Charleston Village Society, Inc.

CVSI Annual Report 2007
Loraine Ritchey , CVSI

Tribute Carving Eric Barnes photo H. Hawk

Charleston Village Annual Report for 2007
We had three projects on board for this year.
We continued to raise donations both cash and in kind for the revitalization of the

Charleston Village Pioneer Cemetery

We started the year with a cash carry over from 2006 of $628
Our cash donations for the year 2007 = $970.00
And our cash expenses for 2007 = $835.00
Leaving us a carry over balance of $763.00 for 2008

And a lot more work to come. We are only in Phase one of the cemetery project,we are putting out requests for some grant funding while continuing to work with the City of Lorain.

We had in-kind donations totaling $3,903.00 (for those that sent us a dollar amount.

The man/woman hours put in for 2007 = 977 (for those that reported back) calculating their work at the hourly rate of 10 dollars and hour you can add another
$9,770.00 for those contributions if we had had to pay.

The hard work paid off and the Charleston Village Pioneer Cemetery won this years Lorain County Beautiful Award

Community Revitalization Award - Any projects that are community driven and impacts neighborhood revitalization such as: Habitat for Humanity or downtown revitalization Projects:WINNER Charleston Cemetery, Lorain

Diane Medina also was given a proclamation honoring her hard work and preservation of the cemetery by State Representative Joseph Kozuira at the opening ceremony of the Black River Bicentennial August 25th 2007.

Trees on 2nd Street
After a less than positive start in January of being told that the tree on 2nd street would have to come down; July saw Charleston Village starting the fundraising for the 2nd Street Project now known as the Portside/Emerson Collection.

The trees on 2nd street had to be clear cut ( all 19 of them from under the power lines) However thanks to a co-operative effort between the City of Lorain , First Energy and Charleston Village we have started the Portside Emerson Collection.

Bud Emerson a champion chainsaw carver has started on Phase one, the five trees on the corner of 2nd and Oberlin.
The sponsors for the trees are:

Lorain Portside Welcome - City of Lorain (Preservation Fund)

Lorain Lighthouse - Port of Lorain Foundation and Lakeland Healthcare Corp. ( direct donation through Charleston Village)

Chain and Anchor- - City of Lorain (Preservation Fund)

Heron and Cattails - Oster Homes a K Hanoverian Company ( direct donation through Charleston Village)

Tribute Sculpture for Airman Eric Barnes - CenturyTel.(direct donation through Charleston Village
Note (This sculpture had to be done off site due to the sewer construction which stopped the work on Phase One in that area. There was a special unveiling and the sculpture will be at City Hall until the spring, we are working on a “conservation green” to landscape and finish Phase one in the spring of 2008. At that time all sponsors and particpants will be invited to a special ribbon cutting.

The “direct sponsorship “through the Charleston Village accounts for the sculptures in 2007
Totaled $5,850.00 and we spent $5,850.00.

We also held a raffle; with the donation of an Eagle (carved at the Port Fest this summer by Bud Emerson) the Eagle was won by Don Joy of Lorain Ohio.
The raffle brought in $1,524.00 for the preservatives to be used on the carvings.

2007 Expenses:(cost of presevative chemicals ) were $179.71
leaving us $1,344.29 to carry over into 2008.

Black River Bicentennnial

This was a large undertaking and the partnership with many other organizations including but not limited to:
.
Lorain Lighthouse Foundation, Lorain International, Black River Historical Society, Charleston Village, Lorain Growth Corp, Lorain Palace Theatre, Lorain County Metro Parks, South Lorain, Lorain Police Dept, Lorain Health Dept, Lorain County Historical Society Lorain Youth Baseball, Lorain City Schools, The Wom Blog, Lorain Public Library System, Lorain Street Railway, Nathan Perry Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, Lorain City Schools- ROTC, Workshop Players, NAACP/Underground Railroad, Downtown Ministries, City of Lorain, Little Lighthouse Learning Center, Lorain Sports Hall of Fame , Golden Crescent Barbershop Singers. Lorain Fire Dept, Friends of Helen Steiner Rice, International Writers Association, White Dove Crow, Lorain County Vintage Base Ball.Lorain Port Authority, Creative Chainsaw Carving Lorain County Commissioners, The Stocker Foundation and Nord Family Foundation

Well over 140 people joined ranks to put on the two day Black River Bicentennial- August 25th and 26th - including the above mentioned organizations who partnered with us to make this event a success.

We had no budget for this event and every expense was covered by donations and volunteers for their particular part of the celebration. However through the BRHS, donations from The Stocker Foundation, the Nord Family Foundation and The Lorain County Commissioners we were able to provide “Trolley Tours” of the are to over 400 people

Our partnership with some great volunteers and great and caring organizations made the event a huge success.

We have over 1,500 volunteer hours on the plus side of this column and totals are still arriving. In- kind donations are also still being calculated but a huge amount of time effort and a lot of work went into making this event a success.

Miscellaneous

We also managed some street signs. Portside and the original plot of Charleston Village now have their own street sign designation. You will see the logo (cost of design donated) and thenew signs on every street corner in the original village thanks to the City of Lorain.

Our website continues to be sponsored by Lorain County dot com and Emerge.

We are pleased to report that for every dollar donated 100% of donation went to toward the project earmarked for the donation.

Charleston Village’s associates have also been involved with the formation of the Lorain Neighborhood Watch Council,letters of support for various projects that effect our quality of life and are represented with the Lorain City Schools.

Breakdown of accounting and reports are available - contact 440-246-6046

Submitted: Loraine Ritchey Co Chair Charleston Village January 10th 2008