Detroit Area Turn-A-Thon

[Kenn Osborne]

The owners of the Sterling Heights, Michigan Woodcraft store and I will be setting up a Turn-A-Thon for The Freedom Pen Project. The details will be worked out this weekend for the times and date.

[Julie Wright]

Thanks Kenn,
We can always use another Turn A Thon!!!

Lets see, I believe the record number of pens is 110 with 9 lathes turning !!

Good Luck and Have FUN !!!!! Its a Great Time !!

[Ken Salisbury]

The owners of the Sterling Heights, Michigan Woodcraft store and I will be setting up a Turn-A-Thon for The Freedom Pen Project. The details will be worked out this weekend for the times and date.

GREAT ! ! ! . Turn-a-thons are becoming contagious. It is a great way to support the project and at the same time get more folks involved. Woodcraft stores have really been coming through for us and we should remember to patronize those businesses who support us.

[Kenn Osborne]

The Detroit Area Turn-A-Thon will be held at the Sterling Heights, Mi. Woodcraft store on Sunday, July 18th from 10am - 4pm. Food, Drink and Entertainment will be provided. A raffle will be held for a stars and stripes pen (http://tinyurl.com/34zxx) worth $100.00 donated by Osborne Woodworks. There will be a limited number of supplies based on donations received but extra supplies will be available at cost. Donations will be accepted at the store prior to the event as well as through Osborne Woodworks.

[Jerry Stringer]

OK, I'm gonna start something here . . .

For the raffle, where do the proceeds go and do we have to be present to win??

If not, I'll paypal you $10.00 to buy tickets for me.

Hmmmm . . . this could get big!

Jerry

[Kenn Osborne]

Sorry Jerry, as much as I would like to, I can not accept any money for the raffle prior to the event. It seems that you are limited as to what kind of raffle you can have without a permit. I wanted to have a 50/50 raffle, with 50% of money collected going to the winner and 50% going to the FPP, but that was dismissed because of the permit situation. Everything has to be all legal like because Woodcraft would be held liable since the event is in their establishment.

All proceeds are going to the FPP.

[Michael Cody]

Kenn, I've been trying to arrange a similar event over in the West Side of MI -- since we don't have a woodcraft, I've got a local establishment involved (WoodSource in GR), but we are concerned with attendance since in the summer, business and such drop way off in most woodworking establishments.. I was wondering what if you guys discussed that in relation to the July 18th date and what the consensus was (IE I see you are going to run it but are you worried?).. we are thinking of putting off our effort until September for just that reason.

[Kenn Osborne]

The date was selected so it would be somewhat close to the 4th of July holiday. Attendance never came up as an issue. I think because of the location it should not be a problem as it is in highly populated area. That along with good advertising should make for a good turnout.

[Dave Hammelef]

Kenn,
One more thing about your date, (not sure if its a plus or a minus just a fact). That is the end of the 2 week shutdown for GM, and I believe Ford and Chrysler this year. Im in Novi, but right now I believe I can make it and could bring my Delta Mini, lathe.

Dave

[Kenn Osborne]

Great Dave,
I think that may be a good thing. People coming home from trips and such.

I think it would be nice to have some extra lathes there. They have 6 available to use but the more lathes the more pens that can be made at once.

Looking forward to see you there.

[Kenn Osborne]

Is there anyway we could get this listed on the freedompens.org site?

Thank You

[Jackie Outten]

Kenn,

I will have Keith put it on the site for you tonight.

Thanks for all your help.

Jackie Outten

[Kenn Osborne]

The Detroit Area Turn-A-Thon was a success. The final count was 85 pens. Which works out to about 2 pens per hour per lathe. I think that is pretty good since only 3 of us there turn pens on a regular basis. Many people were first time pen turners and some never even worked on a lathe before. We are expecting more pens to come in this week from people that could not attend and are expecting the total to be around 100 or more pens for the shipment.

We collected $264.03 in cash donations, $104.00 on the day of the event, and $93.50 for the stars and stripes pen raffle.

Everyone had a great time even though I burnt a few hot dogs

Pic 1) Glenn and Dale fellow Pen Makers Guild members showing off their stuff.
Pic 2) Sister In-Law Dorothy making her first pen.
Pic 3) Me doing some sanding.
Pic 4) Father In-Law Dan getting ready to square some tubes.

more to come ....

[Kenn Osborne]

Pic 5) Aunt Cyndi making her first pen with the help Bill Youngblood (the segmented turning master). Also supervising is her son Kevin (age 12) which made his first pen earlier.
Pic 6) Beth from Woodcraft packing all the pens in the tubes.
Pic 7) Mother In-Law Kathy assisting in pen assembly.
Pic 8) My little angel, Makayla, practicing shop saftey.

[Greg Heppeard]

Has anyone else noticed, or is it just me? You never see Kenn's full face, is it the witness protection program?? Just kidding Kenn, awesome job. Glad to see the WC stores doing their part. Do you know if they plan to do the one on Vet's day too? I sure hope so, we can use all the participation we can get.