A Very Thanksgiving Update!
Beautiful Thanksgiving pies baked just for you by Wayward Girl Bakes, one of our local business sponsors!! Ashland residents can order by Friday, November 20, 2020. Make this Thanksgiving fun and festive with squirrels, acorns, deer, and candied cranberries on your choice of 3 different delicious flavors of pie!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Our newest business sponsor (#55!) is Wayward Girl Bakes... Thank you, thank you, Talia Dardis, owner of this amazing new local baking business! Her website (and blog) is really fun and timely given everyone's new favorite COVID-19 activity... baking!
Talia is offering three different flavors of mouth-watering Thanksgiving pies (for sale) for your table this year: Caramel Apple, Cardamom Tahini Squash, and Classic Pumpkin. The decorations are super cute (squirrels, acorns, deer, candied cranberries, you choose!). Pies are $30 each. Thank you for supporting one of our business sponsors! If you live in Ashland, you can place your order on Talia's website by Friday, November 20th: www.waywardgirlbakes.com
There's a lot going on with the park effort despite the initial slowdown earlier this year due to COVID-19 and the sad effect that it has had on the Parks Department's budget (which should bounce back with time). But... we're definitely hanging in there and we're not letting it slow us down. We just have to be patient and persistent and take it one day at a time... just like how we're going to get through to the other side of this pandemic. (Thank you for wearing a mask!)
Want to help but you're not sure how best to do that? Hmmm.... Social media, anyone? Are you (or your teenage kids) on Facebook or Instagram? Please join all of the above and support us on the internets! Here's the info:
Instagram: Savelincolnpark
Facebook: "Friends of Lincoln Park" and "Ashland Save Our Schools & Playgrounds"
Save Lincoln Park Merchandise: Teepublic.com (Search "Save Lincoln Park" -- A portion of the proceeds goes towards our effort!)
We have a bunch of other ideas in the works including:
A local short in the Ashland Independent Film Festival
Ads in the Locals Guide
A position paper to take to the various entities (Schools, Parks, City Council)
State legislation to protect school neighborhood parks
Social Media Team
Adding more local business sponsors -- we're up to 55 now! -- no cost to join -- it's free advertising and good karma for your business!
Continuing outreach to build the coalition -- we're up to 630 individual supporters now and growing by the day!
Progress that we've made this year:
Our new website! (www.lincolnparkashland.org)
Our beautiful new rack card! (If you are one of our awesome local business sponsors please let us know if you have space to have a little stack of these on your counter or somewhere in your place of business!)
Expanded presence on social media
Always adding more supporters...even in the worst of times, people are still signing up to support Lincoln Park at a steady pace
Engaged with numerous local candidates and garnered a ton of support for the preservation of the park, including support from our new Mayor Elect, Julie Akins, new City Councillors Elect, Gina DuQuenne, Shaun Moran, and Paula Hyatt, and new Parks Commissioner Elect, Leslie Eldridge
Re-purposing / recycling Julie and Gina's used campaign signs to help save the park! Thank you, Julie and Gina!!
We met with Oregon State Representative, Pam Marsh, regarding state legislation that would encourage the protection of school neighborhood parks (Thank you, Pam!)
Recently, we spoke with Linda Reid, Housing Specialist for the City of Ashland, and she confirmed that Lincoln Park is smack dab in the middle of an "under served" neighborhood based on data from two Census blocks and HUD criteria (at least 50% earning less than $32,000 / year -- likely due to the number of rentals surrounding SOU). If you research parks in under served neighborhoods you will find a growing body of knowledge on the critical importance of the role of parks in serving the health and well-being of this more vulnerable population. Think about it... lower-income folks are less likely to be able to afford a gym membership. Parks are good for getting exercise, fresh air, socializing, making friends, learning new skills, relief in times of stress and anxiety, good for mental health... they are healthy in so many ways!
Thank you for being a supporter! We'd love to get your ideas, and your support on social media. Would you like to join our Social Media Team? That is the most important thing that we need help with at this point and time. If you'd like to join the team, please let us know!
Feel free to jump in and help where you feel like you can. We need you now more than ever and we need your special set of skills. Together, as a community that cares for one another, we can do this.
In hope, faith, and plenty of stuffing,
Melissa