Midwest Mission, a non-profit with a facility at 219 N. Chestnut St, (formerly Aureon and Fareway) was recently awarded a $5,000 Jefferson Wants You incentive grant. new branch location of an established
Midwest Missions is an established non-profit organization with its base in Illinois. Midwest Mission provides relief supplies “around the world and around the corner”. Its primary focus areas are disaster relief, health, education and micro business. The Midwest Mission location in Jefferson receives and processes donations and ships them back to their Pawnee, IL, location to be distributed around the world.
Midwest Mission has a one year year lease-to-own agreement for the building with Greene County Development Corporation. Danille Curtis is the director for the Iowa facility but much of the work is facilitated by volunteers. There is one fulltime and two part-time employees with the potential for more as the organization grows.
Volunteers come from all over to handle the many tasks needed such as sewing, filling personal dignity kits and school supply kits, making meal packs, and weaving waterproof mats. Curtis reported that since the facility opened here this summer, people from 22 counties in Iowa have come to Jefferson to volunteer. Many stay for several days using local hotels, eating at restaurants, shopping at our businesses, and visiting our attractions.
New business start-ups in Jefferson are eligible to apply for one-time start-up costs of up to $5,000 through the Jefferson Wants You Incentive Fund. The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is a partner offering free business consultation with North Central Iowa regional director Kirsten Case Fuller at iowasbdc.org. This is a project of the Economic Vitality Team of Jefferson Matters with local committee members reviewing applications and conducting interviews.
Remote workers who already live in Greene County or are locating here are eligible to apply for a one-year membership of flexible seating at Gravitate Coworking at 202 E State, Jefferson.
Find the applications at experiencejeffersoniowa.com under Grow Here; Entrepreneurial. This project started as a Rural Return project funded in 2022 through local utilities, financial institutions, and a grant from Grow Greene County.
Pictured: Jefferson native and Iowa director, Danille Curtis, members of the Jefferson Wants You Incentive Fund committee, and members of Midwest Mission executive board from seven other states, who visited Jefferson for two days for a regional meeting and to get acquainted with Jefferson’s new facility. They were given a tour of the community as part of their stay.
