Three Pansies

Three Pansies , a photo by linfrye on Flickr.

1/8 Sheet
Arches 140#CP

This will be a bit long - but please read and help if you can:

First off, our plant sale, despite the rain and winds that were followed by the worst number of tornados in our state's history, went exceedingly well. The worst of the weather held off until AFTER we closed and sent everyone home. Not two hours after we left the property, the storms hit - a tornado in my work town and several deaths throughout the area. We are so grateful that our folks were safe, and that the Arboretum was spared save for many trees down. To think that just a bit of time earlier, we were selling plants ... makes me fall on my knees in gratitude for everyone's safety. We are all okay - but North Carolina is under a state of emergency.

This is terrible in so many ways - homes destroyed, people's lives disrupted, and many this morning still without power.

But it also means our voting campagain will be severely hampered.

Would you please consider helping the Arboretum win an fruit tree orchard - the food of which will be donated to the hungry. The news is filled this morning with the warning that 'we are one shot from a world crisis' because of the high cost of food prices.

The way to win this grant is by having all our friends vote - once a day - every day - until we have the most votes. We are competing with 130 other folks throughout the US - only 20 orchards will be awarded.

With the storms and tragedies and power off in so many areas, our college's website is down - but here's how you can vote:

Please go to:

www.CommunitiesTakeRoot.com

Choose: North Carolina
Click on "Plant"
Click on "List by State"
Click on " Smithfield - The Arboretum at Johnston Community College"
VOTE

You must register to vote - so somewhere in all this you'll be guided to register.

I know it is horribly tedious and hopefully the grantors will simplify the process over time (they even had technical difficulties that have hindered this entire process) ...

But please, if you can help - send this to as many folks as possible ...The top 4 winners will be chosen by the end of May - anyone, everyone can vote - once a day - until the end of May.

THANK YOU for your thoughts and your help.

We're all pretty tired after so much work - and another number of weeks to clean up after the storm. I may be offline for a while until things settle down.

Bless you for all you can do to help the hungry!