Dear Friends, Gay Nicholson asked me to share this invitation with you on behalf of Sustainable Tompkins:
It’s our pleasure to invite you to join us for a showcase and reception for our Neighborhood Mini-grants Program on Wednesday, March 31, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at La Tourelle Resort. We’re very proud of the many successful outcomes achieved by our awardees, and we are eager to share their stories with community leaders and supporters. Mingle in an elegant setting -- indoors, or out on the terrace with a spectacular view -- and enjoy complimentary refreshments with Sheldrake Point wines. Sit back and relax as some of our award recipients tell their intriguing stories first-hand with slide presentations. You will be impressed with the creative ways in which they’re making our community more sustainable through their own ingenuity, one project at a time. Our host, Scott Wiggins of La Tourelle, participates in a green hotel initiative and looks forward to welcoming you to this event. But seating is limited, so please RSVP to me by email: [email protected], online at http://minigrants.eventbrite.com/, or by phone: (607) 216-1552, no later than March 30th. What better way to welcome the arrival of Spring than to celebrate our local sustainability movement’s progress? The mission of Sustainable Tompkins is to help our community transition to a more sustainable and stable way of life. We often talk about the “triple bottom line” of trying to find solutions that integrate our need for a viable economy, social justice, and a healthy environment. From the beginning, we’ve also put an emphasis on a fourth, all-encompassing element: taking responsibility for our personal lifestyle choices and our civic duty. With this in mind, we started the Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program about 18 months ago. Our objective is to provide seed money for citizen-based initiatives aimed at developing greater capacity for self-reliance, leadership, and engagement on issues related to sustainable community development. We’ve been amazed by the diversity and quality of these projects, and the growing number of applications we receive as the sustainability movement spreads through our community. To date, we have supported 32 projects with $12,325 in seed funding. Mini-grants have helped several community garden projects get underway; taught immigrant teens how to sew; purchased quilt-making equipment for senior citizens; taught elementary students how to make maple syrup; provided scholarships to at-risk youth for classes on stewardship of our land and water; and funded a number of local action groups. We are honored to support their efforts, and grateful that our modest contributions are reaping such a big harvest for our community’s future. But we need your help to make the program sustainable. The Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program was started with seed money from a foundation grant, and has been augmented with donations from individuals. Each quarter we receive applications for far more than we can support. We hope you will join us on March 31 at La Tourelle to learn more about the critical role the mini-grants are filling in our journey toward sustainability. Please help us spread the word and inspire others to join us in supporting local grassroots leadership for more sustainable living. For more details, just visit our website at www.sustainabletompkins.org. We look forward to hearing from you! With best regards, Kitty Gifford Sustainable Tompkins _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
