November 12, 2015
We give our max to the Stone Bank Project; will you?
Let’s make this short and sweeet! 
Today is “Give to the Max Day,” which means it’s the day when people all over the Midwest are digging deep into their heart — and budget — to donate as much as they can to the charitable causes that mean the most to them.
We hope the Stone Bank Project will be one of those causes for each of you reading this. Please make a donation today on the Stone Bank Give to the Max page by clicking on the logo or this link.
Not only is your deduction 100% tax deductible (because we are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization), but 100% of it will be matched by our new $20,000 grant from the State Historical Society of North Dakota — and 100% of it will help pay for enclosure of our new Stone Bank basement before winter sets in. PLUS, we will enter your name in our Nov. 28 raffle for the beautiful homemade quilt you see here.
So please donate now, before “Give to the Max Day” ends — and we all turn into frozen pumpkins 😉
November 8, 2014
Guess what? You can win or buy a LONG-sleeve Stone Bank T-shirt today
Touchstones Board President Sharon Kessler is home in Bottineau today at the Fall Craft Show, staffing the Stone Bank table. Help her fill the pickle jar with coins and dollars — and take a guess on how much will be in there by the end of today. Whoever guesses closest — online here or in person — wins one of the new Stone Bank long-sleeve T-shirts, free!
Guess how much loose change and dollars our supporters will have put in this pickle jar during today’s Fall Craft Show and win a new long-sleeve Stone Bank T-shirt. Just send a Reply to this post with your guess — or put it on our Facebook page. Whoever guesses closest to the actual amount raised by the end of today will get their choice of shirt — in holiday red or stone grey.
If you want to be sure that you’re a winner, simply use the PayPal button to the right to donate $15, and tell us which color shirt you want us to send you, where. Of course, you can always donate more or less than that, too. Tis the season for giving, and we have to match a generous $20,000 grant from the State Historical Society of North Dakota in order to finish constructing the back of the Stone Bank this fall and winter. Thanks for helping — and playing along. Good luck!
November 3, 2014
Fill ‘er up!
If you’re like me, you hate missing something “interesting.” So, for those of you who don’t subscribe to the Bottineau Courant or the Metigoshe Mirror — here’s an “interesting” ad that we are running in this week’s edition of our local newspapers.
OK. Now, we know it’s the HOLIDAY Craft Fair, but let’s not split hairs. Instead, let’s fill Clint’s pickle jar with coins to help restore the Stone Bank. Please drop by and help us fill the jar! If you can’t make it to Bottineau, you can send us some “coin” by PayPal!
Let’s make this double fun! We’ll also collect your guesses about how much change is donated on Nov. 8. When the coins are counted, the guess closest to the total will win a new Stone Bank T-shirt.
Stop and see us at the Craft Fair. We would love to talk about the progress we’re making on the project.
Thanks to our friend MaryB who created this ad for us! Mary totally rocks!
As always, thanks for reading the Stone Bank blog!
August 2, 2013
New Stone Bank shirts come out for ‘Crazy Days’
Advisory Board member Mike Dorsher unveiled our new T-shirts Thursday at “Crazy Days” on Bottineau’s Main Street. Touchstones President Sharon Kessler will be at the table Saturday afternoon. Come see us! Photo by Wenche Brandon N’Kjell-Hensch
“They” said we were crazy to save the Stone Bank building, so that must mean we’re the perfect participants for “Crazy Days” on Bottineau’s Main Street!
The event started Thursday and continues through Saturday afternoon. On Friday and Saturday there will be huge, inflatable play stations for kids right on our corner at Main and Sixth Streets. Merchants all up and down Main Street are offering crazy bargains on their sidewalks, and we’re proud to be one of them for the first time.
For a donation of just $15, you can get one of our colorful new “Stone Bank” T-shirts — in unisex sizes from medium all the up to 3X for the steel blue and in smaller-running women’s sizes S to 3X in the “antique cherry red.” You can also order our T-shirts and wristbands online here (with free shipping!), but if you stop by our Crazy Days table, you might win one for free. We’re giving away one women’s shirt and one blue unisex shirt to the gal and guy who come closest to guessing how many stones from our site are in the big plastic container on our table. You can enter for free, and you can also take our free survey about what the Stone Bank building should house when we finish preserving it in the next couple years — with your help!
So whether or not you can come see us at Crazy Days, please go a little crazy with your pocketbook and buy a new Stone Bank T-shirt, dedicate a stone in the name of a loved one or simply make a contribution using the PayPal or Razoo links to the right. Thank you!
June 13, 2013
Visit us at the Bottineau County Fair!
Today through Sunday afternoon, we will be one of the featured exhibitors at the Bottineau County Fair. Stop by and say, “Hi”; examine the architect’s blueprints for our Stone Bank Project; sign up for a daily drawing for a “Preservation Rocks!” T-shirt; get a wristband for $1 (or free, if you sign up for our email newsletters); and most helpful of all, sign up for our “Dedicate a Stone” fundraiser, at levels ranging from $25 to $500. We can even put through a credit card transaction from here at the fair.
Started in 1875, the Bottineau County Fair is the oldest county fair in North Dakota. It’s even 25 years older than the Stone Bank building. So what better place to publicize Bottineau County’s most historic Main Street building than at Bottineau’s historic county fair?
And even if you can’t make it to Bottineau for the County Fair, you can still “Dedicate a Stone” on our website — and buy a T-shirt or wristband here. Plus, if you “follow” this blog by signing up in the lower-right corner of this page, you’ll be on our list for email newsletters in the future.
Hope to see you at the fair. But right now, I have to go over to the First Lutheran lunch stand for my first piece of apple pie!
— By Mike Dorsher, Stone Bank advisory board member and webmaster
March 14, 2013
It Will Take Dedication(s)
We are rolling out our “Dedicate a Stone” campaign this weekend in Bottineau at the Spring Arts and Crafts Fair. It won’t feel like spring — because winter seems to want to hang around — but we hope to see you there.
Dedicating a stone to a loved one, your book club or business is a great way to put some oomph in our restoration project. As you probably know, our goal in 2013 is to put a new foundation under th back of the building and then put it back together again.
Once completed, we plan to have a “Wall of Honor” inside the restored building carrying the names of those whose generosity and dedications helped get this done.
We will also send you a lovely dedication certificate. See it posted on our website.
Stop by our table on Saturday, March 16, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. We would love to answer your questions about the project and have you dedicate a stone.
See you there — and thanks for reading the Stone Bank Blog!
April 3, 2012
The Long View
What do we have here? It’s the Stone Bank’s backside! (Tee-hee.)
This picture shows how far we have come and how much we have to do in 2012.
The stones stacked and wrapped in the foreground were saved when the back 20 feet of the bank was dismantled. Saved? Yes. The stones will be reused when we rebuild the back section of the bank over a new foundation. The stone wall to the left in this photo will also be dismantled as part of this year’s work. (Sadly, it’s too damaged to salvage.)
The Stone Bank in Bottineau, ND minus part of the south wall and the west (back) wall. Pallets of stones are being stored on the site for re-use.
In addition to the QR code posted in three of the bank’s windows, we have also attached a banner to the temporary wall in the back of the building guiding passersby to our Web page. Never been there? Check it out at www.StoneBank.org.
We are excited to get to work on the project this building season, and we made the deadline last week to submit a grant proposal to the Historical Society of North Dakota. Whew!
But a grant from the Historical Society won’t pay full freight. We’re searching for other funding sources, too. Any ideas? Leave a comment and we will look into all good ideas. Oh, and your Stone Bank Blogger will send a little stone from the bank to the reader offering the best idea! (LITTLE, I promise.)
And, as always, thanks for reading the Stone Bank Blog!
December 18, 2011
Stone Bank Puzzler
Dear Stone Bank Folowers: How about a couple of guesses about the Stone Bank Puzzle! Simple guess will do. It took longer than a week for the Amtrak passengers at the Rugby, ND station to fix it — but how much longer?
AND NOW THERE IS A PRIZE! Three of the Stone Bank wristbands. All the rage! So post your guess in the comments section.
December 12, 2011
Stone Bank Puzzler
It seemed like a great idea. A puzzle!
Such symbolism. Such a challenge. Such fun.
And such a great way to raise money for the Stone Bank project.
Only five were made — and we donated one to the Amtrak station in Rugby, N.D., where there is always a puzzle in the waiting area. (The station master even keeps track of how long each puzzle takes to finish.)
Here’s how it looked after Week 1.
It only has 252 pieces, but it's a tough puzzle. The image is of one of the bank's arched windows with the words "Stone Bank" and our slogan "Preservation Rocks" along with
our Web address http://www.StoneBank.org.
Comment on this blog post about how long it will take for the Amtrak waiting room puzzle to be completed. (No cheating.)
Oh, and No Prize. Just the fun of guessing.
Take into your calculation that the train has been running on time, so passengers don’t have a long stay in the waiting room. Hmmm.
stonebankblog 
April 3, 2017
It’s time to finish this…
Posted in Friends of Stone Bank, Fundraising, Life, Main Street, Photos, Pictures, Promotions/Contests, Recommended Reading, Renovation, Uncategorized tagged comments, history, news, photos, pictures, places at 12:29 pm by stonebankblog
Let’s face it. WE are living in historic times! It was a winter of historic snowfall in Bottineau, but our friend Spring is finally pushing the snow into memory. It’s time to seize the moment and get back to the important work of enclosing the Stone Bank.
Of course, it’s always about the bottom line. That’s the challenge. And we are asking our classmates in the BHS Class of ’72 to lead the way. How? It’s easy.
We are challenging each member of the Class of ’72 to donate $100 to restoring the Stone Bank. We have lost five classmates far too young, and it would be marvelous if each of us donated in memory of those friends as well.
Those $100 donations would bring $7,000 to a project that really needs a financial shot in the arm. Together, we can give the project a boost and inspire giving from others with ties to Bottineau.
Why the class of ’72? Good question. Well, two of your classmates have been doing the heavy lifting on this restoration project. Joe Whetter, is a stone mason and an amazing advocate and partner on this project. I (Sharon Kessler) founded a nonprofit, have coordinated fundraising and planning to advance the project since 2011.
Now, we really need your help. It’s easy to give online. You can give by credit card through PayPal, Razoo or GiveMN.
Or you can send a check: Touchstones, Inc., PO Box 272, Bottineau, ND 58318
The time is now. We can’t do this alone. We need to make progress on the building in 2017 to keep the structure from deteriorating. It has been open to the elements for a couple of years. We need to show community participation and interest to generate grants — so your contribution really does make a difference. In total, we need to raise $58,000 to enclose the structure. Can you help?
Frankly, we are at a point in life, where many of us are thinking about legacy — the difference we made in the world. The good we will leave behind. This is a great chance for you to help preserve a piece of Bottineau history and make it useful for future generations of those who will call Bottineau home. Your $100 gift added to those of other classmates really will make a difference.
Please make a gift today, so we can move forward with restoring this community treasure. Let’s get this done, together.
Joe Whetter and Sharon Kessler, BHS Class of ’72
We would love to hear from you. Please send a note, your ideas and memories of Bottineau for the blog to touchstones.inc@gmail.com. Guest blog entries are also welcome.
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