The following is a letter from my daughter, Shana, that just went out. I reprint it here and urge you to support her project if you haven’t already. If you’re one of the thousands of people who read this blog and have just kind of shrugged or said, “Maybe later,” there is no more later. This would mean a lot to her and a lot to me. Please help make this happen:
Happy Friday!
If you’re reading this email it’s because you have kindly allowed yourself to be hassled about a project that is much needed in Riverside, the takeover, rebranding, and renovation of the 5 Points Theatre. Through your support and that of other residents and businesses Tim and I have raised over $46,000 on our crowdsourcing site at ulule. That’s pretty impressive, except that our goal is more than twice that and we only have a week to pull this off. As of this writing we have 142 “supporters,” and I know at least one of those is my grandma. Consider that Riverside and Avondale have what, 25,000 people and when you add Downtown, Springfield, West Jax, and Ortega you’re at 250,000. Dangit, I just don’t think that Jacksonville’s representing the way it oughta.
For the sake of our hood, please spread the word far and wide. Remind people this restoration likely will not happen if we can’t raise the funds. Let them know this ain’t a donation, you can buy two tickets and a tub of popcorn for only $25, lifetime movies or a year’s worth of onscreen ads for $1000, or have the best company Christmas party ever for a cool $10k, with lots of great incentives in between.
To break it down:
If 2000 people drop that 25 bucks we’re set. 500 people could buy a card that gets them into 10 movies and we’d be there. Or 50 people at $1000. We don’t have a second shot at this. The kind folks at Ulule gave us this rare opportunity to extend our campaign so let’s all get on the Facebook, the Tweeting, and the guilt tripping because next Friday it’s all over.
Power to the people!
Shana
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Got the letter from Shana via Ulule a short while ago. I had already increased my original (though much smaller that I wish I could afford) commitment earlier in the week so I posted to facebook via Ulule’s Promote page so my facebook friends (many of whom are cinema aficionados) have the opportunity to help as well.
Don’t know if it will help, but it can’t hurt to spread the word as far and wide as possible.
Don’t have a credit card. Is there an address where cash can be sent?
For anyone who’d prefer not to use a credit card, you can just write a check, take a photograph of it, and email it to me at shanadavid (at) gmail.com. I’ll then forward it to the nice lady managing our campaign. It’s almost preferable because we dodge the Paypal fee that way. If/when we reach the goal I’d contact you and have you drop the check in the mail, if it doesn’t happen you just rip it in pieces and that’s it.
Thanks for considering throwing down!
I live in Canada. I’ve had problems with trying to send/cash cheques to/from other countries. That’s why I’m a fan of cash. How about Western Union? If things somehow don’t work out (let’s hope this doesn’t come to pass), just hang on to it anyway. Keep it simple.
Shana,
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I don’t have a problem using a credit card, but I’ve no intention of signing up for Paypal, and that seems to be the only option, credit card-wise. If not for the fact that my camera’s currently being repaired, I’d have followed your “take a picture” of a check” suggestion instead.
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Since both those options are out, and I don’t have a direct mailing address for this project, I decided I’d do the next best thing in terms of getting the donation to you. I’ve mailed a check for $25.00 to your Dad; and he, in turn, can send the same amount on to you.
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Good luck with the restoration.
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Rick
That’s fine. Anyone who wants to send checks to me, send them to PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705, made out to Shana David. I will then add to the amount myself via my Paypal so the amount goes up and Shana and I can sort out reimbursement later provided it goes forward.
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PAD
Aha! Best solution! Will scan the check and email it tonight! Woo hoo!
Well, that was easy and painless. Come on everybody, only two days to go!
Just got the good word. Congrats!
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Daaaaammmnnnnn…
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I donated this morning like I said I would, but I really wasn’t paying a whole hëll of a lot of attention when I did so. I just went back and looked at the down to the wire totals.
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Tell them congrats for sure, but when did THAT happen?
Jerry, if possible could you donate $10 and I can pay you back directly when I see you this weekend? For some reason I keep getting kicked off at some point in the process on my piece-o-crap computer and the one at work is blocked from the site..
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Does your comment mean that at this point it’s just icing on the cake?
Apparently you put the decimal in the wrong place and instead of $40 you donated $40,000.
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Good going.
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PAD
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PS–kidding
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Do not EVER do that to me again. I almost had a freaking coronary before my brain caught up with me and reminded me that the donation option I hit wasn’t for $40.
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Bill, I think the donations are closed now and, yeah, it’s icing.
Hey, be happy I wrote the PS.
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PAD
How’d the final amount get posted? When I go to the Ulule site, I don’t see donors at the higher end.
Glad to hear they made it.
Great news that the goal was met! This is a very worthy project and it is nice to see people coming together with donations.