We still need donations to keep the Teen Center interesting for the kids. Any donation be it $5.00-$10.00-$25.00 or more will go to enhance the Teen Center.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Cities 97 Morning Show Interview
ROOFTOP MAYOR
We spent a few minutes this morning with Wyoming Mayor Sheldon Anderson. Mayor Anderson wanted to raise somemoney to keep the Forest Lake Teen Center open, so he figuered the best way to raise some attention was to camp on a rooftop. After a weekend survivng freezing temperatures atop the Wyoming City Hall, the mayor raised enough funds and was able to come down.
Listen Now
We spent a few minutes this morning with Wyoming Mayor Sheldon Anderson. Mayor Anderson wanted to raise somemoney to keep the Forest Lake Teen Center open, so he figuered the best way to raise some attention was to camp on a rooftop. After a weekend survivng freezing temperatures atop the Wyoming City Hall, the mayor raised enough funds and was able to come down.
Listen Now
We kept the doors open Now we need to make the Teen Center better
I talked with Kathy and Chad here is a wish list that we need to work on.
It's important to keep the interest of the kids that use the Teen Center, it's also important to get new faces in the door. Students come to Chad with ideas sometimes that beg for additional staff people. For example, a group of girls wants to start a cheerleading squad (since the program was cut in Forest Lake).
In addition to tumbling mats (which they don't have) that will help keep them safe, it would be great to bring in an additional supervisor/coach with some experience in cheerleading to make sure they're safe and offer some guidance and help. It would be awesome to have the capacity to do the same for other students who come with great ideas.
Here's a wish list. If you can donate any of the following items email Chad CRuter@forestlake.k12.mn.us and he will arrange to pick the item(s) up or tell you where to bring them.
Computers - capabilities to have kids do some photoshop/illustrator creative work or video editiing to market their "clubs" and ideas.
Video camera/digital camera to be used for the same purpose.
Arts and craft supplies
A good set of walkie talkies (at least 3) that can be charged each night and used to aid in communication of staff members in our different locations.
Tumbling mats - a group of girls are starting to work on their own cheerleading routines!
Nintendo Wii + games - more interactive game playing like the Wii can offer are extremely popular these days - guitar hero and DDR have replaced almost all other forms of game playing at Teen Center.
xbox 360 + games - replace some of our older gaming systems with newer and more relevant choices (good way to attract some kids and just get them in the door).
Balls of all sorts for the gym (footballs, basketballs, volleyballs)
Tool kit/tools - for youth to be actively involved in maintaining and fixing equipment.
Trips (maybe cover transportation costs so youth can afford trips) - bowling, valleyfair at end of year, trips to plays, movies, etc.
It's important to keep the interest of the kids that use the Teen Center, it's also important to get new faces in the door. Students come to Chad with ideas sometimes that beg for additional staff people. For example, a group of girls wants to start a cheerleading squad (since the program was cut in Forest Lake).
In addition to tumbling mats (which they don't have) that will help keep them safe, it would be great to bring in an additional supervisor/coach with some experience in cheerleading to make sure they're safe and offer some guidance and help. It would be awesome to have the capacity to do the same for other students who come with great ideas.
Here's a wish list. If you can donate any of the following items email Chad CRuter@forestlake.k12.mn.us and he will arrange to pick the item(s) up or tell you where to bring them.
Computers - capabilities to have kids do some photoshop/illustrator creative work or video editiing to market their "clubs" and ideas.
Video camera/digital camera to be used for the same purpose.
Arts and craft supplies
A good set of walkie talkies (at least 3) that can be charged each night and used to aid in communication of staff members in our different locations.
Tumbling mats - a group of girls are starting to work on their own cheerleading routines!
Nintendo Wii + games - more interactive game playing like the Wii can offer are extremely popular these days - guitar hero and DDR have replaced almost all other forms of game playing at Teen Center.
xbox 360 + games - replace some of our older gaming systems with newer and more relevant choices (good way to attract some kids and just get them in the door).
Balls of all sorts for the gym (footballs, basketballs, volleyballs)
Tool kit/tools - for youth to be actively involved in maintaining and fixing equipment.
Trips (maybe cover transportation costs so youth can afford trips) - bowling, valleyfair at end of year, trips to plays, movies, etc.
Well, blow me down (almost) - fundraiser worked
The mayor came down from the roof after surviving winds and cold. He raised nearly $40,000 for a teen center.
By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/15496091.html
After enduring wind, cold and living in a tent that kept wanting to fly off the rooftop, Wyoming Mayor Sheldon Anderson came down Sunday from his odd camping perch, thanks to a generous Woodbury man and his $6,000 check.
Since Feb. 2, Anderson had been camping on the roof of the Wyoming Municipal Building to garner attention and raise money to keep the budget-challenged Forest Lake Teen Center open.
His goal was to raise $35,000 -- about the bare minimum to keep the center viable as a place where area kids, grades 7 to 9, could drop in and stay out of trouble.
The mayor knew it was going to be cold over the weekend. Forecasts called for temperatures below zero. But he said he wasn't quite expecting to be assaulted by the weather, especially Saturday night.
"What a night, let me tell you," said Anderson, serving his second term as Wyoming's mayor. "It was cold. Cold and windy. My biggest fear was that the tent was going to come down around me."
Anderson was holed up in a donated tent and was trying to keep warm with donated propane heaters. "But the pilot lights on the heaters kept going out," he said. "The wind kept blowing them out."
The wind also seemed to want to keep ripping the tent from its rooftop moorings. Workers had fastened tent supports into a wooden deck under the tent. Anderson said he worried most of the night about doing a Dorothy-leaves-Kansas impression.
"The tent's 10-by-10," he said. "But when the wind was blowing, it was about 3-by-3."
Rescue came about 9 a.m. Sunday. The Woodbury donor, who Anderson said does not want to be identified, came by the Wyoming City Hall with his daughter and his checkbook. The girl put the $6,000 check into the empty green 5-gallon bucket Anderson kept attached to a rope alongside the building.
In all, the mayor's weeklong winter adventure raised more than the $35,000 needed to keep the teen center open another year. "All of this should put us closer to $40,000," Anderson said. "Some other boards are going to meet later."
In all, it was a worthwhile undertaking, Anderson said, albeit a bit more scary and frigid than he expected.
"It will be good to get home to my family," he said.
James Walsh • 651-298-1541
By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/15496091.html
After enduring wind, cold and living in a tent that kept wanting to fly off the rooftop, Wyoming Mayor Sheldon Anderson came down Sunday from his odd camping perch, thanks to a generous Woodbury man and his $6,000 check.
Since Feb. 2, Anderson had been camping on the roof of the Wyoming Municipal Building to garner attention and raise money to keep the budget-challenged Forest Lake Teen Center open.
His goal was to raise $35,000 -- about the bare minimum to keep the center viable as a place where area kids, grades 7 to 9, could drop in and stay out of trouble.
The mayor knew it was going to be cold over the weekend. Forecasts called for temperatures below zero. But he said he wasn't quite expecting to be assaulted by the weather, especially Saturday night.
"What a night, let me tell you," said Anderson, serving his second term as Wyoming's mayor. "It was cold. Cold and windy. My biggest fear was that the tent was going to come down around me."
Anderson was holed up in a donated tent and was trying to keep warm with donated propane heaters. "But the pilot lights on the heaters kept going out," he said. "The wind kept blowing them out."
The wind also seemed to want to keep ripping the tent from its rooftop moorings. Workers had fastened tent supports into a wooden deck under the tent. Anderson said he worried most of the night about doing a Dorothy-leaves-Kansas impression.
"The tent's 10-by-10," he said. "But when the wind was blowing, it was about 3-by-3."
Rescue came about 9 a.m. Sunday. The Woodbury donor, who Anderson said does not want to be identified, came by the Wyoming City Hall with his daughter and his checkbook. The girl put the $6,000 check into the empty green 5-gallon bucket Anderson kept attached to a rope alongside the building.
In all, the mayor's weeklong winter adventure raised more than the $35,000 needed to keep the teen center open another year. "All of this should put us closer to $40,000," Anderson said. "Some other boards are going to meet later."
In all, it was a worthwhile undertaking, Anderson said, albeit a bit more scary and frigid than he expected.
"It will be good to get home to my family," he said.
James Walsh • 651-298-1541
$6,000 ends long arctic campout
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_8225974
Surprise donation saves teen center, lets mayor come off roof
BY BOB SHAW Pioneer Press
Sheldon Anderson thawed himself out Sunday - after a bitterly cold night that ended his eight frozen days on the Wyoming City Hall rooftop.
The city's mayor met his goal of raising $35,000 for a local teen center, thanks to a $6,000 check from an anonymous Woodbury family.
"I took a bath, had a bowl of chili and laid down for half an hour," said Anderson, describing his first time at home since Feb. 2. That's when he climbed onto the rooftop to live in a makeshift campsite until he raised the money to keep the Forest Lake Teen Center operating for another year.
All last week, he stayed in a tent with a chair and table inside, e-mailing and calling and trying to get contributions. He would listen as drivers pulled up and shout up to him: "Hey, mayor!" He would lower a plastic bucket on a rope, and haul up money, food, coffee or supplies.
But he never counted on weather as bad as Saturday's. Anderson shivered all night as the temperature dipped to 16 below and winds gusting to 40 mph made his tent flap like a flag in a stiff breeze.
"Last night was a scary thing. The tent was a 10-by-10-foot, but with the wind it was about 3-by-3," Anderson said on Sunday. "I really thought it was going to come down."
The wind kept blowing out the pilot light on his propane heater. Friends found a second heater - but it wasn't much help. "I played hopscotch between the two of them all night," he said.
After waking up Sunday, friends brought him coffee at 8 a.m. But
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he had to face a reality that was as cold as the wind - he was still $6,000 short of his goal. He would probably have to stay for several more days, at least.
But at 11:30 a.m., a family from Woodbury arrived. Anderson lowered the bucket, and when he pulled it back up, there was a $6,000 check inside.
It was the single biggest contribution of the drive. The family asked not to be identified.
By 1:30 p.m., the ordeal was over. Anderson was back at home. Sunday afternoon, he was wearing normal clothes, watching a hockey game on TV and trying to warm up.
He was touched by the huge number of donors that helped save the teen center, which was teetering on the brink of extinction.
"It's nice to know," said Anderson, "there is that kind of kindness out there."
Bob Shaw can be reached at bshaw@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5433.
Surprise donation saves teen center, lets mayor come off roof
BY BOB SHAW Pioneer Press
Sheldon Anderson thawed himself out Sunday - after a bitterly cold night that ended his eight frozen days on the Wyoming City Hall rooftop.
The city's mayor met his goal of raising $35,000 for a local teen center, thanks to a $6,000 check from an anonymous Woodbury family.
"I took a bath, had a bowl of chili and laid down for half an hour," said Anderson, describing his first time at home since Feb. 2. That's when he climbed onto the rooftop to live in a makeshift campsite until he raised the money to keep the Forest Lake Teen Center operating for another year.
All last week, he stayed in a tent with a chair and table inside, e-mailing and calling and trying to get contributions. He would listen as drivers pulled up and shout up to him: "Hey, mayor!" He would lower a plastic bucket on a rope, and haul up money, food, coffee or supplies.
But he never counted on weather as bad as Saturday's. Anderson shivered all night as the temperature dipped to 16 below and winds gusting to 40 mph made his tent flap like a flag in a stiff breeze.
"Last night was a scary thing. The tent was a 10-by-10-foot, but with the wind it was about 3-by-3," Anderson said on Sunday. "I really thought it was going to come down."
The wind kept blowing out the pilot light on his propane heater. Friends found a second heater - but it wasn't much help. "I played hopscotch between the two of them all night," he said.
After waking up Sunday, friends brought him coffee at 8 a.m. But
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GetAd('tile','box','/localnews_article','','www.twincities.com','','null','null');
he had to face a reality that was as cold as the wind - he was still $6,000 short of his goal. He would probably have to stay for several more days, at least.
But at 11:30 a.m., a family from Woodbury arrived. Anderson lowered the bucket, and when he pulled it back up, there was a $6,000 check inside.
It was the single biggest contribution of the drive. The family asked not to be identified.
By 1:30 p.m., the ordeal was over. Anderson was back at home. Sunday afternoon, he was wearing normal clothes, watching a hockey game on TV and trying to warm up.
He was touched by the huge number of donors that helped save the teen center, which was teetering on the brink of extinction.
"It's nice to know," said Anderson, "there is that kind of kindness out there."
Bob Shaw can be reached at bshaw@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5433.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Day 9 I'm coming down! $35K Goal Reached
A family from Woodbury stopped by with a check for $6,000 to bring me in from the cold. I'll be coming off the roof at 1:30pm. Here's the sweet little girl that's bringing me down and home to my family also assuring the doors to the Teen Center remain open. Thank you so much!
I'll post later from the warm confines of my house.
I want to thank everyone for everything they did for me during my 9 day stay. I'll never forget the support and kindness. God bless.
Signing off from the Wyoming Hilton!
Day 9 Update
Well I made it through the night. Let me tell you, it was cold and long. It will be an experience I'll never forget.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Day 8 UPDATE Extremely COLD
It's cold! Had another heater brought up to me as the one I had wasn't keeping up to the wind and cold. Could be a long night. Channel 4 and 11 just left so maybe (keeping my fingers crossed) it will drive someone to make that one big donation of $5,000 and bring me down. Should be aired at 10pm. Think of the press coverage that would bring to one lucky person or company.
Extreme Weather Forecast
Tonight: Partly cloudy skies with gusty winds. Some blowing and drifting snow. Dangerous wind chills approaching -40F. Low -14F. Winds WNW at 25 to 35 mph.
Tomorrow: Windy with a few clouds from time to time. Very cold. Dangerous wind chills approaching -40F. High 1F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph.
Tomorrow: Windy with a few clouds from time to time. Very cold. Dangerous wind chills approaching -40F. High 1F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph.
St. Paul Pioneer Press Day 8
Wyoming / Fundraiser dirty but determined
After a week on roof, mayor says he really wants a bath, but he's staying until teen center is saved.
It isn't the cold that bothers Sheldon Anderson the most.
It isn't the lack of a toilet or the loneliness. And as he enters his second week on the roof of the Wyoming City Hall, it isn't even the stares of passing drivers.
It's the bathing. "I have to use baby wipes," Anderson said as snow whipped around his tent Friday. "The one thing I am looking forward to is a nice, hot bubble bath."
Anderson, the mayor of Wyoming, climbed to the roof Feb. 2. His vow was to remain until he raised $35,000 to keep the Forest Lake Area Teen Center open.
As of Friday, he'd collected $23,000 and wasn't sure when he'd be able to come down.
"They are predicting wind chills of 40 below this weekend," Anderson said.
"I wanted extreme fundraising, and I got it. But if it were 75 and sunny, no one would pay attention."
Anderson is roof-camping in a 10-by-10-foot tent and sleeps on a cot. Local restaurants have donated food, and neighbors are bringing snacks of cookies and beef jerky.
Without a toilet, he uses a five-gallon drum with a plastic liner. He sits at a small table, tapping on his laptop to run his business, a detective agency called Capital Investigations and Security Services Inc., answer e-mail and update his blog at extremefundraising .blogspot.com.
He calls local businesses, many of which have helped out.
"Our city attorney donated $1,000," Anderson said.
At night, contributors drive up and put money in
the drop box used for city water bills.
Contributions seem to happen by accident. During a phone call, he was mistakenly transferred to a Subway shop inside a Wal-Mart - and an employee decided to drop off a sandwich for him on her way home that night.
Anderson missed the City Council meeting Tuesday and doesn't plan to miss the next one Feb. 19. But it's hard to say for sure.
"I don't know how long I will be up here," he said.
Anderson began his rooftop escapade after a last-ditch effort to keep the center open failed. Wyoming and Wyoming Township contributed $10,000 last summer, but pleas to area mayors last fall failed to raise any money.
"I knew I had to come up with something creative," Anderson said.
If he raises $35,000, he said, it will keep the center afloat for another year. After that, he said, the long-term health of the center will benefit by the creation of a new list of donors.
If the effort succeeds, he will consider doing it again - or some comparable media-attracting stunt to raise money for a good cause.
What if other people want to copy him and camp on the City Hall rooftop for their own favorite causes?
"I don't know. I am just doing what I can to help out," Anderson said. "But I don't have a patent for going up on a roof."
Bob Shaw can be reached at bshaw@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5433.
After a week on roof, mayor says he really wants a bath, but he's staying until teen center is saved.
It isn't the cold that bothers Sheldon Anderson the most.
It isn't the lack of a toilet or the loneliness. And as he enters his second week on the roof of the Wyoming City Hall, it isn't even the stares of passing drivers.
It's the bathing. "I have to use baby wipes," Anderson said as snow whipped around his tent Friday. "The one thing I am looking forward to is a nice, hot bubble bath."
Anderson, the mayor of Wyoming, climbed to the roof Feb. 2. His vow was to remain until he raised $35,000 to keep the Forest Lake Area Teen Center open.
As of Friday, he'd collected $23,000 and wasn't sure when he'd be able to come down.
"They are predicting wind chills of 40 below this weekend," Anderson said.
"I wanted extreme fundraising, and I got it. But if it were 75 and sunny, no one would pay attention."
Anderson is roof-camping in a 10-by-10-foot tent and sleeps on a cot. Local restaurants have donated food, and neighbors are bringing snacks of cookies and beef jerky.
Without a toilet, he uses a five-gallon drum with a plastic liner. He sits at a small table, tapping on his laptop to run his business, a detective agency called Capital Investigations and Security Services Inc., answer e-mail and update his blog at extremefundraising .blogspot.com.
He calls local businesses, many of which have helped out.
"Our city attorney donated $1,000," Anderson said.
At night, contributors drive up and put money in
the drop box used for city water bills.
Contributions seem to happen by accident. During a phone call, he was mistakenly transferred to a Subway shop inside a Wal-Mart - and an employee decided to drop off a sandwich for him on her way home that night.
Anderson missed the City Council meeting Tuesday and doesn't plan to miss the next one Feb. 19. But it's hard to say for sure.
"I don't know how long I will be up here," he said.
Anderson began his rooftop escapade after a last-ditch effort to keep the center open failed. Wyoming and Wyoming Township contributed $10,000 last summer, but pleas to area mayors last fall failed to raise any money.
"I knew I had to come up with something creative," Anderson said.
If he raises $35,000, he said, it will keep the center afloat for another year. After that, he said, the long-term health of the center will benefit by the creation of a new list of donors.
If the effort succeeds, he will consider doing it again - or some comparable media-attracting stunt to raise money for a good cause.
What if other people want to copy him and camp on the City Hall rooftop for their own favorite causes?
"I don't know. I am just doing what I can to help out," Anderson said. "But I don't have a patent for going up on a roof."
Bob Shaw can be reached at bshaw@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5433.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Addyson Windingstad digs into the college fund
7 year old Addyson Windinstad took money out of her college fund to get me off the roof and home with my family. Now that's some real support. Thank you so much Addyson from the Teen Center kids, my family and me.
Ted Phillips raises $1,285.00 with more on the way!
Former Wyoming Councilmember Ted Phillips went out and raised $1,285.00 from Forest Lake and Wyoming business owners. Ted says there is more on the way. Thanks for the hard work and dedication to the Teen Center Ted.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Extreme is what I wanted. Extreme is what I'll get!
Saturdays Forecast
Colder...windy. Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow in the morning...then partly cloudy with scattered flurries in the afternoon. Areas of blowing and drifting snow through the day. Highs around 10 above. West winds 15 to 25 mph increasing to 25 to 35 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 20 percent. Lowest wind chill readings 19 below to 29 below zero in the afternoon.
Looks like we'll do a little work on the tent tomorrow to make sure we hold our position.
Colder...windy. Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow in the morning...then partly cloudy with scattered flurries in the afternoon. Areas of blowing and drifting snow through the day. Highs around 10 above. West winds 15 to 25 mph increasing to 25 to 35 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 20 percent. Lowest wind chill readings 19 below to 29 below zero in the afternoon.
Looks like we'll do a little work on the tent tomorrow to make sure we hold our position.
A Special Thanks
Susie the owner of Sacred Grounds Espresso Cafe in Stacy stopped by with a care package and a nice donation. Erin and Josh Pepin dropped off some jerky and cookies. Subway in Wal-Mart (Forest Lake) for dinner. I didn't get the woman's name, her daughter attends the Teen Center and she was kind enough to drop off a sandwich and warm wishes on her way home.
Day 6
Been a busy day with interviews with the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press. Total donations as of 4:00pm Thursday $23,000. Will update more later!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Polaris Donates $1,000
Doug Fischer of Polaris Industries hands over a $1,000 donation from Polaris Industries to Julie Ohman of Director of Community Education. Thank you Polaris.
Day 5
It's day 5 on the roof and our donation total is approaching $9,000. Your donations, telephone calls and emails have been very much appreciated. No donation is to small! Every dollar counts and goes directly to supporting our children at a time when they need us the most.
Here's a list of the cities and towns that have children attending the Forest Lake Teen Center.
Forest Lake 80 (registered children)
Wyoming 43
Lino Lakes 16
Stacy 16
Ham Lake 5
Linwood 2
Lindstrom 2
North Branch 2
Scandia 2
Hugo 2
Here's a list of the cities and towns that have children attending the Forest Lake Teen Center.
Forest Lake 80 (registered children)
Wyoming 43
Lino Lakes 16
Stacy 16
Ham Lake 5
Linwood 2
Lindstrom 2
North Branch 2
Scandia 2
Hugo 2
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The words of one donor
I believe the Teen Center is necessary to our community and has value. If it keeps one kid out of trouble and puts his or her feet on the path to a happy successful life, it is well worth any cost. With regard to the adults of this community, I will say this: To those to whom much is entrusted, much is expected. It is one thing to talk the talk, and quite another to walk the walk, especially with the contents of your wallet. Fancy vacations , houses, cars and other items are not our future. Our young people are. You don't have to be a liberal or a socialist to understand this either. Just a realist with a heart.
~ Bill
~ Bill
Commissioner Ben Montzka dialing for dollars
County Commissioner Ben Montzka stopped by the Wyoming Hilton (my tent) and dialed for dollars to help keep the doors of the Teen Center open. On behalf of the kids and staff thank you Commissioner Montzka!
Monday, February 4, 2008
General Safety Donates $1,000
Steve Reedy donated $1,000 on behalf of General Safety.
http://www.rosenbaueramerica.com/AboutUs/RosenbauerAmerica/GeneralSafetyDivision/Index.cfm
Thank you General Safety!
http://www.rosenbaueramerica.com/AboutUs/RosenbauerAmerica/GeneralSafetyDivision/Index.cfm
Thank you General Safety!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Forest Lake Councilmember Greg Ochs
Forest Lake Councilmember Greg Ochs stopped by with a donation for the Teen Center. Thanks Greg
Wyoming Councilmember Blake Tiedeman
Blake Tiedeman stopped by and dropped off a check to help get to our $35,000 goal. Thanks Blake!
Forest Lake Councilwoman Judy Bull
Forest Lake Councilwoman Judy Bull Stopped by with a donation for the Teen Center this afternoon. Thank you Judy we appreciate your support.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Hallberg steps up to help me down
The Hallberg Family Foundation donated $1,000 to help bring me down off the roof. Thank You!
Forest Lake Councilwoman reponds to challenge
Forest Lake Councilwoman Susan Young stopped by Wyoming City Hall and donated $1,000 out of her own pocket to help keep the Teen Center doors open. On behalf of all the Teen Center kids, parents and supporters, thank you Susan!
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