Photojournalist Mark Clanton from WJXT was in the studio this morning to film a brief segment on the project. Mark took a lot of time to learn about the project and then to shoot around the studio and the wall construction. If there is a link to the segment I’ll be sure to post it. Right now I’m encouraging people to promote the website to anyone they know in the military because this project is for them. And to save the date May 2 Art Walk for our planned opening event. We’re getting excited!
Thanks to Bill Yates for the pics.
Today was a big day for the project with my appearance on WTLV’s First Coast Living live broadcast. Click here to watch. It’s amazing the reach of television and we already connected with a few additional volunteers because of the show. I’ve been nervous about today for a while, always feeling that my mind would go totally blank when a question is asked. Casey and Leanza did a super professional job with the interview, and made sure that I didn’t screw up. I was very impressed with the whole experience.
As I mentioned on the show, February will be our big push for bottle collection. We need to double or triple our current count (around 4000+ counting all the bottles yet to be logged in). I know this can be done. The schools and service clubs are coming through for us in a big way. My job is to begin construction on the wall so that we can excite others to join us. Bottles are everywhere, they just need to be harvested.
If you are reading this and haven’t joined in, please consider being a Messenger and getting the word out. I know you must have a circle of friends who can help you. All it takes is a concerted effort to collect bottles and dry them out. The message writing is fun. You can easily collect a hundred bottles in a week! With everyone pitching in, we can build an impressive wall to let the world know who we are and that we care about those who serve.
The January JPL newsletter contains a story about our project along with the now famous rendering provided by artist Robert Leedy. There are now 5 bottle receptacles located at the following libraries around town:
Main Library
303 N. Laura Street [32202]
Charles Webb Wesconnett Regional
6887 103rd Street [32210]
Pablo Creek Regional
13295 Beach Blvd [32246]
Mandarin Regional
3330 Kori Road [32257]
Southeast Regional
10599 Deerwood Park Blvd [32256]
Details, hours, and phone numbers can be found on the Bottle Drop Off page.
We made the front page of the Metro section of today’s paper. What a nice surprise. We are making steady progress and more meetings are planned to increase the number of Messengers. Dorian and Lori collected empty bottles on Thanksgiving at the half marathon. Never can have too many empty bottles on hand. We are grateful for the excitement and support from many people in the community who are helping out. December will be a critical month for collection. If you are reading this and can help, please step up and let us know who you are. We need you!
Today I was on Melissa Ross’ First Coast Connect radio broadcast. I have to admit that I was very nervous going into this and didn’t get much sleep. But it turned out just fine and actually Melissa made it a fun experience. I was thoroughly impressed by the way she conducted her interview and her ability to make everything flow so smoothly. Everything is live (with a 3 second delay) which means you have to think fast. If you want to hear the broadcast, you need to search the archives on the First Coast Connect archives page for 11/14/11 (this will take you to the shows in iTunes). My segment is approximately 42:26 into the interview. I asked Melissa after we finished to write a message and she gladly obliged. Thanks Melissa and WJCT for allowing me to be part of your broadcast.
