At Least I saw Kendrick Lamar! by Mela Darhoten
Sometimes you begin working on a project and when you put piece after piece in place, you cannot see how it is all going to come together. To tell you the truth, I am still not sure. I started working with and for The Life Cooperative, not because I wanted to take a bunch of pictures with me in front of various projects, not because I wanted to make lots of money (LOL)
I started working here because I wanted to make a difference. A lot of people get involved in things like this and they cannot see the end. They cannot see where their journey is taking them or why. Some people need instant gratification.
I don't get that. I get the thrill of seeing things in action, putting piece after piece in place. Aligning cogs and constructing things and then seeing how they all fit together. Then acting.
This morning I am going to The Okeechobee Music Festival. As I write this, I am sitting in the
passenger seat of a big van packed with gear and bits and pieces of a design project that we have worked for months to put together.
The Echotels were created so that people would have short term housing during festivals. Something a little more substantial than a tent that could get flooded out. It is just a safe and comfy space where people can sit and have a good time while listening to music, drinking with friends, etc. etc,
The trick was to think about the costs. The trick was to think about the fact that for every one of these we rent out, we can build one for a homeless person. As you read this, our total "extra" raised is at about $112.00 and that is above and beyond our cost to build the echotel, short term sustainable housing (feel free to make a donation at the left)
The Life Cooperative has expanded their model. We build chicken tractors. We build bee hives. Apparently we are in the roof business. Every time we build a roof for some other thing, a bee or a chicken, we are also building a roof for someone else in need.
Every time we construct one thing, we are able to use the profits to make another....simple. 300 days out of the year, we are going to be building something, wrestling pigs, or chasing chickens. Still it is days like this where you think that you got o help someone AND you got something out of it.
I do not normally write for this blog, but as I sit, riding along while the highway hums beneath me, cramped beneath what feels like tons of equipment, I think about what is going to happen this weekend. We are going to drink, we are going to listen to some good music. We are going to dance. I like that I am going to come away with the memories of hanging with good friends, yet always knowing that it was for a good cause. I know that some day in the near future I am going to be setting one of these things up and I am going to be surrounded by trash, crack pipes, and goodness knows what else. Then, I will be able to look back and say, "At least I saw Kendrick Lamar and Bassnectar!"
I started working here because I wanted to make a difference. A lot of people get involved in things like this and they cannot see the end. They cannot see where their journey is taking them or why. Some people need instant gratification.
I don't get that. I get the thrill of seeing things in action, putting piece after piece in place. Aligning cogs and constructing things and then seeing how they all fit together. Then acting.This morning I am going to The Okeechobee Music Festival. As I write this, I am sitting in the
passenger seat of a big van packed with gear and bits and pieces of a design project that we have worked for months to put together.
The Echotels were created so that people would have short term housing during festivals. Something a little more substantial than a tent that could get flooded out. It is just a safe and comfy space where people can sit and have a good time while listening to music, drinking with friends, etc. etc,
The trick was to think about the costs. The trick was to think about the fact that for every one of these we rent out, we can build one for a homeless person. As you read this, our total "extra" raised is at about $112.00 and that is above and beyond our cost to build the echotel, short term sustainable housing (feel free to make a donation at the left)
The Life Cooperative has expanded their model. We build chicken tractors. We build bee hives. Apparently we are in the roof business. Every time we build a roof for some other thing, a bee or a chicken, we are also building a roof for someone else in need.
Every time we construct one thing, we are able to use the profits to make another....simple. 300 days out of the year, we are going to be building something, wrestling pigs, or chasing chickens. Still it is days like this where you think that you got o help someone AND you got something out of it.
I do not normally write for this blog, but as I sit, riding along while the highway hums beneath me, cramped beneath what feels like tons of equipment, I think about what is going to happen this weekend. We are going to drink, we are going to listen to some good music. We are going to dance. I like that I am going to come away with the memories of hanging with good friends, yet always knowing that it was for a good cause. I know that some day in the near future I am going to be setting one of these things up and I am going to be surrounded by trash, crack pipes, and goodness knows what else. Then, I will be able to look back and say, "At least I saw Kendrick Lamar and Bassnectar!"
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