GoodGiving Guide meets its goal, sets a new one
On the evening of Dec. 7, the GoodGiving Guide Challenge – an online charitable campaign launched as a partnership between Blue Grass Community Foundation and Smiley Pete Publishing, this magazine’s parent organization, on behalf of 58 local and regional non-profits – reached its goal of $100,000, coming from nearly 1,500 online “gifts.”
With matching funds and grants, as well as concurrent fund-raising initiatives, challenge organizers put the actual amount of money raised, thus far, at approximately $120,000.
Given that the online campaign runs through Dec. 31 (it started Oct. 27), the challenge organizers have set a new goal of $200,000 – a lofty goal, but organizers believe the a final push during the campaign’s final weeks could help exceed the second goal.
For more information, or to make an online donation, visit www.GoodGivingGuide.net (there is also an updated account of the campaign’s activity in this magazine, beginning on page 12).
Purpledinowolficorns at Tates Creek win national eco challenge
Tates Creek Middle is among eight middle schools winners nationwide in the land/water division of the annual Lexus Eco Challenge – a program which encourages students to develop environmental programs that positively impact their
communities.
For their entry, the “Purpledinowolficorns” team (a team name that’s actually several proposed names mashed into one) renovated rain gardens in the school’s community and designed school presentations for faculty, students and staff about the importance of land and water conservation. Each member of the team, which consists of seventh-grader Emily Sanford and eighth-graders Hannah Barnes, Morgan Boaz, Ethan Bridges, Casey Darling, Kasara Miller and Katie Sanford, will receive $1,000 for the efforts. Their advisor, seventh-grade science teacher Melanie Trowel, will receive $1,000 for school supplies, and the middle school will receive $2,000.
The Purpledinowolficorns will compete for the grand prize this spring during the contests Final Challenge.
In last year’s contest, a Tates Creek Middle team of seventh-graders won in this round of the air/climate division.
LexPhil celebrates 50th anniversary with special concert event
The Lexington Philharmonic will celebrate its 50th anniversary in January with a special “And the Award Goes to …” concert event recognizing and honoring the individuals and institutions that have made the organization’s first 50 years possible.
The event, which takes place Jan. 14, includes pre-concert festivities at 6 p.m. at ArtsPlace, the concert featuring award-winning film scores at 7:30 p.m. at the Lexington Opera House, and a post-concert celebration at 9 p.m. at ArtsPlace.
“LexPhil’s 50th anniversary celebration is a way for us to say thank you to those who have supported LexPhil and the arts and to truly celebrate this exciting mile-marker in our history, as well as give us an opportunity to look forward to the next 50 years,” LexPhil Music Director and Conductor Scott Terrell said.
For more information, or tickets, visit www.lexphil.org or call (859) 233-4226.
Veterans Park Elementary wins category in city recycling contest
More than 243,000 aluminum cans were collected for recycling by students in Fayette County during this year’s Cans for Cash recycling contest. In terms of weight, students collected 7,618 pounds of aluminum beverage cans – 32 percent more than was collected in 2010, according to a press release.
The contest challenges public and private schools in Fayette County to collect and recycle as many aluminum beverage cans as possible during the month of October. Students from 26 schools competed to see which schools could collect the most cans per student for recycling.
