people donate by dropping off their aluminum cans, but they need volunteer help with that project too.

That address for BEECIN again is PO Box 492, Primghar, IA 51245.