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Recognizing the Past with Hope for the Future, 1919-2019 and Beyond
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THIS IS THE THEME OF THE PARK THAT IS ON MAIN STREET. IT RECOGNIZES THAT A MAJOR RACIAL CONFLICT HAPPENED IN THE AREA. IT HIGHLIGHTS THE WORK OF SCIPIO JONES AND HOW THE AFTERMATH OF THE EVENT WAS A TURNING POINT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS. READ MORE DETAILS FOLLOWING THIS INTRODUCTION. IN THIS POVERTY AREA, THE PARK NEEDS HELP FROM PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE DELTA. YOU MAY DONATE NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE HOME PAGE.
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Much good news has come to the Lee Street Community Center in Elaine, Arkansas, during the last two months of 2015. We want to share.
FIRST, it may be confusing that a community center has three major activities. Lee Street Community Center is the official name of our 501 (c) (3) nonprofit. We started with activities in a donated portable school building, placed in the poorer residential area of Elaine. With lots of help, over $6000 was raised to move it from Helena in 2008. Many hands have worked to renovate it. Now students watch for any adult to show up. There is so little to do that they show up without any formal announcements. Want to bring a group to help?
SECOND ,the expansion of our goals was not planned. The goal of decorating the town with birdhouses and becoming America’s Birdhouse Capital was a result of finding a project both older boys and girls would like to work on. Want to bring a group to help? Fun work!
THIRD, we had the opportunity to purchase the old medical clinic on Main Street for the Birdhouse Headquarters. It was a challenge for our small group to raise the money. We were able to buy the empty lot next door. You can see part of the old store front. Now we have a pavilion, park musical instruments, benches,and the original interior door from a one-room school on a cotton plantation.
Recognizing the Past with Hope for the Future, 1919 – 2019 and Beyond
Why is our nonprofit doing this recognition park? The purpose of this note is not to give a history lesson but to explain why. Often during the last ten years, the history of the racial turmoil has been discussed in places near and far from Elaine. No one, as far as we know, is alive who was old enough to remember the actual events. None of us had any input into what happened, and no one is proud of that history. We want to do something in a positive way.
What are we going to do? We will be collecting old bricks from Phillips County to represent those killed. These will not have names. We will purchase new bricks to be engraved with the names of those 18 or under in Elaine, with other names added later. Bricks will be put in the area between the sidewalk and pavilion. Centered in the middle, in front of three tongue drums, will be three larger engraved bricks: RECOGNIZING the PAST with HOPE for the FUTURE, 1919 – 2019 and BEYOND.
CAN our small nonprofit do this alone? Elaine is located in the Mississippi River Delta in Phillips County. It is in the poorest part of Arkansas, as well as one of the poorest in our country. We have lost our school. Children ride the bus over an hour and return home to few positive activities. We no longer even have a grocery store. In poverty areas, nonprofits are also poor, without assistance from outside supporters.
We accept any donations by mail or on our website.
Our BIGGEST fund raising activity is sponsorship of bricks. A sponsorship is $100. Half of the funds will go to park expenses and half will go to a leadership scholarship. Sophomores or older, including college students, can be leaders for the Lee Street Community Center to qualify.
Why is our nonprofit doing this recognition park? The purpose of this note is not to give a history lesson but to explain why. Often during the last ten years, the history of the racial turmoil has been discussed in places near and far from Elaine. No one, as far as we know, is alive who was old enough to remember the actual events. None of us had any input into what happened, and no one is proud of that history. We want to do something in a positive way.
What are we going to do? We will be collecting old bricks from Phillips County to represent those killed. These will not have names. We will purchase new bricks to be engraved with the names of those 18 or under in Elaine, with other names added later. Bricks will be put in the area between the sidewalk and pavilion. Centered in the middle, in front of three tongue drums, will be three larger engraved bricks: RECOGNIZING the PAST with HOPE for the FUTURE, 1919 – 2019 and BEYOND.
CAN our small nonprofit do this alone? Elaine is located in the Mississippi River Delta in Phillips County. It is in the poorest part of Arkansas, as well as one of the poorest in our country. We have lost our school. Children ride the bus over an hour and return home to few positive activities. We no longer even have a grocery store. In poverty areas, nonprofits are also poor, without assistance from outside supporters.
We accept any donations by mail or on our website.
Our BIGGEST fund raising activity is sponsorship of bricks. A sponsorship is $100. Half of the funds will go to park expenses and half will go to a leadership scholarship. Sophomores or older, including college students, can be leaders for the Lee Street Community Center to qualify.
We received funds from the Bridge Grant for the tongue drums, the rainbow xylophone, the benches, table, bricks, bulletin board, and display case. We are grateful for the support to present Arkansas history in this format.
About the Bridge Fund grant program:
The Bridge Fund Endowment was created at Arkansas Community Foundation in 1993 to serve as a bridge between Arkansas’s past and future by supporting education, libraries and the teaching/promotion of Arkansas history. Grants from the endowment are made throughout Arkansas for schools, archives, local county and state historical societies and museums for projects to provide training for teachers of Arkansas history; to facilitate teaching and learning of state and local history; and to increase the knowledge and understanding of Arkansas history, especially through research and publication.
About Arkansas Community Foundation:
Arkansas Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization that fosters smart giving to improve communities. The Community Foundation offers tools to help Arkansans protect, grow and direct their charitable dollars as they learn more about community needs. By making grants and sharing knowledge, the Community Foundation supports charitable programs that work for Arkansas and partners to create new initiatives that address the gaps. Since 1976, the Community Foundation has provided more than $120 million in grants and partnered with thousands of Arkansans to help them improve our neighborhoods, our towns and our entire state. Contributions to the Community Foundation, its funds and any of its 27 affiliates are fully tax deductible.
Individuals, organizations, businesses, churches, schools are invited to pool their donations to sponsor a brick for $100 and be a part of history. Sponsors will be listed on the bulletin board and be invited to participate in the opening.
Donate by mail to Lee Street Community Center PO Box 235 Elaine, AR 72333
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You may also donate on line at birdhousesforelainear.com
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For questions, you may write Pat Kienzle picklelady@cox.net or call 479-871-0076.