Launch the RFHS Greenhouse! - Conference call Tues. May 26, 9am

AGENDA:
News:
Cleveland Foundation donation received, in the name of Mrs. Anne M. Jones of Chagrin Falls, OH, for $5,000. Toward the Roaring Fork High School Project.
5 Point Film Festival bake sale - $2,000. expected, plus a generous donation from the festival itself, still being determined. Major Kudos from the festival organizers and the public, on the quality, quantity and consistency of the baked goods our network of friends produced and delivered!
RE-1 School Board gave us unanimous approval to proceed with the RFHS Garden and Greenhouse Project. Now we must raise the funding to build it all, this Summer. (see below)
RFHS Greenhouse & Garden Project:
Project Goal: $85,000. to build a 42-foot dia. Growing Dome, and a 1.5-acre fenced Garden.
The most important thing we have to discuss is the long list of grant applications we must make, with lots of help from Jerome and his interns, and the fun part, gathering the community of Carbondale for one or more fundraising events this Summer, to get all the money we need to build both greenhouse and garden at the high school, before September. Jerome says the money is out there and available, and it's time to harvest it.
I propose we plan a large dinner at the Rec Center, with food from all the restaurants. The Roaring Fork HAMS Homebrewers Club is willing to brew beer for a community dinner fundraiser this Summer, a half-dozen taps of homebrewed beer in as many flavors.
DONORS: Imagine yourself at the start of the school year, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, with the honor of reading the list of donors who helped make it happen. This is the list of people we will be asking, and none of them wants to be missed when we read that list, and when it's published in the newspapers. - C.O.R.E. / Sopris Foundation / Fat City Farms donors / Sustainable Settings Ranch / Neislank Ranch / Turnbull Ranch / River Ranch HOA / Aspen Glen HOA / Churches / Carbondale Businesses / Carbondale Town Council / Carbondale Citizens /
GRANTS: Jerome and Brian have a long list of Grants that are perfect for this project, with application deadlines, and are working on them. We can work with CRMPI enormously by donating money to hire them some help, or by diving in and helping with the research, writing, printing, mailing and followup.
Summary:
The one big thing we can do to help raise money is to mobilize the community of Carbondale, and to help organize them. How can we get the word out? What do we say when someone asks, "What can I do to help?" Let's create that list, and keep it here on the blog, and expand it into our website, into the Volunteer and the Donate tabs. We should have plenty of harnesses hitched to this wagon!
Carbondale is a community where when there's a parade, no one is watching, because everyone is marching. Let's harness that energy and kick it into high gear!
Food & Cooking Classes:
It may be time to kick this idea into second gear: A marriage of Local Food Growers, Local Chefs, Realtors with fancy kitchens (and houses) for sale, and some wonderful real-time and time-lapse Video Production, for Grassroots TV and our own website. Fat City Farms is evolving into the "Community Yeast" that will mobilize Carbondale, then Aspen and Basalt, to support these school greenhouse projects. What better to be known for than connecting the dots, bringing the community together, over local food, its preparation and preservation? Each of us can help move this along by talking with Realtors and Growers about it, lining up the kitchens, the gardens, the chefs and the video-meisters, setting some dates and recording Class #1.

See you all at 9:00 am Tuesday, May 26.