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I am proud and honored to share what your time, donations, and sharing of the We Are Up vision have allowed us to accomplish in just over a year. We Are Up will give seniors and people with disabilities a place to call home in their own community where they are known and will have the supports needed to live their best lives. Currently there is no available housing in Humboldt County for adults with autism or other disabilities. With your help and the help of the community at large, we aim to change that alarming statistic. We have secured over 15 acres for our project (and are in the process of a lot line adjustment to add ½ acre to the north to give more flexibility in access and parking). We have formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and have an active and knowledgeable Board of Directors. We designed a logo, and developed an informative website - with a newsletter with over 1,000 subscribers and social media communication platforms. We have completed the environmental studies, have a plan of operations, architect-drawn designs, and will be filing our CEQA documents before year end, and have met our goal to file our CEQA docs with the county before Christmas. We have successfully transplanted 30 mature apple trees and have lifetime sponsors for each. We organized an informative “Meet and Greet” to introduce the project to the community and about 200 friends and neighbors attended.
We Are Up was the primary recipient of the 2022 Mad River Rotary Farm to Table fundraiser. We held our 1st annual Halloween Spooktacular just one week later. The event was sold out – together the two events hosted about 400 people and raised over 30% of the $400,000 needed for our greenhouse. This will allow us to immediately begin offering programs using the greenhouse and a portion of the duplex as a classroom. We were invited to present the We Are Up mission and vision at a Disney/Pixar event in Napa. The outcome was invitation to annual participation and funding opportunities. We have met with many individuals and organizations on site and made presentations to Rotary Clubs, Soroptimists, OLLI, local and national politicians and visitors, we even presented to Disney & Pixar.
All of this and the many, many details behind each activity have been accomplished with donations of time, funds, and expertise. We have NO paid staff – 100% has been achieved with donations and volunteer efforts. We all recognize the extreme need in Humboldt County for innovative housing and programs for all our residents. We hope you will consider contributing a portion of your RMD this year to help provide a home close to home for some of our most vulnerable.
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