Dear friends, family, neighbors and colleagues,

Happy belated Valentine's Day! Truly, there is no late date on that holiday, so I take back the "belated." And Happy (snowy) Presidents Day.

Today is also momentous because we hit the halfway point of our Green Grocer campaign. It has been a tremendous journey for us thus far. We have been blessed with extraordinary generosity from so many different people. Thank you so much.

But we've got a long way to go to reach our goal. Our plans, as ground-up and volunteer-driven as they are, hinge on our ability to raise these funds. Our costs are amazingly low for this kind of venture, which is a testament to all the donated time, technical assistance, and materials we've benefited from until now. We continue to get generous offers in that direction. However, there are very concrete and unavoidable costs we will absolutely have to cover to open by spring, as planned.

So today we are launching our GREEN GROCER 30 Days of Luck challenge. Every day, starting today (2/16), we will be updating our Facebook and Twitter with info on our grocery store project, and other relevant information. You will see I <heart> FOOD, I <heart> ALDERSON popping up in the Alderson area to publicize this challenge. We need you to make this possible -- your own contributions, but also your own voice within your networks. Every dollar and every donation, no matter the size, helps us reach our goal, and helps build awareness of the value of having access to basic groceries in our own community.

At the end of those 30 days, we plan to hosting a St Patrick's Day dance fundraiser in Alderson, open to the general public. We hope many of you can join us then. With a little Irish luck, we hope to be able to announce the date of our opening celebration then, featuring the music of Ben Gilmer and the Sidearms.

So we begin on the day we celebrate as Presidents Day, aiming for nothing more patriotic, and democratic and transformative, than making a way for our own people to nourish themselves far into the future. Please join us in taking on this challenge, whose rewards will go beyond measure for everyone in our community.

We look forward to your critical support. Thank you.
http://www.aldersonfoodhub.org
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-us-start-a-grocery-store

Our warmest, most sincere blessings to you and yours,
Kevin