End of summer update and a new donation milestone to reach!

Calling all BMX bike and skateboard riders!!  The Charlie Boone Trails Memorial Foundation, Inc. is requesting your help once again. The funds raised on our first GoFundMe page helped us obtain our 501(c)3 Non-Profit Status from the IRS. Thank you!

We need to raise $1,000 to have a technical drawing produced of the potential site of our HOPEFUL Bike and Skateboard Park in the Lake Ridge Community of Woodbridge, Virginia. This drawing will complete the application we are submitting to the Planning Department in Prince William County to have our park added to the County's Comprehensive Plan. 

Our Foundation is working with Pillar Design Studios, an action sports development company that specializes in the design, planning and construction of facilities such as the one we want to build for our community.

This initial amount is obviously just the beginning of the funds we need to raise to make this park happen. Though we cannot take the next step until we’ve reached this one! Please share this with everyone you know! We truly appreciate your generosity and support!!

From the President

Hello again! Our team has been having meetings and discussions with the Prince William County Parks Department and Planning Office over the past 2 weeks. We are happy to say that things are moving in a forward direction and everyone involved is enthusiastic about building this park. We are going through a process that involves the "ok" from a lot of people. We're getting there, folks! As we move through these very necessary motions, fundraising is our continued focus and our critical need to make this all happen.  We need all the help we can get. Thank you for your interest and support!

Commenting and liking any blog post!

Hello everyone, Just an update to make you aware of this feature.  Since liking and commenting are not intuitive here I thought I'd share that you CAN like or comment on ANY post!

To do either just click anywhere within the blog title!  Underneath an option to comment will then show! It's as easy as that! 

Please feel free to send us comments, ask questions or subscribe to our blog via email from this pane!  Thank you for taking the time to read whats going on with the organization.

More happenings ...

Good things are happening!! We will be having an organizational meeting next week plus another really important meeting with the County. Also, the Old Bridge Observer newspaper is publishing an article about our Foundation in the May 23rd issue. They printed an article about us back in February 2015 and we are excited that we can literally update the community on our progress. We have had people following us all that time and are enormously grateful to them! That includes many of you reading this now!!  As always if you wish to help us in this cause feel free to donate, join our group or send messages of support please do so!

A note from the President ...

The Charlie Boone Trails Memorial Foundation Team wants to thank our GoFundMe donors for helping us raise the start-up funds we needed. You all donated $1,350 with gifts ranging from $5 to $185, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!! With your help, we were able to apply to the IRS and become designated as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization , set up a Website, open a  non-profit business bank account and get a secure UPS mail box.  

Our donation process is now in place on our Website and Facebook page. When you select DONATE on the Website, our Welcome page will open and you will be guided through an easy billing process. Donations will go directly to our bank and you will receive an automatic Thank You and receipt with our IRS Tax ID number for your records. On our Facebook page, selecting DONATE will re-route you through the same process.

Our Team will be meeting with the PWC Parks Department again this month and we will be starting our publicity and out-reach in the Lake Ridge Community. Also, our posts will be much more frequent, as they should be. Thank you again for your support!!!

We are now 'official!"

Our Foundation has taken some truly significant steps forward. We had a long, but exciting, meeting with the Prince William County Parks Department to discuss details of just how this park is going to happen.

We are ecstatic to tell you that our two groups will be working together to get our goal of a park done.  The Prince William County Parks Department has provided us a Letter of Support to show that we do indeed have a working relationship with the Parks Department. This letter gives legitimacy to our purpose and request for money. This is the best thing that could have happened!

We are now ramping up our Marketing and fundraising to meet our first goal of $50,000.  This will allow us to get a Master plan from PWC outlining the actual building designs and estimated costs using county staff or known contractors.  

Now we are in the stages of getting our name out there, finding more people who would like to join us in this quest and the biggest job yet ... Fundraising!

Exciting news!

The next couple of weeks will be an active and important time for our Foundation. We are moving forward steadily and planning to meet with the county to discuss how we can work together. Getting some publicity started is next on our agenda and we will also start applying for grants. A very nice person at Bowl America in Woodbridge recommended us for a grant and we are working on putting together the necessary information. Thank you! Please if you see this post, tell us who you are!!

Our fundraising is still with GoFundMe for a while yet, so if you can help us out, it would be truly appreciated. Thank you and God bless.

UPDATE!

We have GREAT NEWS at last!! It's been quite a while since we've posted anything and we're truly sorry if you've been wondering what's been going on. We've been doing some fine-tuning as we wait for word about some important issues that will help us move forward. Now at last the IRS has given our Foundation tax exempt status and has classified us as a 501(c)(3) public charity. We will be able to receive tax deductible donations and apply for grants among other opportunities. We'll be making the necessary changes on our website and Facebook page to reflect our new status. Thank you to our supporters and followers!!

You will find a link to our Facebook page in TAKE ACTION. Let us hear from you and let's start a conversation. Send us your biking and skateboarding pictures and we'll put them in our Community Pics Album. Also, if you have any comments on any of the pictures we've posted, especially if you recognize yourself in any of the group ones, let us know!

As always, we are looking forward to hearing from you. - Wendy Boone

An update from our President

Our Foundation Blog for Charlie's Trails is a perfect way to talk to our supporters "face-to-face" and in complete sentences, not just short messages! 

Things are getting super exciting now and we are ready to make some much-needed changes. Our new Facebook page Charlie Boone Trails Memorial Foundation, Inc. is up now. We have been using Lake Ridge Bike and Skate and Lake Ridge Bike and Skateboard Park since 2014. We are putting messages on each one of these asking supporters to start using our new page, which is designed for use by non-profit organizations such as ours. We plan to close both of those pages in 2 weeks or so, or at least until we feel the word is out. If you are responding to our message on those two sites, please let us know by posting on the new site. Thank you so much!

Our GoFundMe page is still active and we will keep it open until we have secured our non-profit status and added fundraising capabilities to our Website.

We're looking forward to hearing from you.  Wendy Boone

Off and running....

Finally our web site is live!  

Something we are proud of, not being web designers ourselves.  Things are finally moving and it feels like we are checking things off our list of (cue dramatic music here) "THINGS TO BE DONE"!   The application for our 501c status has been sent and the long wait for approval has begun.  When we receive that approval, we anticipate heavier donation recruiting to begin and the real heavy work to start.  Many thanks to those behind the scenes who have helped make all this possible so far!  Those who donated, spread through word of mouth our cause and those who did the administrative things that go along with this large undertaking!

We are still working on a few things on the site, such as the ability to donate and join us via an email list but we will get there!