Roots & Roofs Planning Committee

Summary of meeting of April 25, 2016

Attending the planning meeting were Terry Althouse, Woody Drake, Barbara Fant, Steve Sterrett
and Evelyn Van Til. Printed below is a summary of the planning to date.
Date and schedule
The sixth annual Roots & Roofs will be Saturday, May 14. The central gathering place will be
Godman Guild Association, 303 E. Sixth Avenue.
Schedule for the day:
o 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Teams of volunteers plant flowers, prepare community gardens,
and pick up litter.
o 12:30 to 1 p.m. Lunch for volunteers at Godman Guild. Civic association president will
thank volunteers during lunch. Godman Guilds Blue Bow Tie Catering will provide food.
o 1 to 2 p.m. Volunteers may purchase plants, bulbs and mulch; delivery of mulch begins.
o 2 to 3 p.m. Neighborhood residents may purchase plants, bulbs and mulch.
Information on projects, supplies and tools due by April 29
We are identifying captains to lead each beautification project and to staff other activities that are
part of Roots & Roofs. To order supplies and tools in advance, we ask captains to complete the
following tasks by Friday, April 29:
Briefly describe the project, the specific volunteer tasks, and an estimated number of volunteers
needed.
List the supplies required (flowering plants, bulbs, mulch, etc.).
List the tools needed.
Please submit this information to Steve Sterrett at sterrett.1@osu.edu. Our goal is to order tools and
supplies on Monday, May 2. We cant guarantee to provide all that the captains ask, but well try.
Potential beautification projects and captains
Godman Guilds community garden: Terry Althouse, captain.
4th Street Farms: Evelyn Van Til and Woody Drake, captains. The Little Library will be installed
at 4th Street Farms during Roots & Roofs.
Fifth Street bird sanctuary: Cindy Fath, captain.
Assist senior citizens to plant flowers and bulbs in their yards: Kelly Capatosto, captain, has a
list of 17 seniors who are being contacted about volunteers doing work in their yards. Kelly will
work with Amy Byler to match Veritas volunteers with the seniors.
Weinland Park: Havent heard back yet from Mickey Hamilton of Columbus Rec and Parks.
Indianola Park: Havent heard back yet from Mickey Hamilton of Columbus Rec and Parks.
Indianola Avenue traffic bump-outs at East Fifth and East Ninth: Tiffany Willis, captain.
Southeast corner of North Fifth Street and East Eighth: Havent heard back from Sean Storey.
Wildflower garden on North Fifth Street lot: Havent heard back from Sean Storey.
Tree nursery on North Fifth Street: No captain yet.
Other volunteer projects and tasks
Staff the volunteer table and assign volunteers to projects: Barbara Fant, Matt Adair, and Ann
Dodson, captains.
Staff the t-shirt distribution table: Matt and Ashley Martin, captains.
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Staff the sale of plants, bulbs and mulch: Ross Antonacci, captain. Additional captains, as well
as volunteers, are needed.
Drivers and handlers for mulch delivery (two pick-up trucks will be rented): Omar Elhagmusa,
captain. Barbara Fant will rent one U-Haul pick-up truck for Thursday through Monday and one
U-Haul pick-up truck for Thursday through Saturday. Insurance will be purchased permit other
licensed drivers. Ahmed Ebady also volunteered use of his pick-up truck at Roots & Roofs.
Coordinate the gardening tools: Barbara Fant will order the tools from the mobile tool library,
but someone must assigned to keep track of tools. U-Haul pick-up truck will be used to get tools
on Thursday or Friday and return tools on Monday. Woody Drake offered to help return tools.
Staff the event set-up: No captain yet.
Staff the event clean-up: No captain yet.
Litter pick-up throughout the neighborhood (Volunteers from Express picked up litter April 19,
so litter pick-up may not be needed or may not be a priority on May 14): Alex Barkley, captain,
but we may wish to reassign CPO volunteers. Paul Brophy is recruiting CPO volunteers.

Housing component of the event

Weve asked Wagenbrenner Development and Edwards Communities to provide architectural
renderings of new housing at Grant Park and south of Gateway for display during lunch.
Steve Sterrett will prepare information describing housing initiatives in Weinland Park over the
past six years.
Publicity
Express volunteers on April 19 delivered Roots & Roofs flyer door-to-door throughout the
neighborhood. The back of the flyer had information on civic associations meeting on April 27.
Steve Sterrett will print a banner promoting Roots & Roofs to hang on Weinland Park fence.
Information is being distributed via news release, WPCCA Google group, and social media.
Volunteers
Steve Sterrett will prepare sign-up sheets for volunteers at civic association meeting on April 27.
Michael Wilkos has tote bags for the first 100 volunteers that day. A local fabric artist sewed the
tote bags from the plastic fabric used for one of the Weinland Park billboard images.
Order placed for 175 gold t-shirts for volunteers.
Erin Prosser will produce a flyer for volunteers with a map of the neighborhood and the location
and brief description of service projects. Steve Sterrett will provide her with the information.
Other matters
Omar Elhagmusa is working with staff of the citys Recreation and Parks Department to deliver
mulch for Weinland Park, Indianola Park, bird sanctuary and tree nursery.
The sale of plants (annual and perennial flowers and vegetables), bulbs, and mulch will require
at least two tables and six volunteers to run smoothly. Volunteers intending to buy mulch may
fill out an order form when they sign in. Residents may buy up to 10 bags of mulch. Barbara
Fant will prepare signage to group plant materials: sun, shade, partial shade.
Evelyn Van Til has contacted Doug Brownfield at Lowes to pre-order plants, bulbs and mulch.
Michael Wilkos or Steve Sterrett will go with Evelyn to pay for the products.
Steve Sterrett has invited Huckleberry House, ACUHO-I and Arawak community garden to
participate in Roots & Roofs.

Volunteers are needed at Godman Guild on Friday, May 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to sort and
bag bulbs and prepare plants for the sale. Blue Bow Tie Catering will provide lunches for 20
volunteers. Terry Althouse is making lunch arrangements.

Next meeting
We have not scheduled another planning meeting, but we will stay in touch via email.