(Past and present *cino staffers during a spring break service-learning program in March. Left to right: Deborah Haak, Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma, Elizabeth Brouwer, Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma, Jordan Skinner, Jay Howard, Kyle Luck.) In the midst of our often chaotic lives, we must remember to be joyful ("though we have considered all the facts"). *culture is not optional has been...
In June 2009, after an unbelievable $25,000-in-40-days fundraising campaign, *culture is not optional (*cino) purchased Huss School on land contract. The contract stipulated a balloon payment of almost $50,000 in June 2013, after four years of monthly mortgage payments. In December 2012, we launched a Brick Campaign to raise $100,000: $50,000 to pay the balloon...
This past weekend, we hosted our fourth Underground Supper Club to enjoy fresh, local food with a group of friends and raise money for the Brick Campaign. Our menu this time had an Asian theme, with coconut soup (thom kha) and spring rolls for appetizers, vegetable fried rice or chicken pad thai for an entree...
Are you ready for this? We can hardly believe it, but we are thrilled to announce: we’ve not only met our $3,000 match challenge, but we’ve officially reached our $50,000 goal before June 15! What does this mean? Lots of things! We’ve made it halfway to our overall $100,000 Brick Campaign goal. Next week, we’ll sign the paperwork to...
So much of what you've been hearing from us over the past few months has been related to our current Brick Campaign, which is an effort to raise money to secure *cino's ownership of the Huss property and begin infrastructure improvements so we can host fun, creative programming year round. We still need all the...
We've posted and sent out a lot of material already today, but we just couldn’t wait to share this thrilling news with you: we have another match! Another anonymous donor has just offered to match Brick Campaign donations up to a total of $3,000, which would launch us right over our $50,000 goal! This means...
As of this morning, we've raised $44,400 together toward our Brick Campaign goal of $50,000 by June 15. Here's a quick rundown of some interesting numbers from the campaign so far: 149 donors have purchased bricks 110 donors have contributed $200 or less 9 donors have contributed $1,000 or more 48 donors are from Three Rivers 87 donors are from...
Now through June 15, Chad Morgan-Sterenberg is offering a set of songs for sale in support of the Huss Project; if you purchase the album "Lundgren Tree Farm," you'll also receive a bonus track when you download! Read on to learn more about how this collection of music is connected to the project and hear...
One of the important values of the Huss Project is creating space for all people to contribute what they are able, in the belief that we all have something to give. For some of us, we have gifts of time or creativity. Others have the ability to give money or encouragement. We know that $100 is...
We only need $8,100 more to reach our goal! When we sent out our S.O.S. report on the Huss Project Brick Campaign on May 3, we were stuck at $29,300, which was a whopping $20,700 short of what we need to pay the balloon payment on our mortgage on June 15. Since then, we’ve been...
Re-posted from the *culture is not optional web site. Thanks to the amazing generosity of supporters near and far, we are less than $10,000 away from our big $50,000 goal with just under one month left until June 15 when our mortgage is due. We know we still have a lot of work ahead of us,...
Earlier in the day, the weather turned cold, gray and windy -- not a surprise for May in the Midwest. But by 7:00 pm, the sun was shining, the grills were hot and the guests were arriving in anticipation of our third Underground Supper Club, this one at the Apple Farm Community in Three Rivers. It...
