Ambassadors had the opportunity to tour one of the most advanced seed corn manufacturing facilities in the world today. Matt Moyer with Bayer Crop Science at Grinnell’s Commercial facility shared more about all the work that happens at the Grinnell plant. The Grinnell community is home to two Bayer manufacturing facilities, Grinnell Commercial & Iowa Foundation.
Seed corn production has an 86 year history in Grinnell. The original facility was at 3rd & Main St from 1938-1954 when it moved to the old site on 6th Ave. That location still holds warehouse and storage space but the main production facility was moved to its current site in 2001.
Located on a total of 140 acres just east of city limits, Grinnell Commercial is responsible for creating roughly 1.5 million bags of seed corn to be sold to farmers across the state of Iowa. The process starts at privately-owned growing locations in; Bondurant, Conrad, Grinnell, Oelwein and Waterloo where anywhere from 40-50 different hybrids are grown each year. Corn is then harvested on the cob from those locations and brought to Grinnell for processing.
Once arriving in Grinnell, the corn is de-husked and dried before kernels are removed from the cob. Each kernel is sorted by size and shape and then treated. The corn is then packaged and shipped out to distribution centers before being sent to customers. Dekalb and Channel are the two major brands produced in Grinnell. Please know this is a very brief description of a detailed and intricate process that the Grinnell Commercial team has mastered. If you ever have the chance to tour a facility, we highly recommend you do!
Grinnell Commercial team runs anywhere from 100-200 employees over the course of the year depending on the production schedule. Their technician team is one of the best in the country and often tasks with piloting new programs and hosting tours like ours.
Special thanks to Matt, Susie, Stephanie and the rest of the Bayer team for hosting us today during their busy season. We had a great time learning more about Grinnell Commercial!
Pictured L-R: Fran Conn, Lisa Cirks - Cirks Financial Services, Rick Jacoby - Grinnell American Legion, Rachel Arseneault - Ramsey-Weeks Inc. Real Estate, Trent Arment - MCG - Mahaska Communication Group, Susie Pickhardt - Bayer Crop Science, Matt Moyer - Bayer Crop Science, Hannah Vos - UnityPoint at Home, Kody Bigelow - Walmart Grinnell, Marissa Ylagan - Grinnell Chamber, Rachael Kinnick - Grinnell Chamber
Ambassadors celebrated the 10th anniversary of Double You Marketing, Inc. today. Owner Katy Wells shared more about all the different work her company has done over the years and what their company values are.
Double You Marketing aims to be an extension of their clients. Their team can help businesses large and small develop a strategy, determine who their customers are and where the messages should go. Katy herself works on strategy and plan development while Maddy Marsho helps with the execution of social content and email marketing. There are 6 additional employees who assist with graphic design, website development, content support and more. Whether your business needs assistance on one small project or is looking to do a complete business brand update or a large scale marketing campaign, Katy and her team can provide professional support at a variety of levels.
Katy also shared some of her business’s core values are community building and female empowerment. They approach their work with the understanding that everyone has a place and a community does better if everyone can work together. It’s also important to her to provide a flexible work environment where her team feels supported every step of the way.
If you’re interested in learning more about the services Double You Marketing provides or want to schedule a consultation, visit their website at doubleyoumarketing.com, call 515-229-9876 or email contact@doubleyoumarketing.com.
Pictured L-R: Lisa Cirks - Cirks Financial Services, Jennifer McAlexander - Hawkeye Lock & Security, JM Consulting, Rachel Arseneault - Ramsey-Weeks Inc. Real Estate, Joni Schmidt - The Mayflower Community, Donnette Ellis - Grinnell College Community Connections, Jess Dawson - REMAX Partners Realty- Grinnell, Matt Karjahlati - REMAX Partners Realty- Grinnell, Jack Mathews - Our Grinnell, Katy Wells - Double You Marketing, Inc., Maddy Marsho - Double You Marketing, Inc., Stephanie Lair - UnityPoint Health - Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Trent Arment - MCG - Mahaska Communication Group, Kody Bigelow - Walmart Grinnell, Marissa Ylagan - Grinnell Chamber, Dan Walker - Tiger Sports Live Stream Network, Briana Gaunt - Community 1st Credit Union, Jeff Finch - Wes Finch Auto Plaza
Ambassadors got to visit with Grinnell Police Department today to learn more about what’s currently happening in the department and about Faith Repp’s new permanent position. Last time we visited with GPD, Faith was a contract worker through Capstone Behavioral Healthcare. With funding changes coming down from the state, Chief McClelland felt it was important to make Faith a full time member of his team.
Faith is the department’s Mental Health Liaison. She assists officers on a variety of crisis calls including; minor domestic situations, juvenile calls, DHS referrals, welfare checks, suicide calls and also works closely with the school district to help manage the truancy. If Faith doesn’t go on a call, she follows up with individuals after they’ve had contact with an officer to develop safety plans, work with families and discuss additional services that may be able to help. She’s able to develop profiles and guidelines for officers to use when responding to future calls. As a result of her work over the last two year’s Chief McClelland reported that calls are down this year. In August, 18% of calls were mental health related.
Chief McClelland thinks this type of position could become more standard across the state and the county in the next decade. Having Faith as a resource has allowed his officers to better respond to calls and provided better support for community members.
McClelland also reported that the department is still short staffed and actively seeking people interested in a law enforcement career. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more, reach out to the Grinnell Police Department (641) 236-2670 or stop in at 1020 Spring St.
Pictured L-R: Jeff Finch - Wes Finch Auto Plaza, Trent Arment - MCG - Mahaska Communication Group, Mariss Ylagan - Grinnell Chamber, Kody Bigelow - Walmart Grinnell, Rachael Kinnick - Grinnell Chamber, Brad German - GreenState Credit Union Grinnell, Chief McClelland - Grinnell Police Department, Donnette Ellis - Grinnell College Community Connections, Faith Repp - Grinnell Police Department, Desiree Stayer - German Plumbing Heating and Cooling, Lisa Cirks - Cirks Financial Services, Jennifer McAlexander - JM Consulting & Hawkeye Lock & Security, Donna Fischer - UnityPoint Health - Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Rick Jacoby - Grinnell American Legion, Fran Conn
Ambassadors held a ribbon cutting for the Grinnell School of Music with Executive Director Erin Bustin at their new location, 720 5th Ave. Erin spoke about how the project has been in the works unofficially for 5 years and officially for 1.5 years. They are extremely excited to be in their new building in which they can meet the demand of lessons and programming their old space could not and have room to grow. The new space has a proper check in and waiting space, along with a teacher workshop and prep space. This opens up into a large gathering space for group programming, home to their beautiful, donates grand piano. In the back of the space are three private lesson spaces as well as ample storage.
The building construction was done through Vander Linden Construction and the project used local vendors as much as possible, such as Jensen's Heating & Cooling, S&S Electric, E6 Plumbing, Hawkeye Lock & Security, Witte's Home Decorating and Latitude Signage.
The Grinnell School of Music currently holds a Music Together program for ages 0-5 with a caregiver that focuses on making music together. They also hold private lessons for piano, vocals, woodwinds, guitar and hope to add more! They also have a new afterschool program called Mini Keys & Jam Band, as well as starting an intro to garage band course to introduce kids to making music in a different way through an ipad. They are also excited to start some adult pop in signing sessions like a pop song drop in, musical theatre drop in, these are no commitment and no experience needed!
The Grinnell School of Music currently holds programs for ages 0-5, after school programs for students and private lessons for all ages in piano, vocals, woodwinds, guitar and with the hope to add more! If you're interested in learning more or supporting their scholarship fund for students, visit https://grinnellschoolofmusic.org/
Pictured L-R: Monica St Angelo- Grinnell Area Arts Council, Bri Gaunt- Community 1st Credit Union, Cassie Wherry- Pioneer Bookshop, Grinnell College, Donna Fisher- UnityPoint Health - Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Fran Conn, Lisa Cirks- Cirks Financial Services, Whitney Bair Crawford- Whitney Bair Crawford, Agent with New York Life, Rachel Arseneault- Ramsey-Weeks Inc. Real Estate, Carol Jordan- Senior Chamber, Skip Lowe- North Risk Partners & Grinnell School of Music Board Member, Trent Arment- MCG - Mahaska Communication Group, Erin Bustin- Grinnell School of Music Executive Director, Dave Vander Linden- Vander Linden Construction, Stephanie Latimer- Bates Flowers by Design & Grinnell School of Music Board Member, Kevin McAlexander- Hawkeye Lock & Security, John Rommereim- Grinnell College Golf Course & Grinnell School of Music Board Member, Jennifer McAlexander- Haweye Lock & Security & JM Consulting, Katy Wells- Double You Marketing, Inc., Donette Ellis- Grinnell College Community Connections, Rachael Kinnick- Grinnell Chamber
Ambassadors had an insightful visit at Total Rehab this week. Owner Stacey Alberts and her team gave a tour of the space, shared more about the history of the space, talked about all the services they provide and gave us the opportunity to meet a few of their providers.
Stacey started Total Rehab in 2005 in an effort to provide an independent, more patient centric care model than what was the typical experience at the time. Stacey is passionate about her team members and works to hire people she believes will be a good fit for their team and provide and excellent patient experience. As such, she has built a practice that sees patients from all over Central Iowa - from Des Moines to Cedar Rapids to Pella, people come for the care they receive, not necessarily because they were provider recommended.
Some of these team members and their specialties include:
Make sure to check the comments of each photo for more details on their services!
Total Rehab does not require a referral for new patients and will work with their patients to get them feeling better. If you’re interested in learning more, stop out at 234 West St S Suite 4, call 641-236-4506 or visit www.totalrehab-pt.com.
Pictured L-R Front: Total Rehab team members Maddie Harris, Saddie Schultes, Julie Ognourne, Laurie Eickhoff
Middle: Marissa Ylagan - Grinnell Chamber, Rachael Kinnick - Grinnell Chamber, Stacey Alberts, Ivey Crawford, Lindsey Kofoot, Sam Harlan, Daniel Keen, Linda Davis - Total Rehab
Back: Jeff Finch - Wes Finch Auto Plaza, Jack Mathews - Our Grinnell, Trent Arment - MCG - Mahaska Communication Group, Kody Bigelow - Walmart Grinnell, Rachel Arseneault - Ramsey-Weeks Inc. Real Estate, Jordan Finch-Smith - Total Rehab, Cynthia Albert - OnMedia, Lisa Cirks - Cirks Financial Services, Fran Conn
