Hey guys, hello from West Virginia. I got an email from Mr. Fisher of the Greenway after you all left on Friday and we need to have a response for him very soon. Here's the deal: the Greenway Board has essentially given the go-ahead for a Memorial Garden near CHS. However, we have to propose a plan to him within the week. I will be gone at the end of the week, so this has to be fast. The bench that we will have to use (if we want a bench, which I think we do) is $1000. I just got my DC debt paid for on Friday with the jeans day ($1000 raised in a month or two, thank you very much). So, I am ready to acrue another debt as long as you all agree to be my partners in fundraising. What I need from you is responses (preferably on the blog, though we will discuss it on Monday in class) in three areas.
Number one, are we positive this is something we want to do? If we do it, it has to be done well. Are we all in agreement to put in whatever it takes?
Secondly, what exactly do we want our "garden" to contain? Landscaping? I know that Elizabeth had a plan for that. The bench, I suppose. A plaque? Some of your stepping stones? The answer to this question will give us a budget, which we will need to answer the following question.
Finally, the fundraising issue... how much do we need? How are we going to get it? How soon do we need it? What connections do we have? Do we want to ask for business donations (by "we" here, I mean "you")? Do we want to try to sell something (I am almost over selling, quite frankly)? Is there a place where we could do a bake sale (a sports game, something?)? Are any of our spring teams willing to work with us at all (Robby, Adam, Scott, all of you track people)? I have pretty much exhausted all of my resources for the DC trip. The people I know are tired of seeing me coming. It is going to fall on you all. I know at one point we had mentioned a Memory Walk. Would that be an option for having people sponsor you and the proceeds go toward the garden? Or did we want that money to be used to HELP some cause, in tribute to the memory of the Holocaust?
I need some answers, people. I'll be working on a plan based on your responses to this blog during the five hour car ride tomorrow. So give me something to work with, okay? Yall are great, thank you!
Hey Kieley, sorry no graphics. I am on a borrowed computer. :(
Lit Terms 2
6 years ago
14 comments:
Hey Mrs. Davis and all my peoples!
I'm all in on this project. I'm 100% in agreement to do this.
The "garden" should, or could, contain:
Flowers, Tree(s), other plants (of course...haha) Certain types of colors to represent "moods", if you will. Like Yellow, Red, Blue, Purple, etc, etc, etc. A Japanese Maple would look great in the garden but they can be really expensive.
We know someone who grows a ton of trees and plants and stuff like that for his hobby. He sells them cheaper than places like Bryants Garden Center...but they are much smaller. (Reason for the cheaper price)
I like Elizabeth's plan for the garden. If I recall correctly she had it planned out in the shape of the Star of David. I loved that.
We could plant yellow flowers of some sort to form the Star of David. That would be cool.
I think we should put a plaque in the memorial. Doesn't have to be huge but I do think we should put one in the memorial.
We could, yes I know this is going to be expensive but it's just an idea, build a small brick wall and have it curved a little on the sides and put the plaque on there. Sort of like the "Wall" at Auschwitz. (Where they place flowers...I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about, if not my bad)
*Also we need to take in consideration on these things...
Labor (Yes we will ALL have to do this of course)
Will we be digging big areas?
Walking path of some sort
Lighting
When it rains will this area flood?
Well $1,000 for the bench would be worth it. I know it's a lot of money but I mean if we are going to do this why not make it look really nice?
Yes I think the stepping stones would be very nice out there. Then again, wouldn't the paint on the stones wash off?
Ok fundraising is the biggy. I estimate we need a couple thousand dollars. How soon? Depends on when we want to start.
Connections...Let's see, ummm...I'll ask my dad to see if his work will donate anything. We could ask M & M Mars???
Bake sale would be cool but would we make any profit out of it?
The Memory Walk proceeds could go towards the "garden". Then again, I love the idea of donating the money to some cause. Or the proceeds could go to both, split it up. If we were to donate to a cause I think it should either be the United States Holocaust Memorial or the one in Israel.
If I think of anything else I'll let you guys know.
Have a great weekend!
-Josh
The greenway idea was one of my favorites from the get-go and am completely for it--for whatever we want to do there, whether it be flowers or stepping stones or our CLOCKS (as long as it doesn't contain mine--because it's depresssing).
As far as fundraising goes, I think we (us) should ask for business donations. I'm extremely annoyed with selling jewelry, chocolate, candle-smell goodies, and it's much easier and much more professional to simply ask companies in the area. Plus we can make calls during class, how fun is that?!
Im all for the greenway idea and the garden and bench thing. As for the money and all that im not to great at makin money so im not the one to look towards but i have to disagree on gage's idea of asking for business donations. i can almost guarantee it wouldnt work just because most wont give squat unless theres something in it for them.
Now with the plaque idea, dont each of the benches allow for wording on the side? that might work right?
Hey Mrs. Davis and Class,
I am definitely all for this idea of making a garden! I like the idea because the greenway is a popular place and our community and what better place to put a memorial garden than a place where lots of people will see! I think it would be a great addition to Cleveland.
About the garden: I don't know too much about flowers but def. we should have flowers that bloom every year. The bench would be great. It would be nice to have some plaques or some sort of set of signs or guide so that people could take a minute, be educated, and reflect on the Holocaust. My question is: Where exactly on the Greenway can we put the garden?
For fundraising, I know it is going to take a lot to raise the $, but I'm in! I'd love to make calls to businesses to ask for support. I have some possible connections to DQ-Grill/Chill and Domino's Pizza. I REALLY liked the idea of a memory walk. I could work on getting food donated for the day if we did something like that. I think it would be good if the half the $ went towards the garden and the other half toward a cause.
I agree with Gage that selling stuff out of catalogs is kind of tacky and we could get more from businesses.
I have one idea for a fundraiser that is different and could potentially raise a lot of money...We could ask Smoothie King if they would be willing to donate 12 oz. Smoothies that we could sell during lunches at school. Let's say we advertised that on a Friday we would be selling smoothies for $2 each and sold 150 smoothies in 1 day...that would be $300! Even if Smoothie King wasn't interested we would sell some other donated novelty food or drink. :) Just an idea...
I must say I am SO stoked about this project. I am so in!
Whatever it takes,
Kieley
Another idea just came to me: We could invite the Cleveland Daily Banner to our class to write an article about our project. This would be a great way to get the word out and we could give contact information in the article in case anyone from Cleveland wants to donate. :)
I really like everyone's ideas!
Responses to everyone...
Gage: What's wrong with jewelry, chocolate, candle-smell goodies? One of the catalogs may have some nice earrings you could wear. :) Just kidding. Ok on a serious note I agree with you about asking businesses for a small or large donation. I don't know about calling though. I think it would be better if we actually talked with people in person. Talking to people on the phone about finacial things isn't the thing to do, in my honest opinion.
Will: It never hurts to ask. If you don't ask you'll never know. :) Plus, if they hear our voices or see our pretty little faces then then they will consider it even more.
Kieley: I believe Mrs. Davis was thinking about having the garden near the school. My guess is next to the bank? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks! :) Yeah I really like the idea of half the money to the garden and to a cause. That would be really cool!
Smoothies! Yum. Considering I've never had one of their smoothies that sounds good. :)
About the newspaper, time is key. I mean we really don't have that much time. If we were to do the newspaper thing, when would we do it? Honestly I really think that would be just awesome. Plus everyone in our community would know what's going on in this amazing class and we could get our entire community involved in this project.
Mrs. Davis...Sounds like a PLAN. What do you think? Yay? Nay? Maybe?
-Josh
I really want to do the garden as a memorial. I agree, a bake sale would be a good way to raise money. Also, the smoothie king idea was great too. Asking for donations is a good idea. I think donations is how we should obtain most of the money. My design would require alot of flowers for the star, and alot of upkeep so I am not sure it is the best idea.
The greenway garden/memorial sounds like a great idea to me. I am willing to help out with whatever's needed, and both of my parents own businesses, so that's a bonus for fundraising already. Donations from businesses would probably be the best way to rake in the most cash. As for the design, I'm not exactly artistic, but I may be able to come up with a few ideas, you never know. The bench definetly should be involved, we can come up with the money. I also think a sponsored walk would be a cool idea, if we can find the time for it. Peace.
Well I am going to say what everyone else has said, I really want to do this. I think that for our 'garden' we should have the bench, a plaque somewhere near or around the bench and have the stepping stones lead up to the bench, so people could look at them as they sit on it. Well on the fundraising side, we already got the jean day, as kieley so talently persuaded Mr. Rockhold today in class. But i agree with gage in making phone calls to business and whoever said to get the banner in to do a article on our class, thats a pretty good idea. Sounds like this thing is gonna be on a roll soon..
I'm hearing what you all are saying, but time is running out. We need to see some action the end of this week and first part of next and I won't be here. I do have quite a few Beta club members who are committed to helping us out now. Every little bit helps, right?
we worked really hard on all the planning on friday. we researched different types of flowers we want to use and got the OK on a free dress day from mr. rockholt. hopefully you'll be proud of us when you come back... :D
So, Allison, does that mean you all didn't work hard today? :) Just kidding. I knew when I left the information that you all would not disappoint. I am always very proud of your class (99.9% of the time, at least). I wish you ALL could have been with us this week in DC. The USHMM was amazingly powerful, as always. I do encourage all of you to go when you get a chance.
give me your freakin email. geez. :) I'm a rockstar in Nashville now sorry i've been too busy to say hello.. jk. not really. but i'm trying. my English professor doesn't take any crap and she's got a masters from Washington D.C. I think she likes me though i've gotten decent grades thus far.
For Brock:
adavis@clevelandschools.org
I bet you have been busy. I just hope it is busy doing good things. And I bet her Master's from DC is no better than mine from UTC! :) You are getting good grades because you are smart and you had excellent English teachers (especially your sophomore and senior years!!!). Email me!
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