My friends museum just got approved for voting on Pepsi refresh! Please go to Pepsirefresh.com and vote for Gryffinshyre It is in the $250,000 grant area! She's been working on this for 6 yrs! And I told her I'd post it somewhere and hopefully help her get the funding she needs for it. If you go the the $250,000 grant area then type in "Gryffinshire" it'll take you straight to it! Thank you in advance!
~Rellspire
Edit: Here is an easy way to get there http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre
JUst realized I didn't explain what the museum is..... here is the thing that she wrote for it (yes I'm lazy and just copied and posted)
It is my goal to start a renaissance theme living history museum - a working, historically accurate, sustainable village, Gryffinshyre. The artisans will act as interpreters of their work, giving demonstrations, answering questions, and representing the Elizabethan period. There will be vendors that will sell wares, as well as countless program opportunities: camps, retreats, classes, special events, outreach, lecturers, seminars, consortiums. A portion of the cleared land will be for agricultural usage. The land will use alternative energy sources to power buildings on the property and offer classes and opportunities to educate about these sources. The Museum's unusual goals make for unusual descriptions of start up cost and post opening expenses and revenues. The capital from investors will go toward the preparation period. During the post-opening period we will be secure enough to rely on our revenues to stay stable.
My friend is still trying desperately to move up in the ranks please if you can, go in and vote, it would mean a lot to me http://www.Refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre THANK YOU!
~Rellspire
The original post is below but I wanted to clarify what Gryffinshyre is in hopes that more people will assist- To help build Gryffinshyre (at this point) you don't need to leave your seat and the assistance will take less than 5 minutes. But I want to tell you more about the village. Gryffinshyre will be a 100+ acre village, tentatively planned for Virginia. It will be based in sustainable agriculture and alternative energy. The village/manor will have a 3 field system where corne (grain) is grown, all will be historically accurate. Unlike a typical living history museum we will manual farm land as visitors watch, we will sow, and harvest manually as well. We will do everything the way that it was done in the 1500s. On the site will be a water run mill to grind the grain into flour and a bakery where goods are produced (we will sell both products), There will be an orchard, a vineyard, a brewery, a candle shop, a 'woolen mill', and an apothecary. These will all produce products that can be sold. In addition to these we will have a limited number of vendors, ones that would have been typical for that area, these may or may not be open during the week, but all would be open during the weekends. The museum would be open YEAR ROUND. We would offer programs like a typical museum, and offer a few evening events. We would also have a replica theatre built. The main manor would have a mead hall attached for larger gatherings and special events. The main exhibit area, housed inside the manor would have travelling exhibits from around the world. These exhibits would all be from the 1500s, but instead of focusing on just Western European culture, they would change yearly focusing on all cultures some rarely seen at renaissance festivals: Indonesia, African, Native American, Austrailian, South American, Asian, and Eastern European. All of the exhibit areas would be interactive (within safety) and all would offer demonstrations of their work on a daily basis. This way the museum has something different to offer through every season. Vendors can rotate, if need be so that they can attend other events to make the best living available. I hope this definition of Gryffinshyre will entice you to vote: http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre
Original post:
I am not sure how to do this because I have never been on a forum before so I hope that you will be gentle ;) I am trying to start a museum in Virginia. It is a renaissance themed living history museum based in sustainable agriculture and alternative energy. The ground work is all set and we are looking for funding, BUT one of the few ways to get that is through grants, which are hard to come by. I recently signed up for the Pepsi Refresh Everything Challenge and we made it into our second month (#97) BUT to get the grant we NEED to come in #1 or #2. So it was recommended to me to post here; I was told that EVERY Reni in America checks this forum...but this forum is HUGE! So can someone PLEASE help me. I don't know what to post where to post and how to get this out to everyone. Rennies are huge at participating in things, so I have no doubt that the circuit can help me get this grant (all it requires is a few clicks of the mouse) but I am having a hard time getting ahold of rennies that are willing to take the time to visit the site. My website is www.gryffinshyre.com and the voting site is http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre Can someone help me out and let me know if I am getting this in the correct area and correct site? I am not even sure if I will get notified at my email address if you comment here...
If you want to get notified click the notify tab at the top of the thread. You'll get an email when someone posts. Check your profile under Notifications and Email to see if you have notification enabled.
Thank you that was VERY helpful!
Thanks! We are still competing because we were able to get into the top 100 (#97) in March, so I could REALLY use EVERYONE's help in April. Everyone keeps complaining about not having a renaissance venue available year round...well here is your chance to have one and all you have to do is vote. They won't EVER contact you and if you can get one new friend each day to vote, we can DEFINITELY win this grant. there are hundreds of thousands of rennies out there, so it is just a matter of them clicking on the link and signing in...it is easier than signing up for this forum (they don't even confirm the address) PLEASE HELP!
http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre
Thanks!!!!!
I was told if people start talking about this thread that it will get moved to better area, so I would really appreciate it if you are reading this if you will please comment. Ask me about the project or anything...I am at 140 and we have about 24 days left of voting. If we could get the 91 people who looked at this link to vote, I can guarantee we would move into the top 100 and QUICKLY. If you all told 1 other person (and they vote) we have a great chance of winning this grant; but I can't do it without your help. They won't spam you and they don't even confirm your email address. It is easier to sign up than it was to sign up for this forum. Thanks in advance!
Quote from: xavierzsada on April 06, 2010, 03:19:34 PM
It is easier to sign up than it was to sign up for this forum. Thanks in advance!
Especially if you have Facebook already.
For some reason, the link to the voting page in the original post doesn't work. Mayhap this will.
http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre (http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre)
i voted! are you able to vote more than once? i.e, once a day?
With all seriousness, thank you so much. I really needed the boost today :) I am not sure why the link didn't work Dustin , but thank you, I may have lost a few voters because of that, so I really appreciate you letting me know. Bonnie- you can vote once a day, everyday. Some people are telling people to use more than one address. I think that is unethical, so I would rather you try and have one friend (or more) vote, and Please pass the link as much as possible. I know that the rennies are a strong force, and we can win this far and square! Thanks again for commenting!
Dustin- I figured it out there was one too many www's :) I fixed it! Thanks again
not sure if the mods would mind, but perhaps you could cross post this in the threads that have faires close to the proposed location? local interest is always a good thing too :)
I would love to do that...should I just open a new thread or should I contact the moderators? I am not on too many forums, cause they confuse me :) lots going on. I am on FB so feel free to add our group- gryffinshyre Not much going on there now, but once I win the grant then I will have LOTS to post!
Quote from: xavierzsada on April 06, 2010, 07:57:11 PM
Dustin- I figured it out there was one too many www's :) I fixed it! Thanks again
I think you still need to take the .com off the end. It just goes to the main Pepsi Refresh Everything site now.
I got rid of my FB account. Too many websites to keep up with lol.
Try 'Ask the Admin', not sure what the rule of thumb is on cross posting, but I can't see how it would harm anything. I'm sure lots of folks would like to put this museum on their 'places to visit' list.
Dustin-LOL thanks...I have to say I am normally not this grammatically inept :) I fixed it. I think it must have added those?!?
Bonny- I will email them right now :)
Bonnie-it was suggested to me to change the topic subject first...hopefully it helps. I haven't been to the Refresh site yet this morning, got food poisoning (bad easter egg I believe :(
Wonderful idea! I voted for you ;D
I would really love it if the 188ish people who are reading this would comment too, I would love your input :) Positive or constructive is always welcome!
I put a link on my Facebook wall to help out. Good luck! :)
Thanks for all the help! I am not sure if I wrote this anywhere, but you CAN vote EVERYDAY :) and no worries if the rank doesn't change because sometimes it appears to 'stick' but as long as the votes keep coming it will move forward.
I voted and added it to Facebook.
I voted and FB added as well! =D Best of luck with this!
Thanks! You guys are awesome!
i voted again today :)
well something is happening, cause we are up to 146...anyone care to vote and get it into the 130s :)
We just got onto www.renaissancefestivallinks.org and can't be happier about it so check out that page as well. Keep up the voting!
Voted, facebooked, and emailed to another rennie in another state.
voted and posted to FB
I wanted to make sure I wasn't confusing anyone, I live in Kansas City, but the museum is intended to be based in Culpeper County Virginia. So hopefully it will be closer to more of you and I am sorry if this was confusing. I hope that those of you who live closer to Kansas City won't be too upset. Keep up the good work, sometimes the pepsi ranks 'stick' for a few fdays but they will always catch up and your voting will not be lost. I really appreciate all the help. We can win this, it just means a little hard work!
i voted and fb linked it! good luck!!
For all of those that have already voted, please continue to vote everyday, it really does make a huge difference. Once you have voted, when you sign in you can go to your profile and the idea will already be there waiting so you don't have to do anything else. Thanks again!
So we have passed 300 views, and most people who are going to the site are voting, so I am wondering and REALLY want some feedback as to those of you who are not voting, is there a reason for not voting? Is the process too much to do, is it because Pepsi is the sponsor? Because if all of you who viewed were also voting I would be in the top 100 by now and we have 3 weeks left, so it is completely feasible to win this grant still, hope is not lost. I really do want to hear your opinions.
it shows ALL views, including every time you look and multiple times others view the thread. for instance, i have been here 3x, so that shows every time. others may be checking in to see the progress. hope that helps!
voting again today
That does help. If any of you are interested, Gryffinshyre has a FB page, I think it may be under group, but either way if you search Gryffinshyre on FB please add us and you can keep up there, as I will most likely be adding any change in rank there first, especially when we start moving up. I was a little disappointed today because I emailed another competitor in another $ field. The person said, yeah, go ahead and post to our fan page, you should get some voters. We aren't actively looking for votes. SO they are at 60# and they aren't even trying! I am working my butt off to get as many people to vote as possible...if they aren't even trying that means they are taking a spot in the top 100 that someone else could be using :( Granted, they aren't competiting against me, but still someone at rank 101 isn't going to get to continue to compete next month because they are taking up a spot...so selfish :( If I decided that I was going to not get the grant I would be courteous enough to drop out so that I wouldn't be taking up space.
Said xavierzsada :
Quoteis there a reason for not voting? ... is it because Pepsi is the sponsor?
While I appreciate what you are trying to do, I would not support anything that has to do with the Pepsi Company. A number of years ago the State of Delaware was holding Public Hearings on pending bottle deposit legislation. At the meeting I attended, 25 people spoke in favor of the measure, 5 spoke against (3 of these representing bottling interests from out of state), and 2 for alternate legislation. Those who spoke for the measure were roundly shouted down by a small but vociferous group. Despite objections from the floor, this group continued to harrass the pro-measure speakers. Upon investigation, this group turned out to be Pepsi truck drivers sent by Pepsi to disrupt the meeting. Any company that would send its employees to disrupt a Public Hearing like a bunch of Nazi Brown Shirt Bully Boys is beyond contempt, let alone support.
I understand your dislike of Pepsi, I am not too happy about having the involvement myself, but I am a single stay at home mom. I have been trying to find funding for over 5 years now, I finished the plan about 6 months after I started it in Oct 2003 and unless I decide to go non profit, which is its own tangled web of opinions and red tape, I have little chance of getting funding. Investors waant to see that the project will be a success, so me winning this grant would do a lot to show that. I realize that it is a popularity contest, but that is what investors want to see, that the idea will attract visitors. Grants don't normally exist for individuals, and I am going up against large organizations, that frankly don't need this money, they already can get gov't grants and funding by other means. I on the other hand can not. The majority of Renaissance festivals were started by people who already had land and money, or started small and worked for over 20 years before they even got a trickle. I TOTALLY get where you are coming from, but I assure you that I won't sell out to corporate. The project needs 16.5 millions over a 5 year period to get done correctly, but the 1/4 mil that Pepsi would get me would pay for the planning expenses and get me a business license, accountant and lawyer in Virginia. Thanks for responding, cause I think that Pepsi is a lot of the problem.
So excited to announce I finally added a fan page at FB. If you search for Gryffinshyre it is the product/service; not the group (I am going to be zoning that out at the end of the month) I am really happy that it seems to be working out better than the group and I welcome you all there. We are still at 147 and I am still hopeful that you will help me by voting and get us to the top. It really doesn't take that much to move us forward, but the sooner the voting starts the easier it will be. There are 20 days left to vote and only 1/2 hour tonight ;)
So I was talking with a fellow competitor and she is a math teacher, very sweet. She thinks that it would take roughly 2500 voters a day to win the competition. The Girl in 3rd place (may not be there now but was) is going to local restuarants and bars to enlist voters. I have a 3 yro daughter to care for... I can't be dragging her all over for PR sake. i amnot sure how many people we have voting for us in any given day, but I know that Farmville has 85+ million monthly users :) I know there are hundreds of thousands of Texas Renaissance Festival patrons in 16 days (granted some may come every day) but I know that there are 2500+ rennies out there that can vote for gryffinshyre everyday for the next 20 days...so if you know one or are one PLEASE vote.
http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre
Thanks
I just went to vote and without warning the site is down for 'maintenance' I wonder if my thoughts are correct that the more votes I get the lower my ranking sinks ;) Either way, i just lost a ton of votes today because of this...not cool
Hope you all are still voting. I have made some alliances with some other competitors(different $ arenas) so if you will all be so kind to vote for them as well, they hae vowed to vote for us...hopefully they are as chivalrous, as I am. When you go into vote for Gryffinshyre just go up to the search bar and type in 'Hartwood' they are in the 5,000 I believe. 'Kristen Combs' is in the 50,000 and 'An apple for a day' is in the 25000. You only have to search them once because after that they will be in your profile. Also if you would please comment on their site. All you need to write is Gryffinshyre so they know that you were there. They have classes that are all voting, so we should be moving up the ranks. I was voting for other groups, but they were moving forward as Gryffinshyre was standing still, so I can only assume that they were not voting for us, even though my fans were voting for them. So hopefully something good will come of this.
Well we are finally SLOWLY moving fwd again. We are at 148, and my people have not voted yet, so that is good.. I hope that will liven you bunch up to continue voting. It really only takes a second of your time and I hope you will get interested in the project before it is too late. Gryffinshyre will move forward whether we win this grant or not, but it sure would be nice to say that rennies helped to do it. I am also hoping to find a way to keep track of those loyal to voting, so that something can be worked out after we open. The only way of currently KNOWING that you are voting is if I am a friend of yours on FB and I see that you are posting to your wall, after voting. Some of you have emailed me and shown an interest in helping, so spreading the word would help a lot right now and as we get closer to funding if you fan the gryffinshyre FB page then I can keep you up to date on the progress
147....do I hear, 146?
Today is my birthday- if nothing else good comes of today I would love it if you would all vote for Gryffinshyre- you can make up all the information- http://www.refresheverything.com/gryffinshyre
Thanks
feels sad that with 450+ visits it doesn't seem to making an impact at all to the vote rank. But is a good opportunity to explain to my 3 yro the story of the little red hen
that was easy, I helped. good luck!
Just voted. Good luck!
Thank you all for voting, sadly the ranks are not so easy this month as they have been last month. Also due to the unsavory behavior in the top ranks, I have decided that this is not a competition that i want to continue with. There was not enough votes to get me close to rolling over and the competitors were getting rather childish in their behavior. I hope that you will all continue to keep an eye out for news of Gryffinshyre and perhaps we will find legitimate funding elsewhere (soon). We are on FB- search Gryffinshyre (product- service) Thanks again
During the last couple of days I had started looking into the comments on the other ideas (the ideas in the top ranks) I was very put off by what I saw there. I decided to resign from the competition (not that we were even close this month ;) I decided that it is a waste of time considering that it is highly suspect that people toward the fron ranks were making up phony names to discredit others ideas, as well as probably making up phony emails as well to cushion their lead. I don't want to be involved in anything dishonest. I will leave Gryffinshyre up, since it will be dropped in a few days anyway, but I wanted you to be aware that I will not be voting, and hope that you will spend what time you spent (although short) with loved ones rather than voting for something that needs to be let go. Blessed Be.
Part of the dream of Gryffinshyre was to be able to sustain itself, while using the revenues produced to act as a philanthropist to other projects. After deciding to stop voting for myself- I decided tonight, that I would vote for a competitor who had actually befriended me AND voted for me. She deserves to win the grant, she has always had kind words for me and never criticized when it could have been easy for her to sink to the levels the others did. She is a decent human being, and that is saying a lot. Her name is Lily Lee-Jones and she is hoping to use the grant to open a math club for her students. It may not be the noblest of causes, but it is sincere. I hope that anyone who was voting for me will STOP and start giving her my votes. Blesses Be