7/17 Redman House rehab continues

7/4 PRESS RELEASE

Redman House Progress Notes
Contact: Dale Skillicorn
President
Redman Foundation

Things have really been moving forward during the past month. There was a very good article about the Redman House and our project in the Friday, July 9th issue of the San Jose Mercury. For those of you who missed it or live outside the area, you can read it online at http://www.mercurynews.com/As a result of the article, we received offers of help ranging from volunteer work by individuals to nursery plants for the garden and an offer from engineer to donate his help in raising the house when we are ready to replace the earthquake-damaged foundation. A member of a Treasure Hunters' Club called to see if we would be interested in having the group use their metal detectors to search the property for artifacts. Items found would become the start of a collection of things that were actually part of the daily lives of those who lived and worked on the property over the years. And these offers were all made in the first 3 or 4 hours after the article came out. On Saturday we received several cash donations. We've been told of more financial support which will be arriving over the next few days. We really appreciate the interest and support shown by these responses.

And we are nearly there as far as acquiring the property, so we'll soon be able to go forward with restoration of the house. As some of you know, we will not raise major funds and start work on the house until the Foundation has actually acquired it. We are looking at having to raise several $100,000 to rebuild the house foundation, add a basement, and re-do the roof. These are the first steps we need to take in saving the house. We now have an Agreement in Principle for acquisition and are working on the purchase contract. We have agreed on a price and general terms. The snag is disagreement over the amount of the down payment. We have $200,000 on hand and the seller is asking for $300,000. We expect to be able to resolve that issue within the next couple of weeks as we work on the purchase contract.

The other thing moving forward is operation of the farm. A local farmer is working with us and we have been drafting a lease for him to operate both the farm and the produce stand for at least the next 3-1/2 years. And since the project is also intended to serve as a gateway to the Pajaro Valley's many and diverse agricultural heritage sites, our first actual construction will be an Information Center adjacent to the produce stand, partnering with other historical groups and recreational venues in the area.

In the June Progress Report I mentioned that this month's report would include a schedule of fundraising activities. With all that's been going on in acquisition negotiations and getting the farm into operation, we haven't had a chance to lock down specific dates for events. So the schedule will have to wait for our next update. Activities in the works include a photographers and artists "open house" day with a follow-up exhibit, a possible "Mortgage Signing" celebration (as compared to the more traditional "Mortgage Burning" celebration), a Grand Re-Opening of the produce stand, and a First Annual dinner where we will make presentations to the families of those we recently named to our Memorial Roll of Honor.

If you haven't checked out the other pages on this website recently, please do. We've made changes and will continue to update it on a regular basis. If you'd like to provide financial or other support for the project, you can contact us through this website or mail directly to:

The Redman Foundation P.O. Box 2526 Watsonville, CA 95077-2526831-768-1867

Thank you, The Redman Foundation Board ID #770509782