Grant Applications and Deadlines

First grant has been applied for. Second and third on Monday. Wooo.

Met with a film crew today. Also talked with a great Grinnellian Agent.

Lot's to think about with this bridge project. Will people even come out to play there? Let me know your thoughts.

Sundays are for Sunday Morning

Have been building databases and budgets for the last couple of days. I have samples of the grants out for proofing, ideas, preliminary oks to submit. And this week is for submission. The first must go out tomorrow for printing, 2 for the Feb 1, another for a couple of weeks after.

It is time to move to the grassroots fundraising and organizing a capital campaign. The press release will have a lot of information, an address for the plea for money from the GPCF, a Skunk River Sunday in California, and then an auction gala in March back in Grinnell. At this point a Skunk River Skip Day may just have to happen in early May. Everybody needs a break.

I've got the quote for the move of the bridge in hand. We still need money for the move, as well as money to fund the Scope of Work. By the time the restoration process is ready, any money that we have gathered can be utilized for matching grants. Then we have to move it back. It is a lot to ask of locals, perseverance does further.

Tuesdays are for Garlic Noodles

and printing all sorts of preliminary documents for the grant writing process. It has been several days of editing, adding images, then taking them out because you can't send that file size over most emails. Funny gmail took it.

I have to remember how to image photos now. It's something I've done a lot in the past, just need to settle down and do it.

Once the first versions of the long and short grants are finished, it will be time to make sure that all of the details are in order for each package. How many, etc. Still can't finalize the budget until I get numbers from PCI, hoping all of those pesky last 5% details can be finished in the next few days, so that I can print these packages.

Will send a copy without images, after editing, to my references for the Wall Alumni Service Award. The deadline for that is 2/17 but it only seemed fair to be able to give the references a pretty good idea about what I am doing and plan to do for the future. The FUN stuff, for sure. Never know, but you have to go through the steps, to get where you want to go. I do understand that, sometimes, I just want those steps to be handled more quickly, the two-step, if you will. All good things in all good time.

Planning to leave hear and head way south, although not as far as Mexico, I still need to get a new passport. Plan to continue my walking, acclimating to Manitou Springs has been great, I've been on a 3-week hiatus, in a relatively warm spell. Found out how to look for quartz on the hill.

More later.

databases are my forte

I've been building the budget into the funders/builders databases. Very cool. I can take the amounts, categorize them to the correct account category, tie that in with the funders requirements and go about cobbling together the funds to make this bridge restoration happen.

I've decided that Skunk River Sunday should be in the collective conciousness as a thing, so I'm going to Wikipedia soon. Anyone have a good definition. And I'm going to have a SRS in California real soon. Start spreading the fun!

Mine is

Gathering of people that takes place in a spot that none of them regulary go to, everyone brings something whether it is a dish to share, a full cooler with a variety of beverages, places to go for walks. We usually go to an 1883 bowstring arch bridge, beside the Skunk River, in the fall, when it is quiet and people can go about being people.

Manitou Springs has been good for grant writing. I have copies out for proofing, our first deadline is the 27th of January.

Grant Writing

I sent off a preliminary grant proposal to a trusted "funder" this morning. Looking forward to hearing what he has to say. It's been interesting to write the generic history, then to look at each Grant, see how it would fit. Now I am in the midst of creating a database that will make this look easy. I did this type of work for the travel industry, finetuning information for a particular recipient.

Testing it with the Wall Community Service Award. Will send that off to Kevin Crim later this week for editing. Have to email all of my references as well, to make sure that they know what I am doing, as well as what I am asking for. Tomorrow, should be my goal to get those off, it is due towards the end of the month.

The work for the bridge goes on...and it is all backed up.

Communications

I continue to spend a lot of time on the phone, talking with people. Put our engineer and contractor together today, finished preliminary grant proposal (generic version) and saw an interpretive center at Cheyenne Canyon in Colorado Springs, a city park. Very nice, just recently placed on historic register because of a small stone bridge.

Cork Peterson is set to have his company give us a design/build estimate on moving the bridge.

Larissa Mottl, Grinnell College Biology Professor and Station Manager for CONARD will serve as an expert for prairie and wetlands and is a welcome addition to our team.

Jonathan Buffalo of Meskwaki Nation will ask around for any stories about our area and suggested talking with SHPO's Cyndi McDonald regarding summer camps for Sac/Fox.

Vern Mesler, delighted that we are moving forward, thinks that talking or going to see Kitty Henderson in Austin and seeing his bridge renovation in San Antonio, also talking with Eric Deloney in Santa Fe would be a good use of my research time away from Iowa.

Mark Latsch, from Michigan to serve as engineer of record on bridge project and has been put in touch with Justin Clausen from PCI.

Steve Ruddock from FileMaker is going to give us Foundation pricing for software.

Anyone want to see the proposal, don't hestitate to call.

Happy New Year

Great news. We are filing our paperwork for N. Skunk River Greenbelt Association today. A LLC and a 501(3)(C). We are also beginning our relationship with Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation and the Ahrens Foundation.

Anybody out there read about Senator Grassley's earmark for an historical bridge in Poweshiek County? We are investigating this news and waiting for the Senator's office to call back.

In the meantime, Rick is setting up the corporate bylaws and I am starting the official grantwriting process. Have asked Dan McCain of the Wabash & Erie Canal group for his input on how he writes grants. He has done a lot of them in the last ten years.