Sunday night – Friends of Sam

Peaceful day today.   We spent the day trying not to eat the candy that Gabe managed to collect last night.   Exactly 233 pieces…   fewer by my count today 🙂


In the afternoon, Diane and I went to the Haunted Forest to do a little filming of the Pumpkin King. We had to do it today before we lost the gneerator an compressor. Believe it or not, I’m trying to use it to make a rap video about the joys of  engineering. It’ll ether by funny or awful.. you’ll get to judge in a week or so…

The other acomplishments for the day were ..   getting a run in with the dogs and diane.. putting up our interior storm windows.. and a project with Jen. 

I spent a couple of hours over at Jen and Tim’s working on the Friends of Sam page on Samstones.org. Jen’s idea is to collect all of the material that the kids have done with Friends of Sam to help them with their college applications.  These kids have done such great community service in Sam’s Honor. I hope it does help them get noticed as they apply..

Here’s a list of the stuff off the page…   If you’re reading this and your’ve been involved with Friends of Sam.. please check out this list and let Jen know if we’ve left anything out.. or if you have some pictures  or documents you’d like us to add in.. 

Here’s the material.. so I’ll end here… Have a peaceful novermber folks. It’s a tough  month for us.. but we’ll get thruh it.. Nite all.. Nite Sam
-me

Friends of Sam is a group of kids helping kids. Friends of Sam is

made up of several of Sam’s good friends. They have been doing fund

raisers to raise money to help kids in need.

Here’s an article in the Burlington Free Press that announced the group’s mission and some of the founding members:
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Here’s a list of events that Friends of Sam has held since 2007:
 

2007

Friends of Sam supports local teens who lost their home to a house fire…..

 

Friends

of Sam sent two Williston teens $200.00 gift certificates to the

University Mall in order that they could replace some of their clothing

and belongings that they lost in a house fire.

 

 

 

May 28, 2007 : Friends of Sam supports the Tyler Eklund Fund

 

Fourteen year old Tyler Eklund broke his C3 vertebrae while snowboarding at a national competition.  He was paralyzed from the neck down.  Friends

of Sam supported the Tyler Eklund fund with a check for $2526.83 with

the intention that it be used to help his family make his home wheel

chair accessible. The funds for this donation were raised through the

sale of T-shirts and Frisbees at a memorial birthday event in honor of

Sam Cohn.  Tyler was a participant in the High Cascade camp program as was Sam.

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August, 2007 : Friends of Sam supports the Camels Hump Middle School

 

Friends of Sam purchased and donated new school supplies to the Camels Hump Middle School in Richmond, VT.  They

shopped for and delivered $420.00 worth of much needed supplies

including notebooks, pencils, rulers, gluesticks, paper, etc. with the

intention that it be made available to kids in need.

 
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November, 2007 : Friends of Sam supports the Burlington Emergency Food Shelf and Local Families in Need:



Friends

of Sam presented an art auction event at Jager Dipaolo and Kemp in

support of the Burlington Emergency Food Shelf.  At this event, Friends

of Sam provided musical entertainment and refreshments, while visitors

enjoyed the hand made art donations by the kids, their friends and

family members.  This event, combined with the Chili Cookoff with

Hettena-Wright and Horton, netted close to 4000.00 in cash and food

donations for area families and the food shelf:

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May,

2008: Friends of Sam supports Abraham Nhail and family with $3000.00,

that was raised at the Jam for Sam event at Talent Skate Park:

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 Here’s Abraham’s story:

 

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We’ve just learned that Abraham is close to being reunited with his family

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December 2007 & 2008: Friends of Sam supports Jingle Rails:

Jingle

Rails in an event held at Bolton Valley Ski Resort in support of the

mission of Friends of Sam. Skiers and Snowboarders competed for

placement and prizes.


 

June 2009:  Jam for Sam at Talent Skate Park

Friends

of Sam and Talenet Skate park joined together again to raise funds for

the Kraing Baing Village Project, a non-profit organization whose

mission is to help the impoverished village of Kraing Baing, Camboidia.

Friends of Sam raised and donated $700 to the project which was enough

to support their goal of the installation of two clean water wells.

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Saturday night – Bittersweet.

We’re just back in from trick-or-treating .

It’s been a good day.. not the day I expected, bit a good day

nonetheless. I had a ton of stuff planned, but this mornign I got a

call from Herb at the Haunted Forest, .. the Pumpkin King aka

‘Project-x’, hadn’t been tied down properly and blew over in a high

wind gust at last night’s performance. Luckily, no one was hurt.. but

you couldn’t say that for the pumpkin, he’s head had beenn early 

knocked off, his fingers were all broken, and arm was dislocated and

the wires were all ripped up.. Worse.. his whole 20 feet was lying

horizontal on the ground. Homer got there around 11 and I got there a

little later..they took off his head.. homer worked on the arm while I

redid the electronics and repaired the jaw. . Herb repaired the fingers

It was a mess !

By

about 1 we had the whole guy back together again and completly

working.. I couldn’t beeive it. Homer is a mechanical genius…

As

I was packign up, a couple of parent visitors to the forest recognized

me from the show.. so I grabbed a picture.. . I was id’ed 4 times

today..  It still happens every time I go out in public  I love talking

to folks about the show.

During

the afternoon, Sam M came over and interviewed us for a journalism

class she’s taking. She’s doing a paper on ‘folks who overdo

Halloween’.. and she thought of us.. The funny thing is.. with the

party being last week, we weren’t too motivated to go out tonight. Gabe

was going out with his friends… but they don’t need us tagging along.

So… it looked like it would be the first time I hadn’t gone out trick

or treating for the past 20 years…..

I

dropped Gabe and his friends off.. then had to drop Kristen’s bag at

friend Scouts’.. I ended up trick or treating by myself at Scout’s

house….   and realized I wasn’t old enough to skip trick or treating

yet.. I zoomed back home

..

and Diane and I whipped together a costume .. We tied ropes between our

arms and clothes pinned on a bunch of old clothes.. We came as a

clothesline… or ‘airing our dirty laundry’.. in recognition of our

towns bizarre and amusing politics of late…

Wouldn’t you know that as soon as we got out of the car in town we ran into Gabe and co..

We

did our normal rounds, first down Bridge street .. with a stop in to

see Marvin and Bridge Street.. Half the town was in there…

We ran into Chris K as ‘iron man’

Then we headed down pleasant street to see Gretch’ , Marshall and Ben and have one of their traditional cider doughnuts.

We

then wandered round town, running into old friends and reliving those

decades of carrying kids. repairing costumes and eating the candy that

the kids didn’t like I can remember so, so many of those Halloweens in

Richmond.. It’s got to be one of my favorite things abotu living in a

small town like this.. I love our town.

I love our memories.. Happy Halloween folks.. happy Halloween Sam..  Trick or treat !
-me

Friday night – Gabrielle

Busy day working at home. On the phone all day.. but got lots accomplished. I was glad I was already home at 6 because Gabe and Kristen were getting ready for a Halloween party. Gabe had decided to go as Kristen.. So she tied up his hair.. and dressed him up.. He was a pretty good looking girl.. I guess this is as close to having a daughter as I will ever get..


I dropped him off at the party… but by the time I picked him up he’d turned back into a boy.. what a relief.

Not much else to report today.. One cool thing is that I got a great link from Burning Man  friend Kirk. He found this great panorama shot of this years Burn.. you can pan and zoom around enough to really get a feel what it was like to be out on the playa on Saturday night. If you look around, you can spot our timecycle looking pretty and other worldly.

Check out the link here

Here are some screen shots I took to quide you to us.. 

You can even see people riding in the chairlifts !.. Amazing !

Getting sleepy now.. gotta stop before I fall asleep.. more tomorrow. Night folks
Nite Sam !
-me

Thursday late night – Keepsake

Diane and I just got back from a great State Radio concert at Higher Ground. I just love seeing these guys.. so much music from three guys. Even better, their songs really have purpose. They sing about peace,justice, and love .. all things I’m in favor of.

The place was packed we ran in to several of our friends there.. there

were doubtless many more in the packed crowd near the stage. It was a

great vibe there.

 One thing that really adds to State Radio shows is that they always have a cause attached to them. This time, Chad was promoting the group ‘Calling all Crows’ The group he and Sybil formed to promote public service and fight injustice and violence against women. Calling all Crows has teamed up with the Anti hunger movement Oxfam to build steel stoves for the displaced women in Sudan. These stoves allow women to cook for their families and remain safe in their camps rather than having to leave their families to forage for fuel which exposes them to violence at the hands of roving soldiers. A donation of $20 buys one of these stoves for a  family.. Check out this vid to learn more

Check it out and consider helping out this cause..

It was a great show.. the band came out and did 2 songs for an encore.. The first was Keepsake, The song that Jane and Avery sang at Sam’s memorial. They dedicated it to Sam… someone had told them we were in the house.
THey’ve dedicated this song to Sam every time they’ve played here since he died. It’s such a wonderful honor.. We remember being in that same room wiht Sam listening to these guysjust a month before he died.. now it’s been .. 3 times ? maybe more ? Each time we’re a little stronger.. This time I listened to the band play Keepsake and was able to smile.. I’m greatful and amazed…

Well.. It’s almost 2.. gotta sleep. Thanks to Chad and freinds for their healing energy..
GNite all.. Gnite Sam.. your spirit is strong we love you

-me

Here’s the song Keepsake by Chad Stokes.

One gonna heal my body another gonna heal my pain
One gonna settle me down then bring me back up again

I’m gonna put my family back together again

One gonna hold my woman another gonna hold my job
One gonna help me get up, another gonna help me stop

One gonna help me talk right, one gonna lay me down to sleep

(Humming)

One gonna hold my thoughts and another gonna hold my bones
One gonna keep me warm and another gonna keep me cold

One gonna bring religion, right from a Coleman stove
One gonna help me keep em’ another gonna help me tame

One gonna run me down (Hell a bullets in my way)

You’re gonna keep my soul it was yours to have long ago

(humming)

I’m gonna buckle my belt around the ceiling pipe
I’m gonna buckle my knees and I’m gonna lock em’ up tight

I’m gonna hold a pen while you drag my arm across the page

One gonna hold my memories another gonna close the door
One gonna leave me restless another wanting more

You’re gonna keep my soul it was yours to have long ago

(Humming)

Here’s somone elses recording of them singing Keepsake at a differnt show.. just found it on youtube.. hope it’s ok to post here