project680.org

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We’ve been really busy, so it’s been hard to update the blog much. That doesn’t mean we’re not thankful though. We wanted to give a quick shout-out to Fairfield Inn & Suites in Rancho Cordova. They’ve been a huge partner this time around for the underwear drive. Not only have they been advertising the undies drive to their guests and staff, they’ve been doing a broadcast storm on their Facebook page. They even had a “biking for undies” shirt designed for their riders (we are having a community bike ride on Saturday for those who don’t know). Big thanks Fairfield Inn & Suites! Thank you for doing something about local issues.

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Hi Everyone. The underwear drive is zooming by and we only have two weeks left. It’s not too late to get involved. Let’s make one last final push to really engage our networks and collect some new underwear for homeless students. On the last day of the underwear drive we’ll be doing a community bike ride called the “Undies Ride”. Check out the video below (or here) and share on Facebook, Twitter, etc… Thanks so much for your support.

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Thank you to all of our drop-off locations so far. We really appreciate you stepping up to the plate. If anyone else is interested, speak on. We would like to see 6 or so more. The drive goes through May 19, so there is so much time to still get things rolling. In fact, since things have been a bit on the slower side to start, we would LOVE to see some more momentum build.

Drop-Off Locations:
Andelin household: 1972 Tyndrum Ln.  Folsom CA 95630
Denny’s: 2474 Sunrise Boulevard  Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
Fairfield Inn & Suites: 10745 Gold Center Dr. Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
Lewkowitz household: 9278 Louis street, elk grove ca 95624
Rancho Cordova City Hall: 2729 Prospect Park Drive Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
Williams household: 4257 Emmons Circle, Mather 95655
Zak Ford household: 4252 Mustic Way, Mather

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We are getting excited about the upcoming “Undies Ride” for homeless students in the FCUSD, and we wanted to formally invite you to come along. What is it all about? We’ll get together on Saturday May 19, 2012 at 9am to have a little community bike ride. This will be a great way to get some exercise, connect with locals and support an underwear drive for homeless students.

When? Saturday May 19, 2012 at 9am.

Where? Meet up in the free parking lot at Hagan Park (just outside of the main entrance at 2197 Chase Drive Rancho Cordova CA 95670).

Why? This is a great way to get some exercise, connect with locals and enjoy the last day of our  underwear drive for homeless students.

How Long is the Ride? We’ll have two rides available. One will be a beginner ride and the other will go from Rancho Cordova to Folsom to Bicycles Plus (26 miles total roundtrip).

Who? This is a family-friendly event and a great excuse to mingle with fellow Project 680 supporters. Maybe you could put together a team from the office, church, your neighborhood or a group of friends. This event will also be listed on the “May is Bike Month” website.

What to Bring? We’ll be collecting new underwear for our drive, so please bring some undies for students K-12 in the FCUSD (new ones only – appropriate styles). If money is really tight of course, please just show up (but maybe tell all your friends and family).Additionally, bring a bike, your friends and anything you need for riding (water, granola bars, etc…).

RSVP on our Facebook event page if you wish. Let us know if you have questions. If you’d like to volunteer to help pull this event off too, speak on. Lastly, if you have media contacts, spread the word.

Thank you for your support and advocacy. Let’s ride some bikes now!!

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We are looking for a dozen or so “drop-off” locations in the general area to serve as places where locals can drop by new underwear for the Undies Drive. These locations could be households, businesses, churches or organizations. Being a “drop-off” is a great opportunity to be available for the community and to network. Tell your contacts what you are doing so they can partner with you. We’ve found that to be one of the most important elements for finding success as a drop-off location. CLICK HERE FOR UNDERWEAR DRIVE DETAILS.

We only have a few drop-offs so far, so we really are hoping some folks step forward this week. We’d like to have 12 drop-offs by the end of the week.

Thank you.

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The Folsom Cordova Unified School District Liaison for Homeless Services has informed Project 680 of a big need for new underwear for homeless students in the FCUSD. Therefore, Project 680 will be holding an underwear drive through May 19, 2012. We are asking for NEW (not used) underwear in all sizes and appropriate styles for boys and girls in grades K-12.

Our goal is to collect 680 packages of underwear so that each student documented as “homeless” in the FCUSD will be able to basically have one week’s worth of new underwear. Ultimately, a package will consist of 5+ pairs of underwear, so we’ll be aiming to collect 3,000 pairs of new underwear. Please see our FAQ below for details and how to get involved.

We’ll also be doing an “Undies Ride” on May 19, 2012. This will be a fun community bike ride on the last day of the Underwear Drive. The goal is to come together to have one final push to collect undies and have some fun together as a team. See below for details or CLICK HERE FOR UNDERWEAR DRIVE DETAILS. 

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

1) Underwear Goal: Pick an underwear goal with your family, household, the office, church or a group of friends. Pick a number of underwear that you’d like to collect with a group of people (maybe 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100) and then go for it. There are certainly some creative options for generating donations or even raising money too. We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, so let us know if you’d like. Kids often come up with really good ideas too.

2) Be a “Drop-off” Location: We are looking for a dozen or so drop-off locations in the general area. These could be households, businesses, churches or organizations. Being a “drop-off” is a great opportunity to be available for the community and to network. Tell your contacts what you are doing so they can partner with you.

3) Come to the “Undies Ride”: Come to our community bike ride on May 19, 2012 (Saturday) at 9am. This “Undies Ride” will be the last day to get your underwear in, so drop ‘em off and bring your bike to the free parking lot at Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova (just outside of the main entrance at 2197 Chase Drive Rancho Cordova CA 95670). We’ll have two rides available. One will be a beginner ride and the other will go from Rancho Cordova to Folsom at Bicycles Plus (26 miles total round trip). This is a family-friendly event and a great excuse to get some exercise as well as mingle with fellow Project 680 supporters. Maybe you could put together a team from the office, church, your neighborhood or a group of friends.

4) Make a Video: Make a video to help tell people about the Project 680 Underwear Drive. Tell people what you’re doing, how to get involved, or put a creative idea into motion. Post the video on our Facebook page or email us about it.

5) Undies Logo: We are looking for an underwear logo. Any graphic designers out there want to help us make a stellar logo to advertise this drive? We’d like to see a couple “Project 680 supporter” graphics too so locals can put them on blogs and websites.

6) Volunteer on May 19th: We’ll need some logistical help on May 19, 2012 at our community bike ride. Let us know if you can help with things like set-up, sign-in, clean-up, collecting underwear, etc…

7) Other Ideas: We definitely welcome your creative ideas. How can we do this together? What’s in your heart? How you can use your talents, passions and abilities for the sake of the undies drive?

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We wanted to give a quick update to let you know we’ll be doing a bike ride on Saturday May 19, 2012 at 9am as a part of the upcoming Underwear Drive. We figured this would be a fun, community-centered and healthy way to raise awareness about student homelessness and gather underwear too. We’ll meet at Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova at 9am and have two rides available. One will be for beginners and the other will go from Hagan Park to Folsom (26 miles). We’ll post more details about the ride and the Underwear Drive too. Yes, this ride will be posted on the “May is Bike Month” website too. We’ve already talked with them.

Thanks for your support. Mark your calendars!!

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We wanted to give a heads-up that we plan to launch a Spring drive very soon. We have a committee meeting tomorrow to talk over the most pressing needs in the school district so we can make a decision about what to focus on.

Thoughts on Volunteering: Regarding volunteering, we are a 100% volunteer operation. If you are volunteering your time and energy to Project 680, you’re part of the family. Thank you!! As you know, we are more service-oriented and not so much event-oriented. This means usually we don’t have many large events needing big groups to pull things off. This doesn’t mean large groups cannot be involved of course, but only that our volunteering opportunities do not focus on big events usually. We encourage larger (or smaller groups) to find and invent ways to partner with us in their own unique way. For instance, if we were doing an underwear drive, we would ask the question: How would you like to be involved? We might give some ideas, but we also love to give groups space to be creative too. For instance, a large group might be able to be a drop-off location for the community, do a collection contest at the office, pull off a sporting event fundraiser or do a BBQ for the community or friends. All things considered, there is so much room for creative partnership and support and we are thrilled to see local individuals, businesses, churches and households step up to make a difference. We are open to your ideas and support.

Thank you everyone for your heart to serve homeless students and for being so intentional about being involved.

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Thank you Cordova Church of Christ in Rancho Cordova for  doing a church-wide “elfing” effort to raise over $3,000 for Project 680. The money will go toward supporting homeless students in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District to meet some of their very practical needs. This was a month-long collaborative effort embraced by so many church members. A special thank you to Aaron & Amy Redelsperger, die-hard youth leaders, amazing youth, supportive parents, and the entire church body who sincerely got behind this cause and raised big money for homeless students. You are an important part of the Project 680 family. Thank you for loving your neighbor.

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The Rancho Cordova Rotary Club donated $4,000 toward the Project 680 Shoe Drive this year. Additionally, the Inner Wheel Club in Rancho Cordova stepped up with a $400 donation too (Inner Wheel is comprised of allstar women of Rotary). We are so appreciative to have had such such support from Rotary and Inner Wheel. Along with the donations from so many others during the Foot Drive, we broke the record for the number of students invited to the Shoe Event. Thank you to Rotary President Rick Blakeman and so many Rotarians who donated money as well as volunteered hours of service to pull off a successful shoe event recently.

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A special message to Foot Drive supporters from Trish Antonetti and Charlene Hunt of the FCUSD. Please watch and hear how thankful and excited Trish & Charlene are to have your support. You made a big difference!!!

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We are elated to hear that Cordova Church of Christ is doing “elfing” again this year to help raise money for Project 680.

What is elfing you ask? From the church website, “You pay $20 and we put 20 red and green elf balloons in someone’s yard along with a sign that lets them know you are responsible for getting them elfed! How do I arrange an elfing? You can either…1. Click this link and fill out the ONLINE elf appointment form. Bring or mail the $$ to 10577 Coloma Road, Rancho Cordova CA 95670. Make checks out to Cordova Church of Christ.  Print out the HARD COPY Elf Appointment Form, fill it out, and bring it and the $$ to Aaron Redelsperger at Cordova Church of Christ. Or mail it to…10577 Coloma Road, Rancho Cordova CA 95670. Make checks out to Cordova Church of Christ.”

Last year we had no clue that teens from Cordova Church of Christ had been elfing. They simply showed up and basically said, “by the way, we raised $1,395 for Project 680 by elfing”. It was such a shocker, but an incredible one. We are so grateful for the teens, youth group leadership, Aaron & Amy, and church and community members who are getting elfed for a great cause.

Thank you. We feel so blessed.

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