project680.org

A quick update. After conversation with the District Liaison for Homeless Services and discussion with the Project 680 Board, we’ve decided to do a hoody drive in the Fall of 2010 for our first semester project. We’ll also be focusing on a Shoe Drive in December as we did last year, but our big community emphasis will really be to gather a certain amount of hoodies for local homeless students. Details will unfold in the next few weeks and we really want to make this something celebratory and participatory for the community. 

Thank you everyone for your support. Let’s continue to find practical ways to advocate for local homeless students in the FCUSD!!!

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.

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?

I’m so glad you asked. We will be riding on paved trails along the American River. The terrain is mostly flat, with a few very small inclines here and there. There are two rides – a short one and a longer one. On May 8, 2010, a group of riders will go from Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova to River Bend Park (formerly Goethe Park – about 20-25 minutes on the bike). This ride is a perfect beginner ride and doable for just about anyone. Riders are encouraged to bring a sack lunch too because there will be a time to rest and enjoy company of others before heading back to Hagan Park. Another group of riders will journey from Hagan Park to Folsom (to Bicycles Plus). This ride is the more experienced ride and will equal about 30 miles round trip.

The American River Trails are an absolutely amazing place to ride a bike. If you have not yet discovered the beauty and wonder of the trails, consider joining us. However, be careful because you might find something you really love!!!

The following was put together by me (Ryan) a year or so ago. Keep in mind these are photos I took of the trails while riding a bike. I thought it would be creative to make a little “video” of images of the parkway. This is what we’re going to be riding on May 8, 2010, and I wanted you to have a good sense in case you’ve never enjoyed the trails before.

We’re very aware that our community bike ride on May 8, 2010 won’t appeal to everyone. That’s okay because there are so many non-biking ways you can be involved in with the Project 680 Sock Drive. You are absolutely invited to donate socks, be a drop-off location, help out in other specific ways (see HERE), or put some of your creative ideas into effect (we’d love to hear what you come up with).

Here’s the deal on money. If things are so tight for you right now and you really want to come on the bike ride, please don’t even worry about the $5.00 donation we have suggested per rider (or $10.00 per household). This economy is not an easy one, and money should not hold anyone back from participating. Seriously!!!

It’s very powerful when we get together and show our solidarity for a cause, so let’s flex some group muscle and pedal on May 8, 2010 together as a way to adovocate for homeless students in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District.

Together we can do it!!!

Erin Attardi is a local Realtor with Lyon Real Estate and we were elated to read her post on Twitter this morning. Here is what Erin said (along with providing the picture below): “Just raided the sock aisle at Target for @Project680 Sock Drive #RanchoCordova #BikingForSocks”

Thank you Erin for your generosity, and thanks for sharing too. We are excited that homeless students will have new warm socks to put on their feet. Together we can make a difference.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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!!!

Project 680 belongs to all of us. It’s a community effort, and our hope is to get word out to the community about the P680 Shoe Drive. We invite you to partner with us in this cause by linking to the P680 website from your website, blog, Facebook, or any other social networking sites or forums. You are also invited to use any of the images below to link to our website at www.project680.org. If you are not connected yet with us on Facebook, our page is HERE and our group is HERE.    

The direct link to the shoe drive is www.project680.org/projects/shoes/. Please feel free to use the images below for any of your online or flyer needs.

The direct link to the community bike ride is www.project680.org/bike. Please feel free to use the images below for any of your online or flyer needs.

You can also embed the following video on your website, blog, or social networking site. The direct link to the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zJIArBF6A. If you can’t figure out how to embed the video on your site, just let us know and we’ll be happy to help.

We do have some of the images above in larger sizes also, in case you needed something for a flyer, the office, or any other forum. Call 916-595-3735 or email info@project680.org if you have any questions or further needs.

Thank you so much for helping let others know about the shoe drive. Together we can make a difference.

We received an email today from a man who wants to help support the Project 680 Shoe Drive. Instead of donating cash, a check, or a Payless Shoe Source gift card, he is getting creative about how to pull together some funds to support local homeless students (and we like that). He attached a photo of a pair of brand new shoes he is selling on e-Bay. All proceeds from the sale will be directed toward the P680 Shoe Drive.

This is a really great idea, and it could work well with any marketable product, and even on other websites like Craigslist. It’s nice too because sometimes we have things laying around the house that are valuable to someone else, but all they do is collect dust at home. Like the saying goes, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”

NOTE: Some of you may be asking, “why doesn’t this guy just give the shoes to Project 680 so that we can turn and give them to a needy homeless student?” Good question. Basically, there are two reasons why this won’t work: 1) Both he and I firmly agreed that the color of the shoes may be too closely affiliated with gang-related colors, and that is not something we want to promote for students. Anyone else think that too?; 2) In the past, the District Liaison for Homeless Services has received donations of new shoes, which is a generous gesture, but basically these donated shoes typically sit off to the side because they are not relevant in style or size. Homeless students enjoy picking out brand new shoes anyway because they have their own sense of style. Usually donated shoes do not fit right or they are just not up to today’s fashion standards. Additionally, it is worth noting that Payless Shoe Source, the local vendor for the shoe drive, offers a “buy one pair, get the second pair 1/2 off,” which is a tremendous savings. Moreover, Payless also offers the shoes to the District Liaison for Homeless Services with NO SALES TAX. In essence, this ends up being a tremendous savings for buying a high quantity of shoes, but also a real blessing for the students because they have a very large supply of shoes to choose from. Does that make sense?

By the way, the man who is selling these shoes on e-Bay was a really good sport about this story being posted here (we just wanted you to know because we won’t be posting stories about interactions we have with everyone, especially without permission). 

Kudos to a creative man for his idea to support the shoe drive. Way to go!!!