Thanks to all of those who helped out with the flood relief. We apologize for any miscommunication and realize that when nature strikes, things probably won’t work out how you planned. That said, we will be sure that it doesn’t rain for Project.3.

So, as we stated before, Project.3, BigWhiteHouse is ready to go down on July 12 for our rescheduled date. Please be sure to hit up the registration page and be a part of this event. Plenty of work to go around, as well as delicious grillin’ and community buildin’.

Hope to see you July 12 for either the morning or afternoon crew.

Due to the road closures around the area - we’re going to urge you to work wherever is safe, close, and convenient for you. Several options to check: www.press-citizen.com, www.kcrg.com, www.coralville.org, or call Stan at 530.4076 or Luke at 331.7860 to see where we’re at as well.  Be safe!

If you want to know where you can chip in this weekend, there are certainly places that need urgent help right now. Iowa City is already setting up a Volunteer Coordination Center. We as {reclaiming roots} have been asked to form a core volunteer group to be sent out to critical areas to help. Iowa City is providing busses to transfer any and all volunteers – let’s do our part to help pack them full!
 
Plan
1. Meet:
a. The primary plan is to still meet at the Laverman’s house (24 Highland Drive, IC), at 8.30am (NOTE, THIS IS EARLIER THAN PREVIOUSLY PLANNED). Stan’s cell is 530-4076.
b. The secondary plan: Officials are asking that residents be prudent in their traveling around the city.  IF east side residents cannot cross the river tomorrow, or shouldn’t cross - then east side residents will meet at Regina School (2150 Rochester Avenue, IC) at 8.30am.  I will be on the east side, and my cell is 331-7860. West side residents will still meet at the Lavermans. Both locations will have a bus to transfer volunteers.
2. Childcare:
If you need childcare, it will still be provided at the Laverman house until noon.
 
3. Coffee/Pastries:
We’ll try! If we have the “secondary plan” - no promises! 
 
Please call with questions - and sign-up on the website so we know to wait for you…. www.reclaimingroots.org. We’ll try to check email as well, but internet access has been intermittent.
 
Please help out somewhere that needs urgent assistance, and ask your friends to do the same! Every hour of help counts.
 
Be safe,
Luke

As you know, there is an urgent need in our community for volunteers to help sandbag and support areas that are already flooding and areas in which flooding is imminent. The water level is not expected to peak until early next week, so we have decided to change the focus of our {reclaiming roots} project this weekend to help with those efforts. We are rescheduling project.3 BigWhiteHouse for Saturday, July 12. So, please change this date, and re-check your calendar!

As for this weekend, here’s the new very loose and impromptu plan:

WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, June 14, 8.30 a.m….meet at Stan & Melanie Laverman’s house (24 Highland Drive, Iowa City)
WHAT: Indulge in pastries and coffee
THEN WHAT?!: Carpool and head out to help sandbag/whatever work is necessary. We’ll work until noon (or later if you choose!). Childcare will be provided at the Laverman house until noon.
GOAL: We’ll still come together for the cause of others, and have a good time doing it!
TOOLS: Gloves, shovels, waterproof boots?
SIGN UP: If you want fresh-roasted coffee and freshly baked pastries, we need to know you’re coming, so please sign up by clicking here. (If you have already signed up, we will plan on you–so please let us know if you can’t make it.)

If you decide to go pitch in someplace by yourself, that’s great! If you want to work with your {roots} friends, then c’mon over. We also know that many of you have been sandbagging all week and may need this day to be with your family…that’s great, too. Regardless, thank you for helping your neighbors…this week, and as the flooding continues.

Stay tuned to this site for any future changes - we’ll post anything else by Friday evening.

Just wanted to share our sponsors with you all. As of this weekend these are the businesses/organizations that are in support of Project.3, BigWhiteHouse:

Cafe Del Sol Roasting
Infinity Skin Care & Spa
Genesis Church
Hy-Vee

So feel free to give them a visit if anything to say thanks. Their support is vital to the {reclaiming roots} projects.

Happy spring!

Maybe it’s here to stay?! Regardless, it’s time to start planning for some community events – and hopefully summer will give us warmer weather to work in! So, we hope you can join {reclaiming roots} in reclaiming areas of our community again this summer.

Revisit the Vision

If you helped us last summer, or if this is your first time to receive an email like this – we want to revisit our vision. We believe that our entire community wins when people come together for the good of others. As areas of our community need rebuilt and reclaimed, we have the opportunity to form relationships within the community as we live the mindset of helping our neighbors. And in that, community happens and communities thrive!

June 14, 2008: Project.3 BigWhiteHouse

The first project of the summer is in Coralville! There is a turn-of-the-century home that sits on several acres of land, immediately north of the interstate as 12^th Avenue crosses over. This house has been family owned for decades, and has sat empty for over 30 years … kept up by a caretaker. The owner passed away four years ago and the daughters wished that this land, and their childhood home, could be re-integrated into the community. Last year, a local church bought the property. The vision for this beautiful old home was to restore it to use. Use for the church and just as intentionally - use for the community as a Community Center…. a donations-only tea house and coffee bar with wireless internet. A place where anybody can come to play their guitar… or come to work in a meeting room…. or come to study in the library, or to talk, or to receive counseling. A place where everyone is welcome.

{reclaiming roots} is helping bring the community together, for the benefit of this neighborhood. This house will offer common grounds for the community – but it needs reclaimed! And so the first project evolves….

Date: June 14, 2008

Location: 1246 12th Avenue, Coralville [click for Google Map]

Times: 9am-12pm (need 30 volunteers)

1pm-4pm (need 30 volunteers)

Project: scraping paint

yard work

tree work

piling brush

mulching trees/gardens

Tools needed:

bring gloves!

paint scrapers

ladders

chainsaws

tarps

shovels

rakes

wheelbarrows

Provided for volunteers:

a.m. crew….. Café del Sol coffee/pastries/snacks

both crews… lunch

p.m. crew…. drinks/snacks

Vision: This house will be on its way to being re-integrated into this community, and you’ll meet new neighbors and form new friendships! Whether you’re from Coralville or elsewhere in the greater Iowa City area – let’s help this neighborhood reclaim a beautiful landmark.

Sponsors: If you have a desire to help support this cause financially, or in-kind with materials, please email luke@reclaimingroots.org. Thank you!

SIGN UP! If you want to volunteer, click here to register.. If you have any trouble, please email chris@reclaimingroots.org

Questions? Email stan@reclaimingroots.org about the project, signing up, or any further details. Visit the website www.reclaimingroots.org for ongoing updates.

Future Projects: Summer/Fall 2008

We’re working on the details of two future projects in both west side Iowa City, and south side Iowa City – later this summer and fall. We’ll keep you posted! Thank you for your support in your community

Thanks to all of our volunteers and hard work, {reclaiming roots} has won a 2007 Radish Award from Radish Magazine. Please either check out the article here or pick up the newest print of Radish Magazine.

Thank you to all our sponsors and volunteers for your support. We hope you will continue to join us in reclaiming building our communities!

THANK YOU! We appreciate every person who came together a couple of weekends ago, for the cause of helping the Grant Wood community. We hoped that this day would help form and deepen relationships between neighbors…. whether you’re a Grant Wood neighbor, or a neighbor from another part of the community - we’re all better off when “community happens”! We hope that these relationships continue, and we hope that a culture of “reclaiming roots” and helping others continues to grow… every day, not just on project days!

In total, 31 families were helped by 61 volunteers. 20 houses used the Hazardous Waste Trailer. Awesome! Thank you for your support.

Many thanks as well to every group who supported this day by helping plan, facilitate, or with financial support:

Grant Wood Neighborhood Association and Christine Harms
City of Iowa City Housing Authority
City of Iowa City Solid Waste Dept
Iowa Association of Realtors
MidAmerican Energy
Iowa Utilities Board
University of Iowa students and faculty
Infinity skin care and spa
Cafe del Sol Coffee Roasting
HyVee

We would also like to hear ANY feedback on how future events could be run more smoothly. We had a few snags in communication during the project, but hopefully the greater good was still accomplished. So, please pass back any thoughts, feedback, or general feelings of the overall day!

You can also check out pictures from the day!

We also hope you’ll be interested in supporting other areas of the community in the future, and continue to come together for the cause of others. We’ll keep you posted on next year’s events!

There has been 1 change to the weekend project: we are canceling the afternoon shift. Nearly all of the volunteers and Grant Wood neighbors preferred the morning, so we’re going to channel our energy and efforts into the 9am-12pm shift.

Meet at the Grant Wood Elementary School:
1930 Lakeside Drive, Iowa City
(Directions: from Hwy 6, go south on Sycamore Street, then left (east) on Lakeside Drive)

Schedule – Rain or Shine!
8.30 sign-in
9-12 work, play, and help others!
12 lunch provided for the volunteers and homeowners

Please remember to bring your lawn tools, dress accordingly for outside work and likely moderate weather (will it rain?! Lets hope not!), and bring any friends! If you’re a neighbor in the Grant Wood neighborhood, please email stan@reclaimingroots.org to sign up your house. If you’re a volunteer that needs to sign-up, please hit the “project.2″ on the side bar. Then follow registration links to the “morning” link and do so there. See you Saturday!

The registration for the Grant Wood Community Project is now open. We will now have only a morning crew, separated into many teams, so we can blanket this community.

Click here to register for the morning.

Click here to register for the afternoon.

Please stay tuned to the website for more project details as they unfold. Things are really starting to roll on this project!