Greetings and good morning!
Our contact at Paul Bunyan recently let us know that they were not awarded the USDA grant they had applied for to cover the remaining areas in Side Lake with fiber services. However, the Border-to-Border grant applications are now open, and they are trying again to get funding. We will be preparing a letter of support on behalf of French Township, and we are rallying our community to get additional letters of support. Even those of us who already have this service can provide letters of support to help out our neighbors and our community with full coverage. Please see the information below from Paul Bunyan:
(Note: copied and pasted from email from Steve Howard, Paul Bunyan)
Letters of Support should be sent via e-mail to showard@paulbunyan.net or US mail to:
Paul Bunyan Communications
Attn: Steve Howard
1831 Anne St NW
Bemidji, MN 56601
A letter of support could be just about anything that shows support for the project. Some possible things to include are:
1) The need in the area;
2) The area’s economic loss without broadband or gain with broadband (Border to Border is funded through the Department of Employment and Economic Development, so economic development is important!);
3) How it affects you, your family, your business, your livelihood, your neighbors, or your community. These are usually the best things, like: My kids can’t do their school work, I can’t buy/sell online, I lose out on business because I can’t compete with other small businesses that have good broadband, emergency services are limited/hampered/etc, out-of-town family/friends won’t come to Minnesota because we have no broadband, I can’t work from home, I have medical issues and can’t do virtual visits with my doctor/specialist, etc;
4) Your support for Paul Bunyan’s project to bring broadband to the area.
Thank you for any help you can offer!
Please note that we will need to have all letters of support by August 1, 2022 so we can get them submitted.
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Thank you all for your support of this project! Let’s connect our community!
Julie Lucas
Below is a map with highlighted areas that will be included in the grant proposal.
