The Madelia Mobile Village faces big problems when weather turns severe, because they don't have a storm shelter for residents.  The weather used to be the least of the worries for people living there, but the wind blowing through the community now, is the wind of change.

The Madelia Mobile Village has seen tough days in the past, but things have been getting much better lately.That's thanks in part to becoming Minnesota's 4th manufactured home cooperative.  Madelia Mobile Village Cooperative secretary Stephanie Iberra says, "Making them be responsible and letting them know they have a voice, and that they can take care of what they have and that there's resources out there for us to keep improving things."

The cooperative started in December, but it's a project that has been in the works for the last 4 years.  Around half of the 53 home sites are currently involved with the Co-op and there are already big strides that have been seen in the community.  Madelia Mobile Village Cooperative Vice President Jose Garcia says, "Now families feel better. Even the cops have mentioned many, many times it's completely different up there. We watch each other's kids. Our kids interact. There is no violence like before. It's just a lot different."

The Co-Op plans to move this garage to put up a community center and a storm shelter. That's not the end of the list of projects they want to accomplish. In fact, it's just the beginning.  North Country Cooperative Foundation's Kevin Walker says, "We've identified a couple of opportunities to bring renewable energies into the community. One of those would be use of a geothermal heating system, which could drop the heating costs in the community very significantly."  Walker says that could be a drop from 20 to 40 percent in heating bills, and a wind turbine could help on electric bills as well.  He says those projects are a ways out.A school bus shelter for the children and multiunit garages are more pressing, but either way it's those things the residents feel their community needs.

Stephanie Iberra says, "It's important because you actually have a voice."   They hope that will keep the village improving for years to come.

-Erick Lind