The following is a letter provided by good friend Alex Rutledge asking for the preservation of Olivewood Cemetary. He is an activist in his community and works to bring education and opportunity to the underserved populations of Houston.
I’m a supporter of Descendants of Olivewood, the group of volunteers and Board Members dedicated to the preservation of Olivewood Cemetery, a historic cemetery in Houston, Texas. I want to share with you a simple way for you to help support this organization. If you haven’t heard about Olivewood Cemetery, the following links to a recent article from the Houston Chronicle and Mini-documentary posted on Youtube, explain the history of Olivewood Cemetery:
Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7419890.html
Mini-documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM3lg_87aFQ
If you are interested in helping Olivewood achieve its goal of becoming a museum and educational center, you can download the GoodSearch — Descendants of Olivewood toolbar at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/descendants-of-olivewood
Each time you search the web with GoodSearch’s Yahoo-powered search engine, about a penny will go to the Descendants of Olivewood, the Board Members of Olivewood Cemtery. If you want to see how much money has been raised so far, you can always click on the “Amount Raised” button. So far, Olivewood has raised nearly $4.00 through 400 searches through Goodsearch.com. The Descendants of Olivewood aim to register at least 200 people before January 2012 to Goodsearch, which could potentially raise between $1,500 and $2,000 if each volunteer searched online two times a day. Also, every time you shop online at 2,000 participating stores including Amazon, eBay, Target, Apple, Staples, Expedia, etc., a percentage of your purchase will be donated for free! The site also has thousands of money-saving coupons!
There are many legal and logistical steps the Descendants of Olivewood must take before they can build a museum near the cemetery. The Descendants of Olivewood have applied for grants, sought donations, and held fundraisers, some of which have contributed to the goals set for the cemetery. However, the cemetery must be secure before any more donors will consider granting more money to build a museum at the cemetery. Currently, one of the top priorities of the Descendants of Olivewood are to hire an engineer to survey the land in order to build a fence, which will both secure the cemetery and legitimize the organization’s efforts and vision in applying for grants. Foundations and donors will be less likely to grant the Descendants of Olivewood if the cemetery is not secure and open to vandalism and theft.
Therefore, Goodsearch is the simplest and easiest means at the Descendants of Olivewood’s disposal of raising the necessary money to hire qualified professionals that can cut back the brush allowing room for a fence, survey the land the cemetery is on, and build a fence around the cemetery.
To give you a sense of how the money can add up, the ASPCA has already earned more than $30,000!
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
The Descendants of Olivewood
Resources: