ROCS INC. NEWSLETTER

Brent and Brianna Burden are pictured on the front steps of their new home. The Burden’s were able to purchase their home with the help of the Dakota Dream Savings Fund, a matched savings account program that matches each dollar saved in a special savings account with three additional dollars towards the purchase of their asset.

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Owning a home is a dream that is shared by many young couples. A place to call their own and a place to raise a family is a dream that can be realized by carefully budgeting and saving money for the down payment, closing costs and the upcoming mortgage payments. One South Dakota couple has realized their dream and purchased their first home with a little help from a program called the Dakota Dream Savings Fund. The Dakota Dream Savings Fund helped this young couple turn their $4,000.00 in hard earned savings into a $16,000.00 down payment on the first home that the two can call their own.

Brent and Brianna Burden are a young couple from Chamberlain who heard about a new program called the Dakota Dream Savings Fund and were immediately skeptical. Brianna wrote the program off as a scam from the beginning, but Brent did some research and made phone calls to determine that there really is a program that will match every dollar, up to $2,000.00, that is deposited into a special savings account with three more dollars to use towards purchasing a first time home, starting or expanding a small business or pursuing

secondary education.

“It just sounded too good to be true,” Brent said.

“I was totally skeptical. If Brent hadn’t pursued it, I would have never thought twice about the program,” Brianna added.

Brent and Brianna had been considering buying the home that they had been house sitting, and when they found a program that could help them come up with extra cash to put towards the purchase, they decided to just go for it. They contacted Kaylene Marts, Dakota Dream Development Specialist with the Rural Office of Community Services, Inc. in Lake Andes, SD to find out what they needed to do to become part of this exciting new program. After completing the application process and getting approved for the program, Brent and Brianna both opened and began putting money away in their special Dakota Dreams savings accounts at their local bank to be used towards their home purchase. The Dakota Dream Savings

has also helped the Burden’s out by providing financial education courses that must be completed according to the guidelines for the program. They each completed the Money Smart course online provide by the FDIC as well as completed 10 hours each of asset specific financial education.

“The Money Smart course was pretty helpful. It teaches you about credit and loans and keeping your finances organized,” Brent said.

He added that they learned more than they could have imagined about the legalities of home ownership like insurance, taxes, boundaries and city and county ordinances.

Brent owns an internet business and also works part time for a plumber in town and Brianna works part time for a boutique/flower shop on Main Street. By carefully budgeting their income, they were able to save $2,000.00 each and the program matched their $4,000.00 for a total of $16,000.00 to use toward their down payment on their new home.

“We are so thankful for this program, to Kaylene for all her help in this process and to Jesus for leading us to our home,” Brent concluded.

“We knew we wanted to own a home, we just didn’t know how we were going to get there.

This program really helped and we know we

wouldn’t have been able to buy our home

on our own,” Brianna said. (continued)

The Dakota Dream Savings Fund has helped one young couple in Chamberlain, South Dakota realize their dream of owning a home in a small community and gave them a place to put down roots. The program is available across the state through one of the four Community Action Agencies located in Lake Andes, Rapid City, Sisseton and Madison. A limited number of participant openings are available and more information can be obtained by visiting www.dakotadreamsavingsfund.org for contact information and service area coverage.

Funding for the program is provided by the Northwest Area Foundation, The South Dakota Community Foundation, Citibank, the South Dakota Housing Authority, Assets for Independence federal grant and the Bush Foundation.

Brent and Brianna Burden received a check for $16,000.00 from Kaylene Marts, ROCS Dakota Dream Development Specialist, to use towards the purchase of their first home.

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The cooks of Dakota Senior Meals were very fortunate to have a workshop just for them here at Lake Andes. Adele Huls, (pictured)

PhD, RD, LMNT, LN, the dietician that is hired by the State presented the information. Dr. Huls wrote the menus used by many of the elderly nutrition projects in the State. She explained how the menus are planned and analyzed to meet the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs). There is a 735 calorie goal for each meal. The meals include at least 2 grain products, mostly whole grain, 1 cup of 1% milk, 2 to 3 ounces of meat or a meat substitute, 3 servings of fruits and/or vegetables and moderate amounts of fat. Those who would like a smaller meal may choose not to take or eat everything. Those who need more may ask for extra bread or seconds, if they are available. The menus are analyzed so that they are close to 1/3 of the DRIs, including the vitamins and minerals that older adults are often low in.

One of the hardest parts in doing the menu is having a suitable sodium level. Sodium is the only DRI where less is better. The ideal sodium intake is 2300 mg per day so the goal is to keep our menus between 800 and 1000 mg per meal.

Salt is 40% sodium. A teaspoon of salt contains 2400 mg of sodium, or more than a day’s allowance. You may think that you never use a teaspoon of salt in a day but it is hidden in many processed foods. Americans eat many processed foods, and high sodium intake causes many diseases including hypertension, heart disease and the need for more kidney dialysis in our country.

Most snack, convenience and fast foods are high in sodium. Look in your cupboards. Read the labels. Most canned foods, except for fruit, have sodium added. Check your freezer. If you have frozen dinners, pizza or other convenience items, they contain sodium. Look in your refrigerator. Most condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, salad dressings, and foods like cheese and lunchmeats are high in sodium.

Sodium is in other ingredients besides salt. Baking powder, baking soda and monosodium glutamate all contain sodium. Any item that has any kind of sodium, such as sodium nitrate, in it’s ingredients contains sodium. Look at the serving size. One 3 ounce dill pickle contains about 840 mg of sodium, about the same amount of sodium that one of our complete meals contains.

We can learn to decrease our sodium intake by thinking about what we eat. Try to cut down on your sodium intake gradually. Salt is a learned taste, so we can unlearn it or learn to prefer less of it. Use seasonings other than salt. Use fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned. One tablespoon of canned peas contains as much sodium as 5 1/2 pounds of fresh peas! Read the labels! Eat a variety of foods.

Dr. Huls also discussed “carbohydrate counting simplified”. Carbohydrates are found mainly in 3 basic food groups and in sweets. The groups are 1) grains, beans and starchy vegetables, 2) fruits and fruit juices and 3) milk and yogurt. Check your food labels. Look at the total carbohydrates as listed in grams (g). Divide the number of grams in total carbohydrates by 15 to find the number of carbohydrate servings in a food. This is important for diabetics to know. The number needed by the diabetic varies depending on each individual’s needs.

The effects of food processing were also discussed. Many health conscious people eat more raw foods because of the amount of nutrients lost by cooking—but cooking is beneficial because it kills potentially harmful microorganisms that are present in the food supply. In particular, poultry and ground meats should always be thoroughly cooked. The surfaces of all fruits and vegetables should be carefully washed before eating, even if it has a peel.

It was a very interesting and informative workshop. It was attended by Shirley Soukup, myself and 25 of our cooks, assistants and substitutes. The state program specialist, Jeannette Schipper of the Adult Services of Aging from the South Dakota Department of Social Services was also in attendance.

If you would like more information on any of these subjects, contact your local Dakota Senior Meals site or call Nancy at 605-487-7634.

***DSM CONGREGATE SITE SHARINGS***

The 3rd Wednesday of the month is “Birthday Dinner Day” at the White Lake Nutrition Center—-the day when we celebrate the birthdays of the month.

Well, would you believe (and this is the first time anyone can ever remember it happening) there were no birthdays in May. Not wanting this day to go by without a celebration of some kind someone came up with the idea of honoring our cooks.

After the meal was over, in reverse to “The Price Is Right” fashion, the M.C. asked the cooks to ‘Come On Down”. A couple of surprised cooks came, were seated on “thrones” (which really looked like old chairs) and were presented with crowns made up of recipe cards on which the patrons had written their favorite recipes. (One such recipe was—one gallon of fruit, one can opener, dishes to serve the fruit in. Open can, fill dishes and serve.)

The honored

cooks were: l to r: Joan Thiry and

Beverly Miller shown in their crowns.

A proclama

tion was read declaring them “Cooks For the Day”.

For remembering and reciting a number of nursery rhymes they were awarded prizes. For reciting “Little Boy Blue” they got a bag of bugles, for reciting “Hickory Dickory Dock” they got tea bags which when swung back and forth represented the pendulum on the clock; they also got aprons, plants, etc. The party ended with cupcakes and homemade ice cream being served for dessert.

The participants are in agreement about the following: “We, who take advantage of the nutrition meals feel very fortunate for every time we go for dinner. We are greeted with a smile, a good meal and sometimes if the spirit moves— we are serenaded. We love our cooks.”

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