Playground assembly

Saturday was a momentous day for the Morley Heights neighborhood. With the help of over 50 volunteers over two days, we assembled our new playground! Many thanks to everyone who helped in this effort, whether you donated food for our workers, babysat a child so mom or dad could volunteer, or came out to do some hard work in the hot sun.

We now need to wait for the concrete to cure and for the wood chips and edging to be installed. In a few short days, Morley Heights Park will be up and running!

Here are some photos of the work:

Volunteers needed!

The Morley Heights playground project is moving forward quickly! On Saturday, July 10th, our equipment will be delivered to the park and we will need plenty of volunteers to help us assemble it.

Further details will be forthcoming over the coming days, but as it stands now, we are planning two assembly shifts for the 10th. The first will run from 8am to noon and the second from 1pm to 5pm. No previous construction experience necessary - we just need lots of people power. 

If you want to help out, please email me (mickeypearson@gmail.com) and indicate your availability for that weekend.

Again, many more details will be coming, but we wanted to get this date on your calendars as summer tends to get very busy.

Many thanks for your interest and help!

Park Update

The park will be happening this spring!  So far we have raised $17,429!  Congratulations to everyone.  We have worked really hard to get here. 

The next step is to apply to the City of Duluth for what we hope will be a $15,000 matching grant.  In order to be considered for the matching money from the City, we need to have the park design picked out and paperwork completed by March 1.  This will require quite a bit of work and volunteer time during the month of February.  This matching grant is key to being able to build the park this spring, so we want to put a lot of time and thought into the application. 

• All donations should be in by February 5.  This will give us enough time to get quotes from sales representatives, decide on a design, etc.  If you have not donated yet, or could donate more, we encourage you to do so.  Every penny counts!  Your tax-deductible donations can be sent to The Morley Heights Neighborhood Association, 18 Morley Parkway, Duluth, MN 55803.  Checks can be made out to Montessori School of Duluth/Morley Heights Park.  Remember, if you donate $1000 or more, your name will be on a plaque.
• If you would like to be part of the team that is deciding on park design, please send an email to morleyheights@yahoo.com.  The commitment will be several meetings over the next month, possible phone conversations with sales representatives, research on different park designs, working on the historical marker, asking local businesses for donations (building materials, etc).  The first meeting is this Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00 pm at 2153 Sussex Ave.  Kids are welcome.
  
• If you don't want to be on the team, but have ideas, please also email morleyheights@yahoo.com.  We welcome and appreciate all input!  For example, what type of playground equipment is important to you (climbing wall, swings, toddler area, etc)?  We will work to best meet the desires of the neighborhood.
• We will also be looking for volunteers to help put the equipment up this spring.  More details on that will be coming after we decide on a design.

This is all very exciting!  Please encourage your neighbors to send in a donation in the next couple of weeks.  Reply to this email with any questions/comments/concerns.  Feel free to give me a call at home (Keely - 728.4292). 

Also, please consider helping over the next month.  The link to the City's playground matching grant application is here: http://www.duluthmn.gov/parks/index.cfm (click on the link Playground Equipment Grants at the top of the page).  If we are chosen for this grant it will definitely expand the possibilities at the park.

Thanks for all your work!

Our first grant approval!

We found out today that the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation approved our grant request for the full amount of $5,000! Many thanks to the organization for supporting our project.

This puts us even closer to our goal of $35,000. If you haven't donated yet, you can still get your tax-deductible donation before the end of the year.

Stay tuned for more updates as our other grant results come in!

Thanks for the successful fundraiser

Last weekend's fundraiser was a huge success! There was an awesome turnout of motivated neighbors and we raised $3000 for the park project. Many thanks to all of those who helped plan and staff the event, and definitely to those who came and donated to the project.

Urgent! Festival Update!

Due to inclement weather, we have moved tomorrow's fall festival to Woodland Middle School. Event times and activities remain unchanged. Please get the word out about this last minute change!

Also, here's tomorrow's music schedule:
Robi Meyerson - TBA
Rachel Kilgour - 11:30am
Suzuki Violin Performance - 1:00pm

Fall Fundraising Festival - This Saturday!