Asheville Awesome Foundation Smackdown

Want to find out about the next Awesome thing happening in Asheville?

Awesome Asheville will be hosting our first LIVE grant party in May! At 6pm on Sunday, May 22, please join us at Ole’ Shakey’s located at 790 Riverside Drive, Asheville, NC 28801 to hear four finalists pitch their Awesome idea. Each group will have five minutes to persuade the judges that their idea is the most Awesome. The winner will receive a $1000 grant!!!For more information about the event, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/149987558736179/

Trustees/Judges are: Andrew Celywn, Kelly Gloger, Randy Guzman, Charlie Hodge, Elizabeth Mailander, Mazzy Orban, Vanessa Salomo Scully and Joe Scully.

A little about each group:

Free Range Asheville

Free Range Asheville is a brand new arts organization established by Estelle Woodward Arnal and Jeff Arnal as a platform for research and discourse where artists can engage and collaborate in performance and laboratory settings with other artists and organizations. Funds raised from the Awesome Foundation will go toward expenses for the first half of their inaugural season; will help ensure that they are able to keep ticket prices for Free Range Asheville events affordable.

Buttonpalooza

The Harry Potter Alliance (a nonprofit that turns fans into heroes through the power of fandom and social change) would love to host multiple button-making events, benefiting local non-profits. Their goal would be to host one or two button-making events per month with the proceeds going to these local non-profits that do so much for the Asheville/WNC community. Funds raised would be to purchase button maker kits and the rental of spaces in which to host the events.

Forensics in the classroom

West Marion Elementary School is home to over 500 students. It is a Title 1 school located in a rural area. Their computer teacher is no ordinary teacher. He is a retired officer who spent twenty years working with law enforcement in McDowell County, NC. Our new endeavor is to create a Forensics Science Club for the students in grades 4-5. Money will be utilized to purchase fingerprint powders, latent fingerprint powder brushes, and a forensic science lab investigation. Students will learn about different chemical and physical characteristics and properties of glass. Students will find how forensic scientists use these differences to help solve crimes. Students will also use forensic techniques to solve the crime of the missing frogs from the biology classroom by using fingerprints and hair examination.

A River Arts Asheville Edible Orchard

The goal is to inspire people by showing them that we can utilize our city lands in the most versatile of ways. There is a great opportunity in a very visible spot in the River Arts District in front of the Grey Eagle, that is approximately 2000 sqft that there is no funding for, but could be a great welcoming area for residents and visitors to Asheville. The money would be used to purchase edible trees and plants, native flowers, perennial flowers, soil and signage.

About Us

We all know how Awesome it is to live, work and play in Asheville. This group wants to help those who can make our community even better with just a little help from some friends. Awesome Asheville will be giving out grants of $1000 to those who can articulate and deliver great projects to make our town even more vibrant and awesome to live in. The Awesome Foundation has 83 chapters in 18 countries and has given over $2 Million in micro-grants since it’s inception. For more information visit: http://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/asheville