As mentioned in the previous posts, tonight we will be holding a planning/volunteers meeting as we progress down the road toward applying for our 2011 Sullivan Renaissance Category B Grant. Below is a replication of the information sheet that will be handed out at the meeting for any of you who are unable to attend tonight, so that you feel "In the Information Loop" If you have any questions, suggestions, or would like your name and contact information added to our Volunteer/Donors list, please give Sherwood a call at (845)693-4513.
Mountaindale 2011 Renaissance Project-Volunteers Meeting-March 2, 2011
53 Main St. Mountaindale, NY 12763
As in years past, it is the intention of the Mountaindale Community Development Corporation (MCDC) to participate in this year’s Sullivan Renaissance Project, and to apply for a Category B Grant. To qualify for a Category B Grant, our proposal must include at least two components. Tonight’s meeting is to seek your input into this process so that we can move forward with the task of meeting the Renaissance Committees more stringent guidelines for receiving a grant.
The most significant changes to the guidelines are:
1. We must include an actual drawn out and detailed design plan for our project…if there are any drafts people or architects willing to lend a hand in this task, the help would be greatly appreciative.
2. We must provide (too the best of our ability) a detailed inventory list of the plants we intend to incorporate and use in our projects (including their lighting and water requirements). If any one has considerable knowledge about the native plants of our area, your help in plant selection would be greatly appreciated.
This year, the three proposed components currently on the table for consideration are:
1. Sprucing up, cleaning up the main entrance to “Rails to Trails” and adding more landscaping materials to give it a more finished look that has some serious WOW factor to it. Some (as example) Blackeyed Susan and Shasta Daisies, perhaps some low bedding plants and more defined and edged beds so that what is there, such as the fir tree next too the bench on the left side stand out more, rather than looking as if it had just been stuck there as almost an after thought.
2. The major proposal would be a significant landscaping effort a bit further in on the trail itself that would begin at the old abandoned switching box with the historical information sign just behind it. This area would be cleaned up, and bedding plants used to better define and beautify the area. Further more, gravel for drainage and top soil would be used to turn the old switching box into a structural component of this part of the project as the switching box becomes the first attention getter in what will be a far larger part of the project.
Just back from this switch box are the remnants of an old O&W siding where a large landscaping project would be installed…specifically, the intention is to recapture a feeling of our communities involvement with trains, their rich history, by constructing (using found items and objects from nature) a reasonable facsimile of one of the great old locomotives sitting there in the siding as if coming back to life. Said engine would then be landscaped around, creating the illusion of the train about ready to pull back onto the tracks.
3. A third component of this years plans would see us drawing more attention to the bridge behind the school by doing landscaped beds on either side of the bridge abutments, and doing some planting along the bank to help in easing erosion.
Our Needs for the 2011 Sullivan Renaissance Project
1. Volunteers…VOLUNTEERS
Fact is, though seldom receiving the full recognition they so richly deserve, they are the troopers who make reality work, the soldiers who take dreams and bring them into the reality of our world, and specifically our little hamlet of Mountaindale, NY.
2. Raw materials…plants, stone, top soil, and of course a host of salvaged materials that will help us build the train (samplings, limbs, old weathered lumber or barn wood, and a host of other things). Any help in the sourcing and or transportation of these items is greatly needed, and will be instrumental in the success of this years project.
3. Donations of in-kind services…this could be anything from water/beverages for our thirsty volunteers, to hardware items and tools needed for the projects, such as sheet rocking screws, wire and twine, rakes, shovels and even landscaping timbers.
4. Actual cash donations…we are very grateful for the generosity of Sullivan Renaissance, and the great help that their grants provide in making these projects happen. But, $1500 dollars does not go very far when you start purchasing nursery stock, yards of soil, and other necessary items, so donations are always greatly appreciated, as it helps us stretch our budget, and often those donations are what allow us to really polish our projects, and take them over the top to a new level.
53 Main St. Mountaindale, NY 12763
As in years past, it is the intention of the Mountaindale Community Development Corporation (MCDC) to participate in this year’s Sullivan Renaissance Project, and to apply for a Category B Grant. To qualify for a Category B Grant, our proposal must include at least two components. Tonight’s meeting is to seek your input into this process so that we can move forward with the task of meeting the Renaissance Committees more stringent guidelines for receiving a grant.
The most significant changes to the guidelines are:
1. We must include an actual drawn out and detailed design plan for our project…if there are any drafts people or architects willing to lend a hand in this task, the help would be greatly appreciative.
2. We must provide (too the best of our ability) a detailed inventory list of the plants we intend to incorporate and use in our projects (including their lighting and water requirements). If any one has considerable knowledge about the native plants of our area, your help in plant selection would be greatly appreciated.
This year, the three proposed components currently on the table for consideration are:
1. Sprucing up, cleaning up the main entrance to “Rails to Trails” and adding more landscaping materials to give it a more finished look that has some serious WOW factor to it. Some (as example) Blackeyed Susan and Shasta Daisies, perhaps some low bedding plants and more defined and edged beds so that what is there, such as the fir tree next too the bench on the left side stand out more, rather than looking as if it had just been stuck there as almost an after thought.
2. The major proposal would be a significant landscaping effort a bit further in on the trail itself that would begin at the old abandoned switching box with the historical information sign just behind it. This area would be cleaned up, and bedding plants used to better define and beautify the area. Further more, gravel for drainage and top soil would be used to turn the old switching box into a structural component of this part of the project as the switching box becomes the first attention getter in what will be a far larger part of the project.
Just back from this switch box are the remnants of an old O&W siding where a large landscaping project would be installed…specifically, the intention is to recapture a feeling of our communities involvement with trains, their rich history, by constructing (using found items and objects from nature) a reasonable facsimile of one of the great old locomotives sitting there in the siding as if coming back to life. Said engine would then be landscaped around, creating the illusion of the train about ready to pull back onto the tracks.
3. A third component of this years plans would see us drawing more attention to the bridge behind the school by doing landscaped beds on either side of the bridge abutments, and doing some planting along the bank to help in easing erosion.
Our Needs for the 2011 Sullivan Renaissance Project
1. Volunteers…VOLUNTEERS
Fact is, though seldom receiving the full recognition they so richly deserve, they are the troopers who make reality work, the soldiers who take dreams and bring them into the reality of our world, and specifically our little hamlet of Mountaindale, NY.
2. Raw materials…plants, stone, top soil, and of course a host of salvaged materials that will help us build the train (samplings, limbs, old weathered lumber or barn wood, and a host of other things). Any help in the sourcing and or transportation of these items is greatly needed, and will be instrumental in the success of this years project.
3. Donations of in-kind services…this could be anything from water/beverages for our thirsty volunteers, to hardware items and tools needed for the projects, such as sheet rocking screws, wire and twine, rakes, shovels and even landscaping timbers.
4. Actual cash donations…we are very grateful for the generosity of Sullivan Renaissance, and the great help that their grants provide in making these projects happen. But, $1500 dollars does not go very far when you start purchasing nursery stock, yards of soil, and other necessary items, so donations are always greatly appreciated, as it helps us stretch our budget, and often those donations are what allow us to really polish our projects, and take them over the top to a new level.
