| As we sit here writing this on our deck overlooking the Norwalk River, we miss the lazy days of 80 degree sunshine, but are appreciating the nearly 60 degree run up to Christmas. Well, we know it won’t last, but the crazy weather certainly has been on the minds of many this past fall.So many people have been impacted by Sandy, that we’re sure that you personally know someone who is still dealing with the trees, the sand, the debris and the water. And insurance. And FEMA. Kudos to all our first responders who worked around the clock. We want to give a special shout out to a city staff person who jumped into a situation that was seemingly spiraling in a bad direction. We speak of the tremendous flooding that wiped out many of the first floor apartments at Washington Village.
Once David Shockley of the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency heard that residents were still dealing with debris and damage weeks after the storm, he connected residents with about 150 volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Darien who worked tirelessly to clean and clear damaged goods and debris. We thank these volunteers for aiding some of our most vulnerable residents. With the recent news articles about future development proposed in this area, we hope that all involved recognize that organizations that can’t provide basic services efficiently shouldn’t be encouraged to manage larger projects.
Now back to our regular periodic peaceful observations. Since this is the holiday season we would like to extend our holiday wishes for all the holidays that anyone wishes to celebrate, including the NFL playoffs. All of the holidays mean end of year, and this year adds an extra day of intrigue in the form of the Mayan End of the Calendar, otherwise commercialized as the End-Of-The-World (as we know it and we feel fine…) MB prefers to think of this as the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. It also ushers in our annual appeal.
After a recent trek through the mountains of Vietnam, MB navigated the mountain of mail on her kitchen counter. Caught between the multiple versions of Pottery Barn catalogs pimping nifty stuff to make her house photoshoot-ready, were a multitude of end-of-year fundraising appeals from every not-for-profit organization under the sun. It made us remember that ‘hey, we’re a 501(c)(3) doing good stuff, let’s ask people for money’. So here we are. Asking for money.
We won’t give you any personalized mailing labels, calendars or totebags – just the warm and fuzzy feeling that you are helping to make Norwalk a better place. However, to show our appreciation, those extra special friends who donate at the $100 level will receive a specially handcrafted warm and fuzzy item.Act now! Operators are standing by. Now back to our regular programming.
Donating to 2.0 this year will lead to the launch of our amazing project: FACES of Norwalk, a Mural Arts Trail. Being big proponents of vibrant downtowns, we were happy to see so many of you tell us in last year’s survey that you wanted to see the Norwalk Center area spring back to life. Now we’ve always thought that our world cuisine restaurants and funky art spots made a cool downtown. But we too wanted more, so we’re going to work with our awesome project partners to program some cool stuff and put our connectivity passions into action. But even though we’ve gotten a healthy amount grants (thank you very much DECD) and raised many funds, we still need to close the gap. Call it the arts achievement gap.
Did we mention that it was easy to donate?
If you care about the West Avenue corridor, you might want to take the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency’s survey, or attend the December 17th meeting at Stepping Stones from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.While we look at 2013 as being an exciting year for 2.0, we want to make sure everyone who wants to join in the fun can. So before we begin to rock Wall Street with art happenings and pop up events, we’re going to start with an old fashioned community meeting in February. Stay tuned. We will outline our trailblazing project that highlights Norwalk’s past, present and future, and explore whatever else is on your mind.
So enjoy what’s left of 2012, and we look forward to seeing you in 2013!
MB + Jackie
Big changes start with little projects, and this is only one of a few projects we’ve started to change the world.
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