2008 The Year that turned the Tide

We began 2008 with troubling clouds over Libby Hill.  Negotiations had faltered with Hancock lumber on purchasing the most critical land Libby Hill Trails needed for access to its land-locked parcels. It looked like seven new McMansions were going to have their own prebuilt playground and trail users might be cut off from Libby Hill Forest. The winter started out with a simple message…… “get out the story of Libby Hill before it’s too late to save it”.  So one by one, people began stepping forward to lend a hand in finally securing Libby Hill Forest as a perpetual open space for the public.  While we haven’t reached the end of our fundraising trail, it is impressive to look back and see how much was accomplished this past year. Here’s a timeline of what happened:

January – National Winter Trails Day Snowshoe Trek, Winter Nature Snowshoe Tour.  Snowshoe guide for Libby Hill published at Libby Hill website.  Libby Hill website increased web traffic by 100%  to 520 unique viewers.

February – Full Moon Snowshoe tour. Tracy Ross creates Orienteering Course, only the second one to be built in Maine.  Online donations created for Libbyhill.org

March – Libby Hill Winter Fun Day, Friends of Libby Hill reorganized under the Gray Community Endowment. Two snowshoe tours held.

April – Purchase Agreement signed with Hancock Land Management in 90 days, Fund raising formerly begins, Anne Gass submits a grant to the Land for Maine’s Future. Last skiing on April 17^th.

May – Town meeting booth and lobby efforts  pass $25,000 grant from open space fund, Wildflower walk, trail steward program starts with all but one trail adopted.

June – Wild bird tour, National Trails day hike, Spring Discovery Day, Carl Holmquist negotiates interim financing for Hancock purchase

July – GCE buys the 29 acre Hancock parcel, filming begins for ‘Libby Hill the Movie’ by SMCC.  Land for Maine’s future awards $69,000 to the project.  Libby Hill photo show published to DVD and made available at the Gray Public Library.

August – GCE names Gigi Guyton as fund raising coordinator. Biweekly fund raising meetings start.  Delorme announces they will put Libby Hill Trails in the 2009 Maine Atlas and Gazeteer.  Libby Hill parking lot paved for the first time.

September – Libby Hill Trails project presented at the national Libby family reunion.  Libby Hill tee shirts created. Guided trail tour held.

October – Ray Clark and Tracy Ross produce the Libby Hill brochure.  Libby Hill booth created for Cross Roads Soccer challenge and New Gloucester Fair.  Guided trail tour held. New signs made for Libby Hill parking lot.  John Keller works with McCann Fabrication to have a donation post installed at LH parking lot.  Libby Hill the Movie completed and published on Youtube and available at the Gray Public Library.  Tracy Ross designs a Libby Hill Trail display for library. Dave Dowler upgrades the Outback switchbacks to accommodate mountain bikers. Carl Holmquist creates the “Save Libby Hill” sign on Route 26.

November – Appeal letters sent to 520 trail advocates with the help from all the Friends of Libby Hill stuffing envelopes, designing the letter, and finding names.  Davis Foundation awards $7,500 to Libby Hill.  Tom Baiocchi finalizes the grant from Land for Maine’s Future.  Libby Hill Calendar for 2009 available for donations.  Trail tour held.

December – Jotul woodstove raffle raises $1160 thanks to Dave Dowler and Gigi Guyton.  Ski trails open on December 24^th. 

Now see what 2009 looks like!

Summary of 2008 Fund raising

We are new to fundraising and we learned lots about how to raise money this year.  We started off with donation buckets and web appeals.  This had a very minimal impact so we learned that events require fees and asking directly for donations is more effective than depending on anonymous giving.  Below shows how we are progressing toward our goal.

We still have a little over $40,000 to raise and hope to finalize this in 2009 so we can go back to improving Libby Hill trails.

So it was a very busy year for everyone working on Libby Hill.  We need lots more help in 2009 so see what we are planning and please help us anyway you can!