House Statistics Update October 2004 Update August 2005 Update October 2006

PRAIRIE HOUSE…THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE
FORGING AHEAD

Progress Report or Update
October 10, 2004

Dear Friends,

The Prairie House continues to make daily strides toward renovation completion before time for the Oklahoma State Centennial in 2007. We have come so far. Yet there is still such a long way to go!

We are pleased to announce our SECOND ANNUAL VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION DINNER, which will be held at the Prairie House, on the front porch, as last year. It will be at 5:30 PM on Tuesday, October 18th, 2004. If you have donated or helped with the Prairie House in some way, you and your spouse or significant other are invited to bring a dish of food and attend. It will be held, and be over quickly, since we still don’t have full electricity in the house yet! I would imagine it would be good to gather as soon after 5 pm as possible, so we may begin eating by 5:30 , and we will try to dismiss by 6:30, according to the amount of daylight remaining! IF THE WEATHER IS EXCEPTIONALLY INCLEMENT, PLEASE WATCH FOR A RESCHEDULE DATE. If you are aware of any ONE individual you think has done an exceptional job as a volunteer this year, I’d appreciate hearing from you.

I’m sure many of you have been seeing the men in orange pants and white t-shirts. They are all volunteers on loan from the Stephens County Sheriff’s Trustee Program. Those men who have earned trustee status may be sent out of the county jail to do community work. Most of them are then repaid two days for every one spent in jail if they work in a constructive community environment. Most are delighted to get to see daylight, and to be able to be busy, and useful. All five of the men we are using at the Prairie House seem to be extremely interested in seeing the house repaired properly, and restored to it’s original beauty. They all are taking a great deal of pride in the work they do for you. Since late July The Prairie House Foundation has been fortunate to have their work, and in many cases, their on job experience and expertise! We have had job contractors, electricians, plumbers, and others. During the time these men have been helping the Prairie House Project, we have had all the old deteriorated boards along the eaves replaced, and new eaves and fascia put in place & painted. Trustees also have helped tear out most of the necessary plaster (that which had become dislodged due to the settling of the broken foundation, then the repair that caused the house to shift again.). They have hauled all the debris away, and have replaced it with sheet rock, that has now been taped and bedded.
The men have done a tremendous job in cleaning up the lawn and grounds. They have also been redoing all the upper story windows, by cleaning them out properly, then priming them, applying new caulk, painting them, then scraping them to make them look so nice preparatory to placing the new or redone window screens that Jim Shelby is currently building/rebuilding for us.

The ADOPT A ROOM concept or plan is also moving along. We have the fourth room now in process of being adopted! Adoption comes on first come, first serves basis. What I am not sure about is that everyone understands what our “Adopt A Room”concept is all about.

Adopting any room is $3,000.00. Originally, we said that fee just covered the electric and plumbing. However, many women thought it should cover getting to furnish the room as well. It does not exclude that possibility! The idea was conceived in order for us to get enough funding to have the entire house re-plumbed and all new electric wiring run. However, as things are now, the first people to provide us with $3,000.00 lump sums may be the first to name which room they wish to “adopt” and have noted as their own. It can be an individual, or several individuals grouped together. It can be a business or a corporation. You may use the guidelines provided by our volunteer interior decorator and our Board of Directors, then you may furnish the room according to the era and those guidelines. When the house is complete, your name, or that of your organization, or group will be permanently remembered as the donor/donors who made that room’s renovation possible.

Persons who would like to adopt a part of the house, but don’t wish to donate that large a sum may select the adoption of one of our 47 windows around the house, or perhaps one of the doors. They require only a $100.00 donation. The one exception is the front room’s East window, which will be a stained glass window. It is available for $600.00 replacement cost. So far only one French door has been adopted. We also have need of replacing 25 door knobs within the house…for only $25.00 each. Four beveled mirrors must be replaced…at $150.00. And if you only wish to donate $5.00 toward our project at this time, you may choose to select one of the 2900 square feet of the house, and Adopt A FOOT, for your $5.00. The Prairie House is delighted to receive any amount of money you choose to share with us for the renovation of the W. T. Foreman house.

The Prairie House Foundation is extremely pleased to announce that WE RECEIVED OUR VERY OWN 501©3 LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE from the IRS as a stand alone TAX DEDUCTIBLE ENTITY LAST WEEK! That means that even though we have been able to accept donations, and have them counted as tax-deductible donations, we can now received donations that will be placed in an account belonging JUST to The Prairie House Foundation. Those funds will NOT be placed in an account with any other funds. I would encourage you to consider your end of year donations now, as a way of helping to secure this lovely old 1918 Frank Lloyd Wright like Prairie Style house as a community house and tourism enticement for our area.

When it gets right down to the wire, we were hoping for a financial miracle recently, and it happened, once again! Our local benefactor who has been so good to help came through with some “tide over” funding, hopefully, until we might be able to receive a grant from foundations unwilling to donate to us while we are working under the auspices of The Communities Foundation of Oklahoma. Although we have voted to retain our membership with the CFO, we are now prepared to accept funds that are not funneled anywhere else, except into our own account, which will hopefully make more grants available to us. Please say prayers to that effect.

We were fortunate to clear $1052. With our Swap N Shop Day on September 18th. So many wonderful people gave, donated, loaned or helped, that we actually had NO COSTS involved in the day! AND we are pleased to say that we donated our leftover goods to the Toy Shop, who donated their leftover goods to Goodwill Industries, who in turn lets the Women’s Haven have free vouchers, so our goods helped two or three other causes along the way. The day was a tremendous idea! I think it might be wise to expound on that for next year. We’ll see what the group thinks.

Please make note that two of our Board Members have recently had health problems. One had knee surgery, and the other suffered a heart attack. Please know our prayers are there with you each day, as you heal.

I ‘d like to take this time to tell everyone how very much I appreciate all that you have been doing to help further the work on the Foreman house. We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with such a project had it not been for people like YOU!!

God Bless
Hope to see you on the 19th
Gail