June 15, 2014
Deb! Show us your Stone Bank-T
Talk about a happy accident! Your Stone Bank blogger sat down to breakfast on the Amtrak recently with two strangers. But we weren’t strangers for long. Deb and Kath were great breakfast companions — and they loved the story of the Stone Bank.
When Deb returned home to Wisconsin, she ordered a Stone Bank T-shirt from StoneBank.org.
Meet Deb Martin! She made a $15 donation and got a Stone Bank T-shirt. We would love to see you in one, too.
Thanks, Deb!
Deb reports that she loves her shirt and she sent this photo!
This is the year that we plan to raise the back section of the bank and put the roof on. Join us on the journey! Every T-shirt sale helps. Don’t want a T-shirt? Dedicate a stone or just make a contribution.
Let’s get this done! Your donation will make a difference.
Thanks for your support.
June 12, 2014
Stone Bank windows reflect worldly workers
As you might recall from our earlier blog posts, it was immigrants from Scotland, Scandinavia, Ireland and Canada who built the Stone Bank in 1900. Now, 114 years later, it’s visitors from Nepal, Cambodia, Cuba, India and Germany — not to mention Minnesota and Wisconsin — who are helping to renovate the Stone Bank building.
A team of eight Fulbright Scholars, plus four of their family members, came to Bottineau this week to visit a part of the U.S. they had never seen before and volunteer their services on the historic Stone Bank Project. The 12 of them spent two long days scraping, sanding and priming every wood window frame on the building.
Many hands make short(er) work, and now the window frames will at least stop deteriorating — until we have the funds to replace them with new windows that are energy efficient yet historic looking. We can’t thank the Fulbrighters enough for their efforts, which were beyond the call of duty even for them.
But we did give them each a spiffy Stone Bank “Preservation Rocks!” T-shirt. We’ll give you one, too, if you come work on our renovation project. Or if you can’t make it to Bottineau anytime soon, you can still get a Stone Bank T-shirt here, for a donation of $15 or more. Please consider donating much more, just as the Fulbrighters did, because we have $60,000 worth of work to do on the building’s exterior this year, and we need to at least match our new $20,000 grant from the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
You don’t have to be from Kathmando or Phnom Penh to donate time or money to the Stone Bank Project. We’re happy to take contributions from Bottineau or Bismarck, too. Make yours today, and you’ll feel as smart as a Fulbright Scholar by tomorrow!
June 8, 2014
Sun. Stone. Scrape. Paint
You are looking at a group of ROCKSTARS!
Geared up and ready to work. Our Fulbright volunteers got down to business on Sunday.
Our Fulbright volunteers showed up, gloved up and got to work on the windows at the Stone Bank today! (They hail from a number of countries including Germany, Cuba, India and Senegal.
Twelve pairs of hands — and four local volunteers have given a big boost to this project, which is being operated on a shoestring.
You may not be near enough to grab a paint scraper or a can a paint, but you can show the Stone Bank some love with a donation.
We have a lot of work to do in 2014 that must be done by “paid” contractors. So, please: Dedicate a Stone. Make a $15 donation, and we will thank you with one of our Stone Bank T-shirts. Or just send a donation.
Every dollar goes into restoring this delightful and irreplaceable stone building.
As always. Thanks for reading the Stone Bank blog.
June 7, 2014
A Beauty Treatment
Hey, everyone! It’s been too long! Lots going on at the Stone Bank. Here’s the latest:
We are working to put this wonderful building back to use on Bottineau’s Main Street.
Volunteers are descending on the Stone Bank on Sunday, June 8, to tackle a really tough project — they are going to scrape, sand, prime and paint the Stone Bank’s windows.
These are very special volunteers — a group of Fulbright scholars from the Minnesota/ND chapter — who are taking a tour of North Dakota and making time to lend a hand in the community. We couldn’t be happier!
We know that the windows will have to be replaced — but that is later. We need to rebuild the back section of the building and then move on to projects like the windows. In the meantime, they will look better, thanks to this crew of volunteers. Some local volunteers are going to help, too. We will post more as the project takes shape.
Free labor is a great thing. But the Stone Bank needs cash to buy paint and other supplies. We need to match a new grant from the Historical Society of ND, too. Can you help? Every donation helps. Hey, look! There is a PayPal link on this page. (For your convenience.)
Thanks for reading the Stone Bank blog!
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