Dorian made the rounds at the branch libraries today. Lots of bottles to pick up. Our libraries are great places with wonderful people staffing them. We really appreciate having receptacles in the neighborhoods. Thanks JPL!
Today we hit the 10,000 bottle mark with a few more thousand on the way in. We have 1,000 waiting for us to pick up and 3 high schools, Douglas Anderson, Englewood, and Wolfson, are out on spring break this week and they are sending a bunch our way. We are thrilled to have all of these and now we can devote 100% attention to the wall construction, installation, and the opening.
A BIG thanks to Dorian who almost single-handedly recruited, collected, and recorded every bottle for the project. She deserves a medal for this!
Here’s Kerrianne who collected from the St. Augustine Kiwanis Key Club for Ketterlinus Elementary and Crookshank Elementary. Her daughter Caitlin was our Messenger at Rawlings Elementary. Thanks for everything!
Today the bottlemobile was busy today picking up a big load from our “super” Messengers, Rachel and Brian. You guys are the greatest. Officially we now know that a Prius can only hold 750 water bottles…and there are more coming. Brian is the Vice Wing Commander at the 125th Fighter Wing here in Jax. He is one of the people that this project is for – we salute you Brian for your service! Rachel has also been busy enlisting her friends and schools to participate. She has made a big difference for the project. We are grateful.
Joanne has always been a great supporter of the arts and has visited the studio many times for Art Walk. Joanne took the challenge of collecting bottles on base and we thank you for giving it a big try! Every bottle helps to make our message stronger.
Here is Beth at the loading dock of the Main library downtown. She had both empty and filled bottles, all neatly stacked in boxes. I’ve never seen such an organized delivery. Beth set up receptacles in all the conference rooms and was able to collect a bunch of bottles. This is her second delivery. I think Beth is going to be happy with the wall that she has provided materials for. In fact the wall will be right at her doorstep in Main Street Park.
Brett and Michele are seen here doing a special TRX workout with water bottles! Careful guys, that looks pretty tough. They have contributed over 200 bottles to the project and we thank you. And many thanks also to Rachel, gym instructor extraordinaire, who is spreading the word about our project to all the world.
Thanks to Sue, we have over 250 bottles and messages from the residents of the Mt. Carmel Gardens Retirement Home. At Sue’s invitation, I met with several of the residents a few weeks ago to explain the project and they enthusiastically accepted the challenge of collecting and drying bottles, and then getting together to write messages. It was a big project and Sue reports that the residents had a lot of fun. We appreciate all of you!
Sue also sends this photo of the residents working on their bottles. From the left, Estelle, Sandra, Sue, and Joan. Thanks ladies!
We received a nice visit from Terry, Nancy, and Pam who were dropping off a second load of bottles. They also checked out our progress with the construction and were excited to know that the wall is becoming a reality (me too!). It’s great to have people come by the studio to see the model and all the bottles collected so far. Thanks ladies for all your efforts and we hope to see you at the opening!
Danny and Jenny are from the Big Apple and they enjoy coming downtown to Art Walk because it reminds them of the gallery tours and events in New York. Danny’s brother is in the Army, so when he met Dorian at MOCA, he immediately wanted to become involved. Danny collected bottles from friends, office, church, and business organizations, and brought his results over to the studio today. Thanks Danny and Jeannie for contributing your time and effort to the project. It was a real pleasure meeting and talking to you and I hope we see you at the opening.
