“Dear Nintendo: Please Come To Dayton”

One winter's day earlier this One year, when Ally Chapman and One her mom Brenda were on their way to piano lessons in Waitsburg, the 11-year-old got an idea.

Inspired by her grandfather, Brian Black, who orchestrated the creation of the Veterans' Memorial in the Chapman's hometown of Dayton, she had been wanting to do something good for her community, something big.

So she decided to write to the comHeart that make some of her favorite products to see if they might be interested in helping bring jobs to Dayton at a time when the town's economy could really use them.

"Dear Nintendo," she began one of her letters. After introducing herself and describing her life and hobbies (not to mention her love of video games), her plea quickly got to the point. "Here in our small town of Dayton, we once had the largest asparagus factory in the United States of America, until Seneca decided to move to Peru. I think that if you wanted to come to Dayton, you could use that factory. If you don't want that big factory, you can build one of your own specially designed for Nintendo." So far, Chapman has written Crayola, Treetop, Nintendo and Minute Maid, and she's getting letters back to the envy of some local economic development officials. One firm, Treetop, even put her request in the company's newsletter.

"What a wonderful email and excellent suggestion," Treetop's Corporate Communications Manager Sharon Miracle wrote back. "It's great to learn about a young person who cares so much about her community and who enjoys our products." Miracle admittedly has a soft spot for Dayton, where she used to attend church camps when she was Chapman's age. She promised to pass along the girl's suggestion to Treetop's president for future consideration. Neither Treetop nor any of the other corporations said they were in a position to set up operations here, but their care packages certainly encouraged Chapman to keep up her corporate recruitment campaign. Her mother said the email outreach was entirely her daughter's idea, and she only edits and proofreads the letters somewhat before they go out the door.

Jennie Dickinson, director of the Port of Columbi,a whose goal it is to bring new jobs to the county, said Chapman's effort is well-timed and uplifting. As Dayton's economy faces the possible closure of Bluewood and uncertainty about the start of construction of the Lower Snake River Wind Energy Project, Chapman's letters are a welcome boost to morale.

She did point out, however, that the old Seneca plant she once helped market among food processors is no longer available for lease. The good news is that Seneca itself is using it again for its seed processing and storage operation. When Seneca halted its asparagus processing activities in Dayton in 2004, it kept about 12 employees on the payroll for its proprietary seeds business. Although it did want to lease about 30,000 square feet of processing and 80,000 square feet of warehousing space through the port two years ago, it has since begun to fill up that space with everything from peas and beans to pumpkin and sunflowerseeds.

Last year, Seneca acquired another seed company, and now the workforce is back up to about 30, compared to the 48 jobs it had at its asparagus operation.

But as Chapman's letter to Nintendo implies, it's all about getting her beloved manufacturers to create new jobs in Dayton regardless of the building they choose. Coming from such an articulate 11-year-old, the letters were a big lift to Dickinson, who feels Chapman makes an excellent ambassador for Dayton and will undoubtedly be a community leader some day. "I was totally impressed by her letter," she said. "It's unique for a child to think that broadly. Maybe I need to make Ally part of our comprehensive marketing strategy for the Blue Mountain Station. Some of the companies she has written make sense for my project. I have a leads list I can feed her." Dickinson's comment is a reference to the light manufacturing park for organic food processors the port plans to launch next year.

Thus far, the port director said, Chapman has had a better response to her emails than the port has had to some of its letter-writing campaigns. "I can't tell you how many times I've written companies and gotten nothing," she said. "Maybe we need an 11-year-old on our staff."