Open House Update

Thank you to everyone who joined us last night at the open house. We had a great time talking about the park-to-be and enjoying Vermillion's cozy cafe space (thanks Diana!).

A big part of the meeting was discussing how community members can get involved in the park-building efforts. The details about our volunteer opportunities are listed below.

We're looking for volunteers for four different functions:

Fundraising

• Assist with the grantwriting process
  
• Search for funding sources (governmental, private foundations, private donors) & following up on them
  
• Organizing the "brick sale" fundraiser
  

Outreach

• Postering
  
• Getting the word out online (email/Facebook/website)
  
• Talking to & networking with interested groups/businesses in the neighborhood
  
• Take charge of our ads in The Stranger
  

Volunteer Recruitment

• Bring in more volunteers and figure out who could be where & when
  

Event Planning

• Organize monthly UP events (like our Guitar Hero contest in April)
  
• Putting together outreach materials (posters, notices)
  
• Coordinate with other volunteer groups to increase attendance/participation at events
  

Please drop us a line at unpaving.paradise(at)gmail.com you'd like to help out with any of these functions. Also, please let us know if you have ideas about ways you could help that are not listed above. We welcome any suggestions and encourage you to speak with your friends and neighbors about UP.

3/11 - Open House!

You are invited to Unpaving Paradise's Open House on Wednesday, March 11th at 6:30pm at the Vermillion Art Gallery and Wine Bar (1508 11th Ave). Please join us for useful information and lively discussion about the continuing community fundraising project for John and Summit Park/P-Patch. Also, there will be tasty snacks courtesy of local businesses.

Find out how you can make a garden and park a reality at John & Summit!

Friday 3/13 - The Copper Vine's B-day

Unlucky for some, but lucky for us; The Copper Vine (1315 E Pine St) is celebrating its 2nd birthday on Friday, March 13th and it's giving us a present:

The Copper Vine Turns Two! Join us from 5-8pm to celebrate 2 years of plants, gardening & growing on Capitol Hill. A percentage of each sale will be donated to Unpaving Paradise.

Also, the Copper Vine is still giving away little lemon trees to anyone donating to Unpaving Paradise.

2Thurs ArtWalk and The Copper Vine's Birthday

The Copper Vine (1350 E Pine St.) is supporting UP once again by donating $1 of every purchase made during the Capitol Hill Art Walk to the park-to-be at John and Summit. The next Cap Hill Art Walk will be Thursday, February 12th.

Also, since The Copper Vine is celebrating its 2nd birthday on March 1st, it's giving a present to the park!

Happy Birthday To Us!
The Copper Vine turns 2 on March 1st. When we opened our doors, we had a beautiful lemon tree with large, yellow lemons. That tree was eventually purchased by a customer but we kept one of the lemons. Its seeds produced these little plants.

To celebrate our birthday, we will be giving away these plants to customers who make a donation to Unpaving Paradise. For more information, see the donation jar by our deck chair!

2/12 - Streets for People Forum

The Seattle Great City Initiative has invited Unpaving Paradise to present at the Streets for People Kick-off Forum. The Forum will be at SLU Armory on February 12th from 5 to 7pm. Come and listen to speakers, check out the street fair, and visit us at our booth!

"Streets for People" is a campaign focused on created a better and more sustainable future for transportation in Seattle. The forum will be focused on Streets for People's goal of building "a broad based public campaign to transition our streets away from an auto-centric approach to one that treats streets as public places, and prioritizes them for walking, biking and transit."

If you're interested in coming to the forum and helping us spread the word about the community's vision for John and Summit Park/P-Patch, please email unpaving.paradise@gmail.com. This will be a great outreach opportunity for Unpaving Paradise, so we wouldn't mind having a few more volunteers!

2/10 - UP presents to the EDNC

Unpaving Paradise will be presenting the community's vision and fundraising plan for John and Summit Park/P-Patch to the East District Neighborhood Council on Tuesday, February 10th.

This presentation is an important step toward getting a Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant for the park/p-patch - the EDNC plays a big role in rating community projects from the Capitol Hill, First Hill, Central District and Madrona neighborhoods. Please attend and give us your support!

If you'd like to help present to the Neighborhood Council or if you'd just like to cheer us on, the meeting will be from 6:30 to 8pm at the Capitol Hill Branch Library. This will be a normal meeting of the EDNC, so there will be plenty more interesting neighborhood issues on the agenda as an added bonus :)

Wii Sports + Faire = Awesome

Good times were had by all at the Wii Sports Tournament this last Saturday. Thank you to everyone who came to battle for Wii supremacy and support John and Summit park!

Hong takes on Wii Bowling


Vinny goes for a home run; Allison and David keep score


David takes a break and tries his hand at the game

Our winnters:

John


and


Razz!

Wii Sports Tournament this Saturday!

When: Saturday, January 17, 2009 02:00 PM - 01/17/2009 06:00 PM

Where: Faire Gallery and Cafe - 1351 East Olive Way

What: Battle for Wii supremacy at the first annual Wii Sports Tournament! Pizza for all and prizes for the winners. $10 entry fee - all proceeds go to the park-to-be at John and Summit.

Hosted by the Capitol Hill Community Council

Capitol Hill Art Walk/2nd Thurs at The Copper Vine

The Copper Vine (1350 E Pine St.) will donate $1 of every purchase made during the Capitol Hill Art Walk to the park-to-be at John and Summit. Visit, have a snack, and learn more about the fundraising efforts. You may even bring home a little photosynthesizing friend.

The Capitol Hill Art Walk is now from 5-8pm on the 2nd Thursday of every month. See their MySpace page for a full listing of participating businesses along the Pike/Pine corridor.

Solstice Sunday - Support Local Businesses and John & Summit

Celebrate the longest night of the year with the 1300 block of Pine St! Bootyland, The Copper Vine & Whimsy invite you to join them Dec. 21st from 4-7pm for a Solstice evening of cider, cookies & great deals on last minute gifts.

For each customer that mentions Unpaving Paradise when making a purchase, The Copper Vine will donate $5 to the park-to-be at John and Summit!

Snow Cancellation - CHCC Holiday Potluck

The CHCC Holidays Potluck has been rescheduled for January 9th. Please join us then for food, a warm fireplace, and getting to know your neighbors!

Holiday Potluck with the Capitol Hill Community Council

Join the Capitol Hill Community Council on Thursday, December 18th for our first annual holiday potluck. We're gathering from 7-9pm at the Cal Anderson Shelterhouse to eat tasty food, meet our neighbors, and gather in front of a lovely warm fireplace.

Meet the Council, bring your favorite food of the season, and hear what we're planning for the New Year!

John and Summit Needs YOU! - Love from the blogs

Capitol Hill (Park) Stimulus
Justin Carder Wants You! (To Save the John & Summit Park)

Thanks to Justin and Comrade Bunny for bringing our cause to the blogosphere!

Shinka Tea presents: John & Summit fundraising promotion

Shinka Tea is delighted to support Unpaving Paradise in its fundraising efforts.

Join us any Monday or Tuesday evening between now and the end of the year for dessert and sake or tea and we will donate a portion of your ticket price to Unpaving Paradise*. For tickets of $10.00 or more, we’ll donate 10% of the total ticket price. For tickets of $15.00 or more we’ll donate 15% and for tickets $20.00 or more we’ll donate 20%. Just mention this offer to your server when you pay.

In addition to dessert, we’re also promoting five of our favorite loose leaf teas to help support Unpaving Paradise. Purchase 8oz or more of Gyokuro, Ti Kuan Yin, Golden Pu’erh, Earl Grey or Rooibos any day until the end of the year and we will donate 10% of the purchase price** to Unpaving Paradise. Just mention this offer to the barista when you order your tea.

*Offer expires 12/31/08. Only valid with purchase from dessert menu. Offer does not apply to retail items. One donation per ticket; one ticket per table or group. Donation is calculated before tax and tip.

**Offer expires 12/31/08. Offer does not apply to any food or drink product, retail item or prepackaged tea. Donation is calculated before tax and tip.

About Shinka Tea:

Shinka Tea was founded in 2003 by two friends to bring an authentic Taiwan-style teahouse to Seattle. Locally owned and with two locations, Shinka Tea offers a unique menu of all natural shaken tea and blended, frozen drinks as well as a selection of high quality loose leaf teas available by the pot or in bulk.

Shinka Tea
1703 E Olive Way
Seattle, WA 98102
206-709-7868

www.shinkatea.com

Drag Charity Bingo extended to first Sunday of November!

That's right everyone, you get an extra week to give $5 to the park and enjoy the charms of Giggles Galore and Bingo Boy Marc! Come by the Cafe Metro, bring your friends, and win fabulous bingo prizes!

Our first big fundraiser - Drag Charity Bingo at the Cafe Metropolitain

Giggle Galore and Bingo Boy Marc have been kind enough to have the proceeds of October's Drag Charity Bingos go toward the development of John and Summit Park. Yay, our first big fundraiser!

Drag Charity Bingo is held at the Cafe Metropolitain every Sunday from 8pm until 11pm. You can find the Cafe Metropolitain at the corner of Olive and Boylston. Bring your friends!

National Park(ing) Day Pictures

Here are a selection of pictures of the CHCC National Park(ing) Day park, courtesy of Catherine Antsett. To see the rest of her Park(ing) Day 2008 Seattle gallery, visit her website.




Justin and Sauntina load 'em up.












Mithun's amazing park model....

...Saunatina's amazing piggy bank

Charlette one on one with Kery Murakami from the Seattle PI

Jen braves the camera of Q13 Fox News

And finally, a baby.

Thank you to the volunteers who made this park happen - Saunatina, Justin, Charlette, Michelle, Hiromi, Nanette, and Jen! Hurray for Trust for Public Land and the Seattle Parks Foundation for making this as easy as they could! And thanks to our neighbors, who listened to our spiel, donated to the cause, and hung out with us in the park.

Hurray for Park(ing) Day 2008!

The good news and bad news from the last Parks meeting

The good news and bad news from the last Parks Design Meeting

Good news: Design looks awesome!
Bad news: We now have to raise almost double the money we thought we did.

Thank you Justin for your great synopsis of the September 10th Parks design meeting for John and Summit!

National Park(ing) Day = Success!

National Park(ing) Day was great! The CHCC/Unpaving Paradise mini-park looked amazing, and the event proved not only to be a great outreach opportunity, but a good fundraising one as well. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen!

Pictures coming soon...

Wait, look - our first picture!


Courtesy of Justin and the Capitol Hill Seattle blog.

We need volunteers for National Park(ing) Day!

Unpaving Paradise needs your help! Our first major outreach event, National Park(ing) Day, is coming up on Friday, September 19th - we'll be setting up a mini-park for the day in front of the Vivace espresso stand on Broadway near Thomas St.

We need folks to give us a hand setting up the park, sitting at the park during the day giving out information and flyers, and taking down the park at the end of the day. Set-up will be between about 8 and 9am and take down will be around 6 or 7 and will take about an hour as well.

We also need help putting up flyers advertising the event. The flyers need to go up ASAP, so please email us right away if you want to help.

Please email unpaving.paradise@gmail.com and sign up!