Guest guest Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Dear Rick, This is so wonderful! I want you to know that I have put Kirk Bernhardt & his pet parrots on this week's prayer list. (You can let him know or not ... you will no best.) Should I leave his name on through the quarter (12/25) or for a shorter length of time? If you have any thoughts, let me know, otherwise, I will probably leave his name on for a month. Okay ... you asked for any feedback on the press release, which is actually very good. I have just a few corrections, and most of them are grammatical or for the sake of easier understanding. When I was working, regularly writing press releases (for activities involving Rosalyn Carter) was part of my job, and even now, I am writing the press releases for our local art group. Any changes I have made, I have put in bold face, so you can use them or not. But mostly ~ you folks in Fairfield are terrific. I was nudging my hubby about Fairfield as a possible place to move, for many reasons, but I think he will need a lot more nudging. Okay, without further ado ... and blessings ~ Linda P.S. I sure wish I could come; the menu sounds wonderful. New Orleans Chef Coming to Fairfield on what date for Katrina Hurricane Benefit Dinner Professional New Orleans chef, Kirk Bernhardt, will cook a benefit dinner on Saturday, 7 pm, October 1, at Morningstar Studio, list address, to benefit hurricane Katrina victims. Kirk himself is a hurricane evacuee. Even though he doesn't know the condition of his own home, he has agreed to come to Fairfield and prepare a delicious New Orleans style meal. The planned menu is as follows: Salad with Creole Mustard/Steen's Cane Syrup dressing, choice of Shrimp Creole or Vegetable Jambalaya, and Congo Style Bread Pudding with Dark Rum sauce. This will be served in a festive New Orleans atmosphere. Kirk learned Creole cooking at some of New Orleans' finest and most famous restaurants: Commander's Palace, The Grill Room at Windsor Court, Mr. B's, and K-Paul's. Before the Hurricane he was a chef at two restaurants and immediately before that he was teaching cooking classes at Blain Kern's Mardi Gras World, which is where all the Mardi Gras floats are made. It is said that the Mardi Gras would not roll without Blain Kerns. Kirk lived in Fairfield in the 1980's. He and his wife were in Vermont when the hurricane hit, and have been unable to return home since. Kirk is happy to report that his part of town was not inundated, so if his house wasn¹t damaged by wind, flooded by rain, or ransacked by looters, he'll have a home to return to when residents are allowed to reenter the city. He's hoping that the people caring for his beloved pet parrots were able to keep them alive. This event is being sponsored by the Amma Fairfield Center. 100% of the proceeds from the dinner will be used for Katrina relief. Unpaid volunteers, both locally and at the site of the disaster, perform all necessary work, and the same is true for this benefit dinner. (Insert space) Advance ticket purchase is encouraged and will be available at Thymely Solutions. You may also call 472-7148 (Coralie Brook) for advance tickets. Dinner tickets bought in advance will be a minimum donation of $20 ($10 for children). Tickets at the door will be $23 minimum donation ($12 for children). If you are unable to attend the dinner but would still like to donate, please send checks to: Amma Fairfield Center P.O. Box 1332 Fairfield, IA 52556 (please make chacks payable to the M. A. Center) Credit Cards will be accepted for donations over $50. (Insert space) The Amma Fairfield Center is one of many groups around the world affiliated with Mata Amritanandamayi Math. With branch centers worldwide, M. A. Math & its affiliates are focused on a vast array of charitable efforts, including disaster relief. M.A. Math was founded by the world-renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader, Mata Amritanandamayi, and was recently granted special NGO consultative status by the United Nations. Amma is known throughout the world for her humanitarian work and for inspiring thousands of people to follow her message of practicing Love, Compassion and Selfless Service to all, crossing all barriers of religion, race and nationality. Rick, actually, I'd end the press release here. There are a few places where I inserted commas, which you may not be able to see too well, even though they are boldface. But if you compare it against your original, you will see where they are. The most important thing you want the person receiving the release, and hence, the reader, to know is about the benefit dinner, who is conducting it and why they (you) are inclined to do this type of activity. If you give them too much information, your pr may end up in the circular file. Also, just a suggestion: if you can get a few people at the satsang to donate money for an ad in Fairfield's main paper, that will get the most attention. Unless someone at the paper wants to do an actual story about the benefit (which would also be good either before or after the benefit), it is most likely a press release will be used for the calendar section of the paper, so you may not get as much detail. And I'd do lots of fliers in black and white that can be xeroxed and taped on bulletin boards in libraries, grocery stores, churches, etc. And if I'm telling you stuff you already know, it is just my own ignorance and so I apologize in advance, if that is the case. On the other hand, if I can be of any further help, don't hesitate to let me know. This is the stuff I'd leave out, unless you have a personal contact at the paper who is doing a story: M. A. Centers in the U.S. are providing immediate relief and planning long-term support for Hurricane Katrina victims. * Amma's Arkansas center was among the first to swing into action, helping hundreds of victims from Louisiana since the tragedy on August 29. Volunteers are visiting shelters every day, providing emotional counseling and vocational guidance, and helping the survivors find housing and get familiarized with the local area. * The Dallas and Houston Amma Centers have been very much involved in helping the evacuees from the beginning, both independently and in collaboration with the Red Cross and other relief organizations. Volunteers are distributing supplies, helping evacuees connect with educational and vocational opportunities, and providing medical care. The Dallas Amma Center has donated a large quantity of food and clothing to the hurricane survivors. * A team of qualified volunteers from the California M. A. Center, including doctors who helped with tsunami relief work in India, has been in Houston since Sep. 9. * Many other states are welcoming evacuees and more are still arriving. M. A. Center affiliates in Oklahoma, Missouri, California and Minnesota, as well as Iowa, are helping both directly and through fund-raising efforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 on 9/18/05 9:37 PM, nierika at nierika wrote: > Dear Rick, > > This is so wonderful! I want you to know that I have put Kirk Bernhardt & > his pet parrots on this week's prayer list. (You can let him know or not ... > you will no best.) Should I leave his name on through the quarter (12/25) or > for a shorter length of time? If you have any thoughts, let me know, > otherwise, > I will probably leave his name on for a month. Sure, if it doesn't "dilute" the list. He and his wife are OK. They don't know about the parrots yet. On the 21st they're flying from California, where they've been staying with his sister, to Baton Rouge, where she has relatives. Then he'll come up here on the 29th to work on the dinner. > > Okay ... you asked for any feedback on the press release, which is actually > very good. I have just a few corrections, and most of them are grammatical or > for the sake of easier understanding. When I was working, regularly writing > press releases (for activities involving Rosalyn Carter) was part of my job, > and even now, I am writing the press releases for our local art group. Any > changes I have made, I have put in bold face, so you can use them or not. Thanks. I'd love to see them and will surely use them, but the formatting didn't come through. Could you please send the corrections to me as an attached MS Word file so I can see the bold type, etc.? Once I have that I'll integrate your suggestions tomorrow morning. The woman who runs the weekly paper that most of the meditating/Amma community reads comes to see Amma every year and will publish two articles - one this week; one next. So splitting it up as you suggest lends itself to that. I have to submit one tomorrow. She'll also run an ad for free. I've talked with the owner of the town paper and he'll run an article. I'm also going to try to set up a radio interview with me in the studio here and Kirk (the chef) on the phone from wherever. > > But mostly ~ you folks in Fairfield are terrific. I was nudging my hubby > about Fairfield as a possible place to move, for many reasons, but I think he > will need a lot more nudging. Get out the cattle prod. We'd love to have you. We're not perfect, because we're human beings, but manage to maintain a modicum of sanity, and this is a cool little town to live in. Low crime, reasonable real estate prices, several thousand meditators in town, all kinds of art and music stuff with Iowa City an hour north. 4-5 hours to Omaha, Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City. > > Okay, without further ado ... and blessings ~ Linda P.S. I sure wish I > could come; the menu sounds wonderful. Where are you? Come! -- Rick Archer SearchSummit 1108 South B Street Fairfield, IA 52556 Phone: 641-472-9336 Fax: 815-572-5842 http://searchsummit.com rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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