project680.org

Aon is an international company and they have an office located in Sacramento. They approched Project 680 a couple of months ago to discuss partnering with us for their “United Day” where they do outreach in the community. This morning they invited us out for breakfast and to pick up some fantastic health kit bags for local homeless students. These bags will be directed to families within the Folsom Cordova School District through partnership with the District Liaison for Homeless Services. These hygiene / health kits are very relevant and they will promote health among local families in need.

Thank you Aon and Marie & Bonnie for their hard work putting this effort together. See Aon’s website at www.aon.com for details on their company.  Aon employees have been a remarkable example of doing something very practical to meet some basic needs among local homeless students. Bravo!!!

Great work everyone!!!

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You’ve probably heard the great news by now that the city of Rancho Cordova was designated last Friday as an “All-America City” by the National Civic League. Project 680 was a part of the delegation from Rancho Cordova to make the trek to Kansas City and we are very proud to have played a role in Rancho Cordova’s selection as an “All-America City”.

Below is a video of Charlene Hunt in Kansas City. You can watch six other videos here too. Thank you everyone for your support. This award is the result of a profound community effort. Thank YOU for making a difference.

You can see our team’s presentation here, some of Andy Gee’s photos here, several videos I shot here, and follow the #allamericacity twitter stream too.

NOTE: Project 680 supports homeless students in both Rancho Cordova and Folsom. We advocate for kids throughout the FCUSD.

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From Ryan: As you may know, I’ll be heading to Kansas City next week as a part of delegation from the city of Rancho Cordova for the All-America City Awards. I wanted to invite you to follow this exciting journey next Wednesday through Friday through videos, Facebook & Twitter. Technology is going to help us connect!!! It should be great fun. Watch the video below or here.

I’ll be posting from Kansas City mainly from my Twitter account @SacAppraiser and I’ll be getting some videos up at www.facebook.com/Project680 (directly on my YouTube page at www.youtube.com/lundquistco). The official hash-tag on Twitter is #AllAmericaCity (note it is not “American”, but “America”). I’d love to hear from you during my stint in Kansas City. Your support will be a huge encouragement.

We are a team in Project 680, and it’s a real honor to represent the team in Kansas City next week. Go Rancho Cordova!!!!

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It’s come down to the last few days of the sock drive and we’re getting ready to celebrate in style as we do a community bike ride THIS Saturday (May 8, 2010). Thank you everyone for your support thus far. We sincerely appreciate involvement from local residents, churches, businesses, City Hall in Rancho Cordova, and organizations.

If you are available for last-minute involvement, let us know right away. We could use a few people to wrap up some loose ends for Saturday’s bike ride, and we could use many people to get last-minute word out to friends, co-workers, family, church members, etc… If you are looking for links to share, you might consider our website page (sock drive page), Facebook event sign-up for bike ride, or our Facebook Fan Page.

Thank so much for your support. Together we ARE making a difference. Nobody is getting paid here. We are all volunteers. We are all advocates for local homeless students. Isn’t it awesome to respond as a community to some of the felt needs of local kids?

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A story about Project 680 just aired on the news, and we wanted to welcome anyone who followed the KCRA story to our website. Please have a look around and let us know what you think. You can find information about the sock drive and community bike ride HERE, volunteering HERE, and any drop-off locations HERE.

Our main purpose as a volunteer community team is to advocate for local homeless students in relevant and practical ways. Let us know if you have any questions or creative ideas for getting involved. We’d love to hear from you too, whether by email (info@project680.org), phone (916-595-3735), Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks for visiting. We’re glad you’re here.

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You may have woken up this morning and thought, “wow, it sure is a beautiful day to download the Project 680 Sock Drive / Bike Ride flier”. But even if you didn’t arise and think such thoughts, we figured it’d be handy to post the flier anyway.

DOWNLOAD an Sock Drive / Bike Ride Flier HERE (pdf)

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I’m not a big fan of bumper stickers. I just don’t believe neat little word compilations stuck to the back of our cars really sum up life or serve as platforms to live by most of the time. However, I’ll admit I’ve been thinking about a little bumper nugget lately.

The statement “If not you, then who?” has been whirling through my mind, and it won’t leave me alone. I’m struck by the responsibility and joy of choosing to be a part of solving problems in the community, and I’m sincerely sobered at the reality that I can impact lives by the choices I make – by simply being available to listen to what is going on around me and then responding in practical ways. On the other hand, it’s sobering to think that nobody can live out a vision for me – that’s up to me. And if I don’t put my hand to the plow, there’s no guarantee that someone else will.

If not me, then who? I guess I don’t want to wait around to see who may or may not pick up the ball for me. There are certain things in life that we just need to do. There is a sense of “right time right place”, and so our busy schedules are pushed to the side or adapted as they need to be, and somehow we find energy and even enthusiasm to help an idea blossom.

I wanted to share this as an encouragemnt to continue to dream big, uncover vision, listen to the needs in our community, and find very practical ways to give feet to the desires that are brewing inside of you. This isn’t even about Project 680 per se, though I see a multitude of locals who are becoming captured by a vision to do something about student homelessness.  This is more about just responding to what you need to respond to and finding ways to actualize your dreams.

If you’ve been flirting with an idea for the community for a while, how about considering what it might look like in coming months to give it a real run for the money. What are your dreams, and how you can begin to carry them out? If not you, then who?

Go for it!!! 

Ryan

p.s. No offense to anyone who loves bumper stickers. More power to you. 

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We are very excited about having two different bike rides on the same day of our community ride. Why are we doing this? We want this event to cater to people who have not ridden in many years (and are able to ride 20 minutes one way, eat a sack lunch, and then ride 20 minutes back), and we also want to attract more avid riders who can knock out 30 miles. Last time we did a community bike ride it was very successful, but we quickly learned that the short ride was way too short – especially for the avid biker crowd.

We will meet at 2197 Chase Drive in Rancho Cordova between 9:30-10:00am on May 8, 2010. We are meeting in the free parking lot next to Cordova High School (you do not have to pay for parking). The short ride will be about 20 minutes or so from Hagan Park to River Bend Park (formerly Goethe Park – just before the big bridge). The longer ride will go from Hagan Park to Bicycle’s Plus in Folsom at 705 Gold Lake Drive Folsom, CA 95630 (this bike shop is roughly 15 miles from Hagan Park and is located immediately off of the bike trail). 

See www.project680.org/biking-for-socks for more information.

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We are looking for about a dozen locations to be a “drop-off” for the Project 680 Sock Drive (“Biking for Socks”). Between now and the end of our sock drive on May 8, 2010 we’d love to see households, businesses and churches serve as locations where people in the community can drop off donations of new socks. If you’re interested, please contact us at 916-595-3735 or on the form below (please include your address).

We are planning to begin posting drop-off locations on our website next week, so let us know soon. Also, we’ve found that the best results usually occur at your location when you let friends, neighbors and co-workers know that you are serving as a drop-off place.

Thank you for your support.

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We are very excited about our upcoming “Biking for Socks” event on May 8, 2010. We are doing a community bike ride in order to accomplish three things: 1) Bring awareness to the problem of student homelessness in the FCUSD; 2) Collect socks for homeless kids in the FCUSD; and 3) Gather up a few bucks to be able to give to the District Liaison for Homeless Services so she can meet the needs of students on an “as needed” basis – meaning that when the neediest of students come to her, she can simply take care of some of the things they need – whether clothing, deodarant, shoes, study materials, etc….

There will be two bike rides – a short 20 minute ride (one way) and then a more experienced 30 mile ride. Anyone can participate. You can sign up below or on Facebook. Beyond the bike ride, there will be other ways to get involved (in case you are not a bike person). We invite you to consider some of the following. Or let us know an idea you have.

• Become a “drop off” location for socks. We’d like to see about a dozen locations in the community where socks can be collected and/or dropped off between now and the bike ride. We’ll keep a list online as volunteers step forward.
• Get a “Bike Team” togther. Maybe you could gather some friends, co-workers or people at your church to come out to the ride. If you are a business, then wear company shirts or get really creative somehow if you’d like.
• Help make signs and set out signage on the day of the bike ride (so that riders know where to stop).
• Work with Starbucks or another local coffee shop to get coffee provided for the morning of the ride. It would be great to have some bagles or OJ too.
• Volunteer at the sign-in table on the morning of the ride.
• Take photos or video on the day of the ride.
• Be a business sponsor.
• Pass on the word about this community emphasis on Facebook, Twitter, Email, YouTube or however you can. The more people that know, the better.
• Help get some media exposure for the event. Got media contacts?
• Other logistics.
• Maybe you have another creative idea or way to advocate for local homeless students. We are open ears and we’d love to see your creativity in motion.

Please comment on this post, email us, sign up on Facebook or fill in the form below to let us know how you’d like to get involved or if you have any questions or ideas. We’ll update the categories above as people volunteer so that you know what is available. Thank you so much.

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We wanted to give a very quick update to let everyone know that on May 8, 2010 we will be doing a community bike ride. This is the day before Mother’s Day at 10am. We’ll have two rides – a short beginner ride and a 30 mile ride (Rancho Cordova to Folsom and back is 30 miles). We’re going to have a blast and we’ll be collecting socks and doing some other cool things as a part of this ride. More details will come very soon. Are you getting excited?

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Next Wednesday, February 17, 2010, we will have a Project 680 brainstorming session at Starbucks in Rancho Cordova (off of Olson Drive & Zinfandel – across from Target). We’ll hash out some details for an upcoming “Riding for Leaders” emphasis. Our big idea is to do a community bike ride fundraiser at some point within the next few months to empower a couple local kids to attend a leadership camp. The idea of giving life and leadership tools to deserving students (who show promise), is really thrilling. If you have any resources that would be a benefit, we are open ears.

All are welcome, but if you can, let us know you’re coming so we can plan best. We’ll meet for 60-90 minutes. Thanks everyone!!!

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We wanted everyone to know that next month we will begin opening up conversation about our project for the Spring. Let’s be in converation and put our creative minds and hearts together to make a difference in the lives of local students in need. Click play below to hear more.

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