Episode 157 // The Ladies of Why Not Us and The Centennial
On today’s episode of the Rural Revival podcast we’re with Deb McGinn, Ginny Showman, Jacque Andrew, Sara Ostrander, and Peg Raney of Why Not Us — a group of 72 women who pooled their resources to save a historic downtown building called The Centennial on their town square in Jefferson, Iowa (pop. 4,182).
After the building was flooded with several thousands of gallons of water and it destroyed the community’s popular tea room, they wanted somebody to bring it back, and finally decided, why not us? They’re sharing how they pooled their resources, set parameters for the group, found somebody to run the restaurant, and the incredible impact this has had on their community.
You’ll love the model that these ladies have established in working together to bring back this historic building and important business to the community of Jefferson. There is no doubt this is going to spark some ideas for you in how you can pool your resources to do something similar in your community! We’re excited to watch this project continue and to see that second story get finished out.
Thank you to all the ladies for being on the podcast, and to all 72 ladies who make up Why Not Us, thank you for your investment into your community and for inspiring us to do something similar in our small towns. Because hey, why not us?
“It was a leap of faith for all of us unit holders and for Sara. We had little things that came up and we climbed over them and we worked through the situations and asked people for advice and we just kept going.”
- Jacque Andrew
“These ladies are great. They’re so supportive. And you kind of have a built in fan base with 72 people who have invested money and they’re so excited to see you succeed!”
- Sara Ostrander
“The economic vitality impact has just been enormous all around the square. When you have a lovely restaurant to have lunch in, it’s more of a destination. It’s just an amazing impact for the whole downtown area.”
- Jacque Andrew
“The real goal was to return this building to its life, to make sure this building lives on, and to make sure there is a viable business in this building and that people can live here and it’s part of the community.” - Jacque Andrew
“And if we’ve inspired women along the way, what more could we ask for? If we’re inspiring other women to go for it, that’s great.” - Deb McGinn
“It’s a ripple effect.” - Jacque Andrew
“It was a painstaking effort to maintain the integrity of what this beautiful building is.”
- Jacque Andrew
“We really try to support and prop up our other businesses because they’ve done such a good job supporting us. It’s kind of a good partnership for everybody.”
- Sara Ostrander
building renovation progress
PODCAST SHOW NOTES AND LINKS:
Jefferson, Iowa
Pete Franks - Franks Design Group
Kevin Conway - Westbrook Construction
Chirp
Jefferson Matters
Follow along with Why Not Us here:
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Follow along with The Centennial here:
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We’re challenging small towns to create opportunities and shift the mindset of our kids so they choose to stay in our rural communities instead of leave.