Happy New Year, Henryton!

I just got off of the phone with a representative of a Green Development firm who is very interested in our group and our ideas. They have some ideas of their own and a whole presentation for us and assured me that there is funding in place to save Henryton. I am meeting with them on Wednesday. This is very exciting as we have already met with a very knowledgeable contractor on top of that (hopefully he can make it to the meeting…).

This is going to be a good year for Save Henryton. I can feel it. Deep down in my sentimental-decrepit-building-loving bones. Maybe after this year we’ll be able to rename our group having achieved our goals.

More to come after our meeting on Wednesday!

Progress, Progress, Progress

We (those of us who actually attend regular meetings, that is), are currently working with a consultant of sorts. At this point our consultant prefers to remain nameless, which we fully support and will respect his/her wishes. This consultant, let’s call him/her “Cary,” has been helping us out with a lot of stuff on this project.

Cary has a lot of experience in building remediation and the like and has given us a few pointers on how to ’sell’ our ideas to the state and others. So we are now putting our noses to the grindstone (whatever that means) and working on packaging our concept. To do so, we need the following:

Someone good with 3d modeling, specifically architecture.

Someone good with technical drawing, specifically architecture.

Someone good with graphic design.

Anyone with any experience in those areas is encouraged to contact us at info@savehenryton.com as soon as possible. We are going to be attempting to recruit current MICA and Towson students (only because those are the schools we know people in currently) to help us out with this project.

Like I said: progress, progress, progress. :-)

Ally Hunter-Harris & The Save Henryton Team

Save Henryton’s Official Press Release

This is a copy of what we’re sending to local media:

For Immediate Release 
 
 Local group advocates to rehabilitate Henryton State Hospital

BALTIMORE–The organization, Save Henryton, headquartered in Baltimore, opposes the state’s plans to demolish the abandoned hospital buildings. They are meeting on Tues., Sept. 22 at 6pm at Java Grande (9050 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City) and encourage any interested persons to attend.

      Founded in 2008, Save Henryton is a group which aims to re-purpose the Henryton campus as a Community Center, complete with organic farm, co-op housing, studio space, on and off-site educational programs, community outreach, after-school programs, a museum dedicated to the history of the hospital and much more. The core values of the group are Community, Sustainability, History/Preservation, and The Arts.

      The group’s founders especially encourage concerned Carroll County residents to be at this meeting as their plans will likely affect that community the most but residents of any county are more than welcome to attend. Others highly encouraged to attend include: environmentalists, artists, community activists, students and progressive thinkers. More information on the organization can be found on their website, www.savehenryton.com. Carpooling options to the meetings are available through the mailing list at info@savehenryton.com.                                                                                      
About SAVE HENRYTON

      Save Henryton was founded by Ally Hunter-Harris in 2008 on the ideas that (a) every resource can, and should be, recycled, reused, or re-purposed and, when possible, sustained, (b) we all have a responsibility to the community in which we live, (c) history and historical sites have the right to persevere, and (d) the arts have the right to be nourished indefinitely. The purpose for which Save Henryton has been formed is to preserve the History of the Henryton State Hospital through research, education, and activism including, but not limited to, attempting to save the historic buildings themselves. To serve the surrounding community in ways including, but not limited to, as a Community Center with on and off-site educational programs, community outreach, and sustainable practices. Additional information can be found on http://www.savehenryton.com 

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Any Press Is Good Press

So I read the article that Jennifer Jiggets wrote as soon as I got out of bed today (which isn’t saying much because I was up all night driving—happy birthday again to member Sean Scheidt!).

It’s a short article, with a shorter mentioning of us, but, hey! Who cares? We’re in the paper! And that’s a start. Read the full article here.

So I think that within the next week this is what needs to happen:

  • have an awesomely productive meeting
  • launch the new design of the website
  • put out an official press release to all the local papers (i.e. baltimore sun, carroll county times, eldersburg papers, sykesville papers, city paper, etc.)
  • wallpaper the local areas with posters, signs, postcards in shops, magnets, and anything else we can use

Oh, and a heads up to anyone not on the mailing list–the meeting will probably be on Tuesday evening. Just need to hear back from Aleks about the address of the office.

Publicity Part One

Okay, so I just got off the phone with Carroll County Times again. She was just verifying info from yesterday’s interview. It’s official though–we’re going to be mentioned in tomorrow’s paper. This is a good fire under our butts, am I right??! Let’s hope we look good!

Also, we will be meeting next week. Stay tuned for a date and time!

Love,
Ally

Ps I’m jonesin’ for a Henryton trip. Anyone wanna join me?

updated from my BlackBerry using WordPress for BlackBerry

Update!

Okay, so I have to apologize profusely to all of you for my

e-absence….aside from not updating you, it is hurting the integrity of

the group. For those who care, my lovely little monster of a dog decided

to pee on my computer and effectively rendered it useless. Hence, my

absence.

But I’m back! And we’re back!

Today I was contacted by a reporter from the Carroll County Times about the website and our group. We had a good talk about the state’s plans and our plans. The story should be in Saturday’s paper so let’s all keep an eye out. Any press is good press no matter how what I said gets spun.

Any one who has been on a trip to Henryton recently knows that it is in

dire shape now and we really need to get a move on it. So I would like

to schedule a meeting for next week. Keep checking back here for updates!

Also, I just got an evil blackberry so I will be updating the blog from there too (especially on visits!) so you can expect more from me on here.

Love you all like I love the potential which decaying hospital complexes

hold,

Ally

info@savehenryton.com

Save Henryton on “Twitter”

Okay, you guys asked for it at the meeting, and here it is.

Save Henryton Twitter Updates

follow SaveHenryton on Twitter!


i have to admit, although I was morally opposed to twitter to begin with…it can’t be all that bad, right? it will help keep us (mostly me) on track, being accountable for progress and whatnot…right? Right.

So there you have it. Save Henryton is now on Twitter.

FIRST MEETING SCHEDULED!

Hey everyone! I’ve been trying to find a suitable location for a meeting considering the different areas that everyone would be coming from. So here it is:

Date: Saturday, June 6, 2009
Time: 2:30 PM
Location: Java Grande, Ellicott City, MD (9050 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21042)

This coffee shop is located on Route 40, approximately 20 minutes west of Baltimore, 15 minutes east of Marriottsville area. It’s next to the Sun Trust Bank. If you’re going West on 40 and you hit the McDonalds, you’ve gone too far. going East, if you hit the exit for 29, you’ve gone too far. If you need directions, googlemap it or ask me.

I figured a coffee shop would be a nice, quiet, low-key place for a first meeting with something available for everyone to drink/eat. And it’s on a Saturday so hopefully no work conflicts will arise.

Those of you coming from Baltimore (specifically you MICAns): I will be coming from bmore that day so I can give rides to 4 people but we have to coordinate this in advance. Email me to that effect. If you have a car and can give rides, let me know that too in case more than 4 people need a ride.

Please let me know whether or not you can make it.

At the meeting we’ll be covering some important stuff to get everyone on the same page, as well as discussing the immediate steps we need to take to become a legally recognized non-profit organization. Everyone who is interested in any facet of this project should try to attend–research/art/

distribution/petitioning/etc. I can’t stress enough that everything will be covered so that we can get it all out of the way in one meeting. After that, committees will be formed for the different aspects of our many efforts. I would just like to get some face-to-face time in with everyone so that we can all meet, put names with faces and get some old-fashioned networking going on. Please bring something to write with, I’ll have paper handouts for everyone and will try to remember extra pens/pencils.Feel free to pass this info along to anyone else that you think might be interested. The more, the merrier (and the better!)

(If you cannot make it but still want to help, let me know and I will make sure to send you notes on the meeting and any information you might need.)

Thanks, Everyone!

See you soon,
Sincerely,
Ally Hunter-Harris & SaveHenryton.com

(info@savehenryton.com)

P.S. I’ve done some more work on the site if you haven’t seen it lately. And more work is to come. We’re having a redesign coming up to solidify our image with a sleeker, more professional look!

Non-Profit Organization Time! Oh Yeah!

So I’ve made an executive decision. Not today, a couple of weeks ago, actually. I am in the process of gathering all the materials (documents and whatnot) that I need to make Save Henryton an official and legally recognized non-profit organization. I’m also going to be applying for grants to help offset some of my personal expenses with printing costs and what.

So here’s what you can expect: a new look to the website complete with the organization’s mission statement, vision statement and more official organization-y things. Our meeting will be on May 30th. Time and location TBA very, very soon. And now that we have the wordpress thing up, there will be more frequent blogging with updates on my interactions with state officials. Special thanks and props go out in advance to Aleks Samoylov for all his help (http://www.alekssamoylov.com).

The next step is to get the official gallery pages in working order and that will be in the coming weeks. Everyone keep in touch, keep your fingers crossed and keep on loving Henryton!

–Ally

FINALLY!

So now we have a real-live php blog and we’re outta that *shudder* LiveJournal.

So first things first:

interest is being generated. So we need to set up a meeting. As soon as the meeting is set, there will be a blog entry about it so that anyone interested can attend. I  will do my best to advertise as much as possible–maybe even put something in Coffee News. We’ll see. So now I just need to finish setting up the php gallery and then finish building henrytoncenter.com. The postcards and whatnot are on their way to me so I should have them in time for the meeting to hand out to people to distribute. So exciting. We need to get a move on, people!