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News
Vol. 53 No. 24 Norwalk, Iowa 50211
USPS No. 395-120
Phone 981 -0406
email: news@ norwalknewspaper.com Thursday, November 12, 2020
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Mayor’s Moment
By Tom Phillips
Assistance Available
Many of our friends, neighbors, and family
members are struggling this season. The pandemic
has hit many families in our community hard. As we
approach Thanksgiving season, there are two items
I’d like to call to your attention.
If you find you are really struggling this season,
please know there are resources available to help you.
A few of them include:
N orwalk Food Pantry, operated by the Norwalk
Ministerial Association, is located at New Life
Lutheran Church, at the corner of Highway 28 and
Wakonda Drive. The food pantry is open on
Wednesdays. For more information, call 515-285-
5965.
IMPACT Community Action Partnership in
Warren County is an organization that offers energy
assistance, food assistance, disaster assistance and
can help you with navigating your basic needs. Call
their office at 515-274-1334 for more information.
Mid-American Energy has the I CARE program
that offers energy assistance for your home. They
can help with weatherization and with your bills.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Program is available to assist eligible low income
households with a number of energy related items.
To enroll, call 800-67 4-6327 .
The City of Norwalk Utility Department will
work with residents on their water bills. They can
help you by extending your payments out until you
get caught back up. The only thing we ask is that
you contact the water department before you miss
any payments.
On the flip side, if you’ve been blessed this year
and find yourself in a position to pay it forward, I
encourage you to reach out to any of the programs
listed above. Give them a call and they’ll work with
you to make sure your donation helps someone who
needs assistance. ,
Continued on page
Upcoming Early Deadlines
and Holiday Closures
As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, the
newspaper would like to draw your attention to
several upcoming early deadlines and closures:
The deadline for our November 26th issue of
the paper will be Thursday, November 19th
at noon, and our office will be closed on Friday,
November 20th.
The deadline for the December 3rd issue will
be Wednesday, November 25th at noon, and
our office will be closed on Thursday, November
26th and Friday, November 27th, so our
employees may enjoy time with their families.
N orwalk Robotics Team Converts Go—Karts
into Wheelchairs for Local Children
Written by Sydney Fisher, Olivia Lamb Trevor Fisher; Photos by Nicci Lamb
The Norwalk RoboWarriors are comprised of two
school robotics teams that specialize in helping the
community in the way they know how.... Robotics.
The teams were started to participate in the robotics
competitions through FIRST Tech Challenge, which
coordinates robotics tournaments to teach kids
throughout the world. But the Norwalk teams aren’t
just about robots and competing, they also strive to
help the communities in their area.
The team does outreach in the community in
several ways, but one of their favorites was last
summer when they had the opportunity to build a
wheelchair for a local child. That project took months
to engineer so they could get it just right for the child
who needed it. After donating the first wheelchair, it
came to the attention of the robotics team that there
was much more need in our community for the
pediatric motorized wheelchairs. Many families
cannot afford to spend up to $3,000 on motorized
pediatric wheelchairs for their loved ones, so the
robotics team set about raising funds to build more.
Each machine costs about $1,000 to build, but with
the help of the Norwalk Fareway store, the team
hosted a “Round—Up for Robotics” campaign in
January, which coupled with community donors,
raised enough for five more wheelchairs. This project
would not be possible without the amazing support
of the Norwalk community.
Each unit starts with a Power Wheels Wild Thing,
which is essentially a small go-kart. This unit is
stripped down to the shell and through rebuilding,
rewiring, and reprogramming it, the RoboWarriors
were able to make a functional motorized wheelchair
to give to someone who would benefit from it. The
process is made possible through local experts from
Rowe Electronics and James Joyce, with Kokeland
Manufacturing, who taught team members how to
make their own circuit boards and create new wiring
harnesses to operate the unit. Then the team’s
programmers went to work to make it run with a
new single joystick, which can be mounted on either
side of the seat to fit the needs of the child using it.
This year, the team also added Bluetooth capabilities
to allow a parent or teacher to override the controls
through use of a wireless gaming controller. This
allows for extra safety of those around them when
the unit is used in crowded school hallways.
The COVID pandemic has slowed down the process
of getting the new units built, as the team was unable
to meet in person most of the summer, but the first one
was finally completed last week. The Norwalk
RoboWarriors knew this unit was going to a local 6 year
old child, Leiana, who lives on a rural acreage with lots
of outdoor terrain she wanted to be able to explore. To
make that possible, the team added all-terrain treads
to the wheels so she can go Wherever she wants without
having to rely on someone else to move her. “It was
nice to give some hope and happiness in these hard
times.” says Hannah Groos, a 4 year member of the
team. The team met Leiana and her family to present
it on Sunday, November 1st.
This was a big success for the RoboWarriors and
they will continue to work on the remaining
wheelchairs over the next several months so they can
benefit other children through independent mobility
in the future. Eli Newland, a NHS Junior, said “We’re
glad that this was a unique and impactful way to
help our community for years to come”.
