CHICAGO Thanks so much for your generous involvement at Kids Day America! We loved having your team of volunteers participate in the event. All the best and we'd love to work with you on another upcoming event! Thanks, Jay Annadurai NPN Program Director, www.npnparents.org On behalf of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, I want to thank all the One Brick volunteers who helped us with the April 3 'Easter Egg Hunt and Family Brunch' at the High Ridge YMCA. Jill Grimshaw, Executive Director, was so impressed by your creativity and enthusiasm as you filled 480 Easter eggs with goodies, created an egg hunt area in the gymnasium, decorated egg hunt paper bags for the children, helped wiht registration of the participants, and led fun games for the children and families. You were a big reason the event was so much fun for the families who attended. Jill also reported that this year's Easter Bunny was late, so you graciously said one of the One Brick volunteers would take on the role at next year's event! We consider ourselves very fortunate to count One Brick among our most steadfast volunteer partners, and we look forward to future opportunities to work with you in support of our vital, community-based YMCA programs and services. Sincerely, Linda Dean Director of Volunteerism, YMCA Metropolitan Chicago NEW YORK Oh my! THANK YOU and your wonderful crew. I can't believe you were able to get as much done in two hours as you did! What a great help you guys were and we can't thank you enough. I will ask for you again cause you guys are a sure asset. Thanks again. Jeanette Oswald The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Team in Training Thank you so much for the wonderful job you and the other One Brick volunteers did to make the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center a success! I really do not know how we would have pulled off the event without your help. You were professional, organized, proactive, gracious and so easy to work with. As a result of your presence and capabilities, we were able to tend to other aspects of the event without any worry. We cannot thank you enough. Please share our deepest appreciation with all the volunteers. You were all amazing! Ejim Dike Human Rights Project I wanted to Thank You and your staff for the generous donations and gifts for our clients' children. We were able to give gifts to about 50 clients on Christmas Eve at the program. Our clients were able to take the gifts to their children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. This was particularly significant because most of our clients do not have the money and or resources to get gifts for themselves or their family. All of them have expressed to us their gratitude and appreciation for the gifts. One client, D. was particularly grateful. She has been residing at a three-quarters house for the last year and her children are living with her sister. She shared that she took the game and gifts to her children who were surprised and appreciative. She shared that the whole family played the bowling game all weekend and that everyone really enjoyed it. She said that 'the adult children enjoyed too'... There are many more stories like these, but I thought that the represented some of the joys that your generosity provided to so many. Staff member, Substance Abuse Service Center Bowery Residence Committee SAN FRANCISCO This was one of the best volunteer teams we've ever had! I would like to give a special acknowledgement to One Brick team who are now veterans of this event and our veterans/Roadies who showed us all how to make it work! We also had many committed individuals who came through to make the event go smoothly and who stayed to the very end to make sure that the whole event is packed up nice and neat (a special shout out to those of you who did janitorial with me!) Hardcore volunteers ROCK!!! I LOVE your commitment and that your volunteering spirit is so strong! Emily Mariko-Sanders Special Events Volunteer Manager, Aids LifeCyle SEATTLE We at Lifelong AIDS Alliance have loved having One Brick volunteers! They have helped us get so much of our extra work done and have been a huge help with some of our harder to fill volunteer opportunities. They have volunteered doing setup for our special events, such as Gay Bingo and The Seattle AIDS Walk. They also helped us to prepare condom kits (which we use in our education and prevention efforts to stop the spread of HIV) at a condom kit party. The volunteers are always enthusiastic and willing to help, and they seem to have a fun time. One Brick always gives us the amount of volunteers they guarantee they can get us and have been very reliable. Several One Brick volunteers have signed up to do additional tasks with us after they found out about our organization through One Brick. It's been a great resource for us to use to recruit additional volunteers! Thanks, Tony Bohn Volunteer Coordinator - CSB/Thrift/Events/Education, Lifelong AIDS Alliance One Brick has been a pleasure to work with and have been loyal, repeat supporters of FareStart. The organization has provided us with a large group of volunteers on a monthly basis – not an easy task! We are thankful for the time, hard work and passion One Brick volunteers have consistently demonstrated in support of our foodservice training program, and these groups have helped FareStart achieve our mission of empowering homeless men and women to change their lives in a tangible way. Good luck!! Carlene Deits Volunteer Coordinator, FareStart One brick volunteers are amazing! We are SO lucky to partner with them! Thanks! Melissa Bang-Knudsen Volunteer Coordinator Treehouse WASHINGTON, DC As great as the photos are for volunteers to remember the day [at Rolling Terrace Elementary School], what you don’t know is the power they’ve had in spreading the word about the project. I’ve had multiple parents see the pictures and get excited about volunteering themselves. Thank you so much for adding much needed energy and momentum to the courtyard project. I’d love to set up a standing volunteer day for One Brick at Rolling Terrace. Lord knows we need the help, and you guys are such an inspiration to the kids and the whole community! Thanks, Alison Alison Risso KaBoom! I just wanted to reach out again and thank you for you precious time in supporting us! It meant more than you know in terms of helping our teachers get ready. I have received such amazing feedback on how great our volunteers are! I feel extremely lucky to have found One Brick! It truly is the generosity of people like you that prove what can happen when people come together for the common good. Take care, Lee Granados President & Founder Bridging Worlds Consulting, LLC I just wanted to thank you for all of the work that you do for the Washington Chapter. I am one of the group volunteer recruiters for HART (Homeless Animal Rescue Team). We are fortunate to be on the One Brick calendar every third Saturday for our dog adoption event in Fairfax, VA. The HART directors have been very impressed a with the One Brick turnout. I have also generated many additional volunteers who cannot make it on One Brick days, but email me directly. We have even gotten some groups from the One Brick exposure. One Brick has been responsible for many dogs finding their forever homes and will continue to be. I also want to thank JenK, ErinE, and many others from One Brick who are the Event Coordinators. The dogs and I thank you. Sincerely, Jacob Jonas Homeless Animal Rescue Team Walking up through the beds in this gentle morning rain that is comforting the newly planted beets, fennel, cucumbers and lettuce, and has turned the arugula furrows into straight, dark rows, I am reflecting on yesterday's experiences, and I am humbled. Often, when I recite my "Five Basic Tenets of Biointensive Growing" spiel, I gloss over the fifth point, whole system synergy. I'll not do that again. In fact, I'll add to it and expand on it, for something took root on the farm yesterday besides lettuce and beets. Something that germinated a few years ago when my core group started coming regularly on Sunday afternoons. Something that grew sturdy yesterday. I realize this morning looking at the happy cucumber transplants standing straight up in the rain, and the lettuce, beets and fennel drinking under translucent rowcover, that whole system synergy doesn't just mean making sure you double dig, add compost, plant intensively and employ companion planting-it means making sure you build Community. That's where the real Whole System Synergy can start spinning magic! Thank you, Kevin, and all the OneBrick Volunteers for helping make yesterday an amazing day that we will not soon forget! I really don't have words to express my gratitude for what you have done for me and Eco Farms! Mike Pappas Eco Farms