Coming soon (Updated)

This afternoon workers were erecting a "Coming Soon" sign on Drexel Parkway south of the Wal-Mart store, between NAPA and the Demotte State Bank.

What is coming soon? Farm Credit Mid America. The ground breaking ceremony will be Wednesday at 1:00. This is not a new business moving to Rensselaer but an existing business moving. They currently are located at 201 N Van Rensselaer St, in the same building as the Fifth Third Bank.

I hope to update this post later this week. Speaking of updates, there is a new update on Thursday's post on Demolishing Monnett.

Update: I stopped by the Farm Credit Services Office today (Tuesday) to ask why they are moving. They said their current quarters are too small for their nine or ten employees, that as a financial institution they thought that they should own their office, and that the current site has very low visibility, which they would like to change.

Farm Credit Services is a cooperative organization, which means it is neither owned by shareholders nor sponsored by the government. It gives loans to farmers for farm operations, but also will make loans to people living outside of the city limits for housing. If you live in Rensselaer you might qualify for loans if you have farm income.

While I was there, a lady, Jody, came in to pick up some fliers for the Rensselaer Community Garden and told me I could write about it. There will be a community garden this spring located north of Rensselaer along the east side of SR 231, south of the Harvest Baptist Fellowship. If you would like a plot, call Jody at 3711 or email her at her hotmail address, which is rcga13. For those who are new to gardening, there are three free classes coming up. On February 19 at the Purdue Extension Office there is a class on Seed Starting Basics. It is at 7 pm CST. On March 2 there is an Intro to Community Garden Workshop Day from 9AM to 12 PM at the Harvest Baptist Fellowship. And on March 14 at 7 PM there will be a class at the Purdue Extension Office on Planning Your Garden.

Then Jody told me I should give some publicity to the Rensselaer Spring Gala being held on March 9. The doors open at 6:30 at the Rensselaer Central High School. It is a fund raiser for Teen Mission Rensselaer, sponsored by four or five area churches. During July a group of teens spends a week doing community service jobs around Rensselaer. They live at the Bethany Church during that week. Among events at the Gala will be a silent auction and a talent show.