POLSON — What do you love about Polson? How do you want to see the community develop in the 21st century?

Polson residents Darlis and Daniel Smith want to hear your answers to both those questions and more. Last year, the couple founded the Polson Heart and Soul Project, and are aiming to implement change from the bottom up with the backing of a $100,000 two-year grant from the non-profit Orton Foundation. As its name suggests, its mission is to engage with the public in order to discover the “heart and soul” of Polson by identifying “commonly held concerns, values and aspirations,” according to a press release.

POLSON — What do you love about Polson? How do you want to see the community develop in the 21st century?

Polson residents Darlis and Daniel Smith want to hear your answers to both those questions and more. Last year, the couple founded the Polson Heart and Soul Project, and are aiming to implement change from the bottom up with the backing of a $100,000 two-year grant from the non-profit Orton Foundation. As its name suggests, its mission is to engage with the public in order to discover the “heart and soul” of Polson by identifying “commonly held concerns, values and aspirations,” according to a press release.

Darlis and Daniel are striving for balanced community involvement and are intent on reaching out to all of the area’s residents — “not just the usual suspects,” says Daniel.

The Orton Foundation was established in 1995 by Lyman Orton, a store owner from Weston, Vt. Orton, who had served on Weston’s town planning commission, was conflicted by the unfortunate tendency of his hometown and other similar municipalities to compromise their rural, small-town charm in the name of short-sighted economic development.

Based on his own experiences, Orton wanted to find a way to actively help other small towns preserve their unique character while promoting healthy growth that is consistent with the town’s long-term vision for development.

The Foundation awards grants to help small towns in just two parts of the country — New England and northern Rocky Mountain states. Polson was one of just five towns to earn a grant from the society.

When asked about the public’s reception of the project, both Darlis and Daniel expressed that they have been impressed by the robust show of support from the community. Though the Orton Foundation has been perceived as meddlesome outsiders to a few area residents, Daniel says that the “vocal minority [is] actually from outside of the community.”

They also made it clear that Heart and Soul retains independence from the Orton Foundation throughout the decision-making process.

“Orton is so hands-off,” said Fran Stoddard, the Foundation’s Communications Specialist.

The Orton Foundation simply seeks to “provide people with a voice and a process,” for bettering their hometown, says Marjo Curgus, the Foundation’s Associate Director of Programs.

They supply the “funds and tools for us to start our projects,” says Daniel. “[We’re responsible for getting] people excited about participating.”

Trying to gauge what is right for the community, Heart and Soul is reaching out to identify what projects most local citizens want to see undertaken in the future. Numerous events have been held to find out what city residents value most, which Heart and Soul has been doing by asking residents a simple question — “why do you love Polson?”

The diverse answers that they get from the prompt indicate that Polson is meaningful to a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons.

While Darlis and Daniel are optimistic for Polson’s future, at the same time, they are cognizant of the fact that “there are still so many things in the community where you see great need,” Darlis says. “We’re trying to move the needle on some of those important issues.”

“People feel like it’s a fractured community. We’re excited about moving through that,” Daniel added.

Heart and Soul is enthusiastically welcoming volunteers to help with the project. Whether you want to volunteer your time, let your voice be heard, or simply find out more information, feel free to visit the GPCF website, or stop by the Heart and Soul office in the eastern half of the North Lake County Public Library building in Polson.