Enterprise Newsletter • Catch the Christmas Spirit with Noel's Giving!
Noel's Giving is a sure sign of the Douglas community's generosity, kind hearts
For many Christmas is a time of family, giving and Christmas miracles. For others, the season is marked by a struggle to put gifts under the Christmas tree and a meal on the Christmas table. For Douglas families in need, Noel's Giving has been providing a helping hand since December of 2019.

According to Kim Hiser, volunteers have prepared 281 boxes for distribution on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15. Some boxes are delivered to the recipient's doorstep. Many families bring their children to the Wyoming State Fairgrounds to see Santa and retrieve their boxes, including a Christmas meal and gifts, on Saturday, Dec. 15. "We're helping over 400 kids this year," says Hiser.
Gifts for the children are collected via trees and donation boxes placed around the Douglas community. "This is the first year in the 19 years that I have been involved," says Hiser, "that Noel has purchased very few gifts." Donors across the community were extremely generous.

Noel is the large pink elephant that is the program's namesake and long-time mascot. Early fundraisers included a very large Noel being placed in lawns across the community and property owners paying $20 to have her moved on to the next location. Rumor has it that she sat on some bird baths and lawn ornaments over the years. While that tradition has been retired, the large pink elephant continues to be a symbol of Christmas giving in the Douglas community.

While the 2018 donations are largely complete, fundraising takes place throughout the entire calendar year. "Those who would like to donate can send their contributions to PO Box 191, Douglas WY 82633," says Hiser noting that the group is a registered non-profit. Noel's Giving and the many donors and volunteers are making Christmas in Douglas, Wyoming just a little bit merrier!
Douglas Budget adds interactive bonuses, ingenuity to the weekly newspaper
The Douglas Budget newspaper is leading the way among newspapers, especially here in the Cowboy State. Just recently the newspaper unveiled an interactive component. The paper is the first in the state to implement the technology.

Using an application installed on their smartphones, readers can scan a special icon throughout the paper and access bonus content. "Not only will we continue to print a quality newspaper with strong photographs, writing and advertising each week, beginning today our interactive items - noted by the cowboy hat logo - will have a special surprise," says the paper's Nov. 14 edition. The app, available in your smart phone's application store is called WyoInteractive. The Nov. 14 paper included both news coverage of Veterans Day activities, but also enabled readers to access a video of the associated gathering.

"The response has been overwhelming and continues to grow weekly," says Douglas Budget Publisher Matt Adelman. "The first week we launched it, we had 626 downloads of the app and users had viewed at least one interactive. By the
next week, that had topped 910 and as of today [Dec. 6] it is 1,327."

Adelman says, "Currently, we have it launched in the Budget , but it will be expanded to the Glenrock Independent in the near future and possibly to the High Plains Sentinel in Wright after that, depending on advertiser support for it. We plan to use the interactive tool from here on out, but how long depends on advertising. Once the videos, 3-D images, music and/or voice are uploaded, they remain until we manually remove them. So most content will be available for months or years, but users would have to scan the trigger from the printed product." The logo that allows a reader to access the content isn't limited to the newspaper, but can include all printed material.

"We see great uses of the tech across numerous of our products in addition to the weekly newspaper," says Adelman listing visitor’s guides and more. "Plus, because we can put the trigger and interactive on anything printed, as long as it can be scanned, we can add interactive to restaurant menus, kid’s coloring books and placemats, tourism brochures, business cards, greeting cards, pretty much anything."

"We applaud the Budget's ingenuity in bringing this option to our community," says Cindy Porter, Executive Director of The Enterprise. "It's always great to see our local businesses diversifying and adding new tools and technology."
SNAP, snap, SNAP...get your entries ready!
It is time to get your entries ready for the 2019 Platte River Photography Show. Entries are to be delivered to the Douglas Railroad Museum & Visitors Center no later than 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 11. The show will be open for viewing at the Wyoming Pioneer Museum from Jan. 18-25. Winners will be announced during a Jan. 18 awards ceremony and reception.
New this year, out-of-town entries can be shipped to Douglas for the show and return shipped if a pre-paid label is provided. Modifications have been made to the entry guidelines as highlighted on the entry form available below. Please call the Railroad Museum and Visitor Center at 307-358-2950 if you have questions.
Thank you to our Corporate Members!
"We make a living by what we get. But we make life by what we give." — Winston Churchill
The Enterprise | 307.358.2000 | CPorter@candoWyoming.com | SeeWhatConverseCANDO.com