The Big Day-August 26th-

We have been awarded a $75,000 grant from Fiskars for a complete garden makeover of the Goettingen Hillside. It has been an amazing journey these past few weeks working on this project.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, let me start at the beginning. Approximately 6 weeks ago, Liz Lerma with DPW contacted Laura to set up a meeting. We had one day's notice to prepare for a meeting with DPW and a representative from Fiskars. The meeting went very smoothly as I thought that Laura and I projected the goals of GNG as well as our vision of building a nice community within the neighborhood for our families. The whole affair only lasted about 15-20 minutes. During the closing, I pointedly asked if there was anything left unsaid that would prevent them from awarding us the grant. I felt confident that we put our best foot forward and asked (specifically when a decision would be made. Luckily for us, it only take a day, any more time and I may have exploded from anxiety:) By 8:00pm the following evening, we received a phone call from Sandra with DPW to inform us that we were chosen for the Project Orange Thumb Grant by Fiskars.

I was so elated that I ran to Mikki's house in my slippers! Words can't describe how excited we all were. We shared a couple of glasses of bubbly as the news sunk in. We would not have been awarded this grant if we weren't a cohesive, organized, dedicated, and ambitious group. Congratulations you hard-working ladies from GNG!

Let's not forget about the guys who do a tremendous amount of work for us! Without the amazing support of our spouses, we wouldn't be where we are today. Larry, Charles, and Chris have put in the sweat equity by trimming trees, painting the fence, handrails, and graffiti, shoveling woodchips, picking up litter, and basically doing much of the work that is dirty and gruelling. Our support group has also grown to include other neighbors too.

Thank you to everyone on Goettingen and Dwight Streets for coming together to make our neighborhood cleaner, safer, and more beautiful!
(posted by Trish)