DREAMING IN GREEN

To the editor:

This past Friday at 6:10 p.m. the sun graced us with its presence, shone down and a dream came true! Lucile Hays, Anne Bradt, Elizabeth Winship, Barbara Varbalow, Bethany Oliver, Francine Balling, Joan Ottinger and Steven Blashfield all stood together with shovels in hand and broke ground for the new Small Friends building.

Joined by over 120 community members raising their champagne glasses and about 50 children with balloon swords raised in salute to this amazing feet, the next step in "Building Dreams."

A little over a year ago a group of committed community members started out on a quest to raise funds to build a new home for Small Friends on Nantucket. Now, with half of the goal in hand we are ready to build. With luck and perseverance, this time next year we will have met our final goal and will be enjoying a grand ribbon cutting ceremony!

As we move forward in construction we would like to take a moment to pause and thank all those in attendance at the groundbreaking and all those whose efforts made this event spectacular: Simply with Style Catering for a stunning spread, Chase tents for our beautiful tent, Anderson Gifts for the balloons, the ShepCats for the sound system, Terry Walsh for photographing the event, Mark Carapezza for an amazing magic show/ balloon fest and Gabrielle for making it all happen. A special and heartfelt thank you to Lucile Hays for her amazing support and to Anne Bradt, founder of Small Friends in 1988, for knowing that affordable childcare and education was and is of the utmost importance for Nantucket's community (both year round and summer residents).

We have much more work to do and will keep the community posted as we move forward with the building of Nantucket's first commercial LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified "green" building for Nantucket's working families in need of early childcare and education for the children of today and the future!

Thank you,

- Elizabeth Winship - Barbara Varbalow Capital Campaign Co-Chairs