Luverne Area Chamber volunteers spent five hours filling 1,500 brightly colored plastic eggs for Saturday morning’s Easter egg hunt on the lawn of the Courthouse Square. The event attracted roughly 100 children who filled baskets, pails and bags with the eggs that contained candy and stickers. The mild temperature and sunny skies were ideal egg-hunting weather for the activity sponsored by Security Savings Bank, Sunshine Foods and funds from February’s fishing derby.

Local teens with Rock the Edge Youth are seeking projects for their 2021 Service Over Self mission week June 21-25.
Rock the Edge is a group of youth leaders and teens from Rock County in Minnesota that gather for service and fellowship. The summer work for residents and organizations in Rock County is their primary shared mission.
Projects in the past have included painting, repairing, gardening, landscaping, cleaning, organizing and more.
The first mission summer was in 2018 when 54 teens and 24 adults volunteered with 47 local projects. In 2019 there were 90 youth and 50 adults who worked on more than 70 projects.
Last summer, despite pandemic restrictions, Service Over Self week brought together 75 youth and 35 adults for more than 50 local service projects, all of them outdoors for safe social distancing.
“Service Over Self touches many lives,” said Wanda Jarchow, a member of the planning team, at the close of the 2019 mission week.
“Mark 10:45 says, ‘For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.’ And that is our mission – to serve others.”
The teens learn the value of volunteering while learning new skills, and project recipients experience Christian generosity and grace.
One team of workers helped a Luverne resident clean a backyard in pouring rain, and that person later described being overwhelmed and grateful.
“They wiped out in a single night something that would have taken me two years to do on my own — and they did it under monsoon rains.”
Volunteers painted the house later in the week, and the resident described the work as a “fresh start” toward helping maintain the property.
“I prayed a lot about this — about how I could do it,” the resident said. “I don’t have the words to describe what this means to me.”
 
Background
Jarchow said area churches came together in 2015 to form the Rock the Edge youth group “to bring area youth leaders and students together in Christian unity to organize community-wide events for area youth groups to attend.”
Youth leaders and students from area churches meet monthly to plan events, such as “See You at the Pole,” prayer day at schools, Christian films at the Palace Theatre, youth rallies, Christian music concerts and more.
In 2018, Service Over Self was added as a group activity after a local business owner suggested the idea of the stay-at-home mission trip.
“We have lots of local people that need help,” Jarchow said. “Why go to other places?”
 
Here’s how to help
Jarchow, 507-227-1978, and fellow organizer Becky Ossefoort, 605-26-4000, are accepting project requests for the 2021 Service Over Self Week. Inquiries and signups are also accepted at rocktheedgemn@gmail.com.
Adults interested in volunteering can call Nicole Henrichs at 401-500-3427.
Monetary donations to help pay for supplies can be sent to: UMC Compassion Fund, 109 N. Freeman, Luverne, MN 56156.
The Rock the Edge Facebook page provides timely updates about Service Over Self and other projects.

Staff and volunteers at the Rock County Food Shelf will soon move to their new location at 209 West Maple Street once building renovations are complete.
Food Shelf board member Katie Baustian shared architect drawings of the building showing how it will be utilized.
“It will be like having a storefront where people can enter with dignity,” she said. “We won’t be tucked away in a church basement.”
The drawings were provided free of charge through the Foundation for Essential Needs, a Minneapolis non-profit that works with organizations to improve food distribution in communities.
“They came down to see our building and were pretty excited about our space, especially the back room with the overhead door,” Baustian said.
She said the board is grateful for the foundation’s expertise. “This is what they do; they work with food shelves on utilizing space for shelving and flow.”
The 40-by-46-foot building is about 50 percent bigger than the food shelf’s current space in the Methodist Church basement and will allow for coolers to accept meat, produce and dairy donations.
The organization has so far raised more than $145,000 toward the $225,000 needed for renovation.
The work includes new doors and windows, shelving, a bathroom, commercial refrigerators and freezers, insulated walls and a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning unit.
Baustian said the Foundation for Essential Needs is connecting the Rock County Food Shelf with a donated cooler and other resources. “They can connect us with a lot things we weren’t even aware of,” she said.
 
Funds vs food — volunteers work to reduce stock ahead of move
Meanwhile, Food Shelf Board President Mary Gehrke said the current church location continues to serve hungry families and individuals through donations of food and funds.
“We appreciate the giving tradition of our county and wouldn’t be able to continue this ministry without those donations,” Gehrke said.
Now, she asks that community focus on financial donations rather than actual food deliveries ahead of the move to Maple Street.
“We plan to minimize our stock to make the transition a little easier,” Gehrke said. “Our new location will have a donation area available for drop-offs after we move.”
The Luverne Area Community Foundation is facilitating the fundraising campaign, and financial donations can be dropped off at or mailed to LACF at PO Box 623, Luverne, MN 56156.
“When we started fundraising, we thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ll never get there,’ and now we have people who have pledged donations for five years out,” she said.
“The Luverne Area Community Foundation has been wonderful about managing that for us. … This is a community where people work as a team together.”
Gehrke said she’s enjoyed working with the city and also with generous community members to see the project through.
 
Background
The city of Luverne purchased the former dental office in 2017 for $36,000 and the blighted lot next door (on the corner near NAPA Automotive) for $32,500.
The corner lot was razed and seeded with grass, and the brick building was deemed in solid shape and added to the city’s stock of property for potential development.
Baustian’s husband, Luverne Mayor Pat Baustian, and their children volunteered at the food shelf over the holidays, giving the mayor a first-hand glimpse of the space shortages in the Methodist Church basement.
“I used to say to Pat, ‘If I win the lottery, we’re going to build a new building for the Food Shelf,” Katie Baustian said. “And he said to me one day, ‘Katie I think we have a building you might be able to use.’”
The mayor proposed using the building as a food shelf to the council last fall.
“It really opened my eyes to the need out there,” he told council members, who unanimously supported the arrangement.
The city’s relationship with the food shelf would be similar to its arrangements with other non-profit organizations that operate in city properties like the Palace Theatre, Redbird Field and Blue Mound Ice Arena.
Luverne Building and Zoning Director Chad McClure is serving as the general contractor for the work on the building, which the city is leasing to the Food Shelf for $1 per year.
Information about the move and about donations is updated regularly on the Food Shelf Facebook page, Rock County Food Shelf.

Sixty years after three bison arrived north of Luverne, a new herd of the wooly mammals is starting in another Minnesota location.
The Zollman Zoo in Olmsted County near Byron joins Minnesota’s Bison Conservation Herd.
The long-term goal of the program is to build a conservation herd of 500 purebred bison to ensure its long-term stability in Minnesota.
Currently the program consists of 130 bison.
Hunted to the brink of extinction, the American bison numbered in the hundreds in the U.S. before conservation efforts began.
The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, which rebuilt its bison herd using offspring from the Blue Mounds bison, oversees the conservation program’s health care and breeding.
“It’s the Minnesota Zoo’s mission to protect wildlife around the world, and it’s exciting to be able to contribute to the collaborative project to help a rare species right here in our own backyard,” said Tony Fisher with the Minnesota Zoo.
Rock County was the first in the state to have purebred bison 60 years ago when three from Fort Niobora National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska relocated to the Mound Springs Recreational Area north of Luverne on Nov. 3, 1961.
According to news accounts at the time, that same year the park’s name changed to Blue Mounds State Park.
Don Gordon was the park’s manager 60 years ago. He worked with the park committee and the Minnesota Conservation Department (predecessor of the MnDNR) to bring the bison to Minnesota.
Luverne officials encouraged the conservation department to purchase 50 acres of native prairie that came up for sale near the recreation area and establish a bison herd.
“I’m sure it will be an outstanding attraction,” Gordon said in 1961, “not only for the people of the community, but for people from all over the country who visit the park every summer.”
 
Bison lead to 2020 record park visits
The initial bison herd to Blue Mounds — one bull and two cows — has grown to 100 cow-calf pairs, yearling and breeding stock.
In 2020 Blue Mounds recorded 268,000 visitors, the most since the program opened.
Current park manager Chris Ingebretsen said park officials were updated last month about the bison conservation program and the importance the Blue Mounds herd has in the program’s continued success.
“Blue Mounds State Park will always be a key part of it,” Ingebretsen said.
Currently 540 acres of the 1,000-acre park is dedicated to the bison. The park is at the maximum number of bison and sells about 30 head each fall.
Genetic testing completed in 2012 by the Minnesota Zoo shows the current bison herd is free of cattle genetics. This makes them rare among modern bison and key to the success of the conservation herd.
Minneopa State Park near Mankato received Blue Mounds bison for the herd program in 2015.

Scott Buchanan took over the reins at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne in January amid a pandemic that had upended nursing home operations everywhere.
But the new director took it in stride, having come from the Minnesota Veterans Home in Fergus Falls where the same pandemic procedures had been implemented.
“COVID has been difficult for nursing homes everywhere, and the team here in Luverne had a lot of good processes and systems in place,” Buchanan said.
“Many were similar or identical to what we were doing at the veterans home in Fergus Falls, so I was able to transition rather smoothly into what we were doing here.”
He said local diligence paid off in that Luverne’s veterans home has kept COVID-19 at bay, and most residents and staff have been vaccinated.
“I feel very fortunate that I was able to be vaccinated as a health care employee,” he said.
“I would encourage anyone who has access to the vaccine to please get the vaccine — if not for yourself, for those around you. Our elderly population is more susceptible, and the more people we have vaccinated, the easier it will be to keep infection rates down. That does have a big effect on nursing homes.”
Buchanan’s new position in Luverne puts him closer to his hometown of Sioux Falls, where he and his wife, Chelsea, live with their two small children.
And he’s glad to be doing the job he enjoys and also have the benefit of extended family nearby.
“I very much enjoy what I do,” he said. “In long-term care the best part is the longevity of the staff, typically, and you have residents who are with you for hopefully years, as opposed to in a hospital, where they’re in and out in a couple days.”
He describes relationships with staff and residents in the home as being part of a big family.
“I’ve always liked that. Especially in smaller communities where everybody learns a little bit about everybody else,” Buchanan said. “You just become a family over time, and that’s what I’ve liked about long-term care, is getting to know the residents and staff.”
And he’s enjoying the unique camaraderie of residents who are veterans.
“In veterans homes, the guys are typically coming to stay with us for a number of years, so you really get to know them,” Buchanan said.
“Those who are willing to share their stories about war time, it’s just amazing to sit down with them. … The veterans are extra special, and it’s really fun to chat with them about their time in the service.”
He said working with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs has been a good experience.
“The MDVA has always been a team approach. We have a great team of leaders that oversees the veterans homes in Minnesota, and we have great leadership in the homes,” Buchanan said.
“I’ve been here for only two months, but it’s very apparent we have a caring staff here. Residents are happy. Families are happy and this is just a good place to be, and I just feel fortunate to be here.”

Meetings
Pleasant View Cemetery Association annual meeting will be at 6 p.m. Monday, April 12, at the cemetery. This will be potluck. If the weather is bad, the meeting will be moved to the home of Brent and Jodi Taubert.
Vienna Township Board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 13, in the Kenneth Community Center.
Beaver Creek Township Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 12, in the township hall.  
Sanford Luverne Hospice Grief Support Group will meet from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays, April 5 through May 10, at Sanford Luverne. This group is for anyone grieving the death of a loved one, whether they were involved with hospice or not. Meetings are free and facilitated by Jill Roemen, licensed social worker. Call to register at 507-283-1805.
 
Sanford Hospice Auction planned for August 28
The Annual Hospice Dinner and Auction typically held in April is being planned for August 28 to allow for expanded Minnesota COVID-19 guidelines.  More details will be announced this summer, or call the Hospice office at 283-1805. 
 
H-BC walk-a-thon accepts pledges
Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary School will host the second annual H-BC Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization Walk-a-thon Friday, April 9. Kindergarten through fifth-grade students are accepting pledges through Thursday, April 8, based on how many steps they complete during their physical education classes. A gofundme.com page for the Hill-Beaver Creek Elementary Walk-a-thon is available for online support.
 
Friends of the Library
Friends of the Library annual membership drive begins this week. The group supports the Rock County Library, contributing to special collections and programming both financially and with volunteer staffing. Membership perks include early access to the annual book sale. Contact the library at 507-449-5040 for membership information.
 
Prairie Ally pruning workshop
Prairie Ally food forest will host a fruit tree pruning workshop from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 10, at 308 N Blue Mound Ave. in Luverne led by Blackshire Farms' Sean Mcfarland. The cost is $12 per individual or $18 per family. Register for the outdoor, hands on experience at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pruning-workshop-tickets-142596593249 or call 605-951-0227.
 
‘Stay Active and Independent For Life’
ACE of Southwest Minnesota will offer a free eight-week balance and fitness class via Zoom from 10 to 11 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, April 5 through May 28. Call 1-855-215-2174 to register for class #2380. Or go online: https://yourjuniper.org/Classes/Register/2380. There is no cost to attend these classes, however donations are welcomed.
 
 
Rock the Edge seeks local service projects
Rock The Edge Youth's Service Over Self will be June 21-25, and the group is seeking a variety of community projects, such as painting, cleaning, organizing, yard work or other projects. Call 507-227-1978, 605-261-4000 or email rocktheedgemn@gmail.com
 
Lutheran Women Spring Rally April 10
LWML Spring Rally - Pipestone Zone will be Saturday, April 10, at St. James Lutheran Church in Holland. Registration is at 9 a.m. and the rally starts at 9:30. Rev. John Grein will present "Living As A Christian In A Secular World.” Gifts of the Heart monetary donations will benefit Pipestone County Food Shelf. No lunch will be served.
 
April 14 and 15 dental clinic
#Luv1LuvAll Rock County Oral Health Task Force organized dental clinics on Wednesday, April 14, and Thursday, April 15, at Rock County Health and Human Services. These clinics provide dental care for all ages. Call 612.746.1530 to schedule an appointment. Exams, X-rays and general services will be provided. All forms of insurance accepted.
 
Community Education
Luverne Community Education will offer the following classes and activities. Call 507-283-4724 to register.
Learn how to keep your yard looking fresh from George Bonnema at the Pruning Shape Up class on April 13.  Fee is $10.
Using glaze, heat, flames and cooling, you will transform a pottery piece into an Amazing Raku Treasure on April 17.  Fee is $5 plus pick out a piece of pottery ranging from $10 - $30 at the studio.
 
Tax assistance available for Rock County residents
United Community Action Partnership will be providing free online virtual tax assistance for residents living in Rock County and surrounding communities. See website for details at https://www.unitedcapmn.org/services/community-family-services/tax-clin…
The number to make an appointment and to get intake forms sent via mail is 507-537-1416 ext. #2163. Or email Courtney Newgard at Newgardcourtney.newgard@unitedcapmn.org.
 
Take and Make bird treat kits
Stop by the Luverne Area Chamber at 213 East Luverne Street to pick up one or more Take and Make bird treat kits. Kits are free, but a $5 to $10 donation is welcome to benefit Project Food Forest in Rock County. (Or donate online at https://donorbox.org/support-pff)
 
Rock County spring weight restrictions in effect
Spring weight restrictions are in effect on Rock County roadways. Load restrictions starting and ending dates are based on how the weather is affecting roadway strength. The dates are based on monitoring roads as weather conditions change, and they are variable, so drivers must check for updates throughout the spring. Call the Rock County Highway Department, 507-283-5010.

To Cathy Shearer ice-skating is not for the faint of heart.
“Hard work always pays off — eventually,” she said last week. “Kids get jumps, then lose them. Sometimes for weeks or months they can’t land them anymore, then they get them back and learn that they have to fight to keep them.”
Shearer has dedicated herself to instructing youth how to skate for the past 35 years — 17 of those years with Blue Mound Figure Skating in Luverne.
But mastering the ice is only one lesson Shearer taught.
“As my skaters got older, I spent time in each lesson explaining why I teach them something a certain way — I want them to come away from their skating here in Luverne with the ability to coach themselves someday,” she said.
The Alaskan native taught herself how to ice skate on frozen lakes near her home in Kasilof.
She was a student at Kenai Peninsula Community College in Soldotna, where the first indoor ice rink was built and where she first became an instructor and coach.
“I started going there during lunch for fun, and then got to taking some lessons from a lady who moved down to Soldotna to coach,” Shearer recalled. “I took lessons from her for three years. Then when she left, I took over the head coaching for the Denali Ice Club.”
Shearer coached skaters according to the U.S. Figure Skating and the Ice Skating Institute guidelines and rules.
As her own four children grew older, skating became a family affair.
Husband Marty, while not officially a skater, operates the Zamboni to prepare the ice for skating.
Daughter Sarah is a teacher and lives in Alaska with her husband and two children.
Son Jason lives in Luverne and works for Southwestern Youth Services in Magnolia.
Daughter Katie lives in Sioux Falls and coaches skating with BMFS.
The youngest, Shaid, is a senior at Luverne High School and an ice hockey player. He’ll continue skating next year at the college level.
Shearer is uncertain what drew her to skating, but memories of teaching herself to do tricks on the ice transformed to introducing others to skating while instilling in them the desire to work hard and not to quit.
“Figure skating starts out with big improvements that happen quickly, but after a while the improvements become harder to see and harder to achieve,” she said. “Figure skating is not for the faint of heart either. You fall … over and over and over.
A summer 2003 vacation trip to LeMars, Iowa, to visit family members prompted the Shearers to consider moving to the lower 48 states the following year.
Marty worked for BP Alaska and was able to commute to the BP office based in Sioux Falls.
During the move to Iowa, Shearer looked for an ice rink to continue her coaching and a place for her four children to continue their skating lessons.
Her rink search ended through a chance meeting with Luverne’s Diana Erickson at the ice arena in Sioux Center, where her children Brianna and Jim were skating.
Erickson put her in touch with the BMFS director Mary Tilstra, “who called me right away and the rest is history.”
After four years of commuting to Luverne twice a week, the Shearer family moved to Luverne in 2008.
Shearer became an instructor for the Learn to Skate and competitive figure skating programs at Luverne, later adding skating for hockey players. She also helps organize the group’s annual ice show.
BMFS recently completed its 29th annual performance March 19-20, where Shearer’s retirement was officially announced.
“She (Shearer) has dedicated a good amount of her life to not only making her athletes better skaters, but to become better people through hard work and adversity,” were the word’s written in the event program.
Several of Shearer’s former students have become instructors and coaches for BMFS.
“I feel I am leaving the program in great hands,” Shearer said. “I’ve loved every minute of it but can’t wait to get on with this next step in our lives.”
The Shearers are currently building a barn-dominium (conversion of a barn into living space) near Platte, South Dakota, look forward to visiting their two granddaughters in Alaska, plan to travel in an RV during the winter and watch son Shaid play college hockey.

There were no April Fool’s jokes at the April 1 ribbon-cutting ceremony for Shawna Marshall and Jesse Booker, owners of the Vasshaus Candle Co.
Luverne Area Chamber members greeted and congratulated the new business owners on Main Street Thursday morning at the Mall on Main.
It marked the first day of in-person sales for the couple who started their business last September online.
The couple said their homemade candles smell and look as they’re named.
“We try to be really authentic with our scents,” Marshall said. “So if we say it smells like pumpkin pie, it smells like pumpkin pie.”
Booker is the candle maker, creating wax melts for the two sizes of glass jar candles from shaved wax, fragrant oils and a coloring die.
He brings his experience as a songwriter and guitar teacher at Luverne Street Music to the candle-making process.
“When you’re writing a song, you have different layers of sounds you are working with, and that is how it is with each scent blend — you have low notes, middle notes and high notes that come through.”
Booker assembles each candle and wax melt by hand, using melted soy wax, fragrant oils and ultraviolet-resistant color dyes. He said the soy-based candles are more eco-friendly and burn longer with a warmer glow and lower temperature.
In another eco-friendly service, the couple also has a recycling program where customers who bring the glass jars back to the store receive discounts on their next purchases.
Candles are a hobby for Booker, who works as a research and development process technician at Raven Industries in Sioux Falls. Marshall is a therapist with Southwest Mental Health in Luverne. They have two young children, Avery and Julien.
The coronavirus pandemic gave the couple time last summer to perfect their first fragrance —pumpkin pie.
Each of the Vasshaus (which means reed house in Nordic countries) fragrances is subtle, yet effective.
“We don’t like to be overpowering, in your face,” Marshall said. “Something you would like your home to smell like.”
Some Vasshaus scents emphasize experiences, such as strawberry champagne, eggnog cheesecakes, chocolate-covered cherries and hot chocolate. Other scents emphasize memories, such as Grandma’s kitchen, clean kitchen, By the Fireplace, First Snow, and Winter by the Woods.
A line of aromatherapy scents — tranquility and clarity — have also been created for the home.
The couple launched a website — Vasshaus Candles — in September.
Since then, several of their scents became available at Wildflowers Coffee Boutique in Luverne and at small businesses in Worthington, Currie and Canton, South Dakota.
Framework around the storefront in the Mall on Main already looks like an outline of a house, similar to Vasshaus Candles’ logo. Marshall calls the existing décor fate.
“It’s too perfect to pass up,” Marshall said. “With COVID people have been stuck inside for a year, and they are wanting to get out and go somewhere … and shop local.”
The store size allows room for a work area in the back for making candles as well as room to offer future candle-making classes to the public.
The store will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays through April with possible weekday hours beginning in May.