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From YouTube: Construction Kick-Off for GrubStreet
Description
In May 2019, GrubStreet signed the lease with the Fallon Company to officially take over the space. This event highlighted the project moving foward, and a ceremonial "kick-off" took place.
GrubStreet plans to build a narrative arts center at 50 Liberty featuring a bookstore, cafe and community space for writer, a podcast studio, as well as classrooms to expand GrubStreet's workshops.
A
I'm
Jen
DeLeon,
a
member
of
grub
streets
board
and
an
instructor
and
published
author,
and
also
originally
a
student
I,
was
born
in
Boston
and
Jamaica
Plain
and
I'm.
Just
really
excited
to
to
be
here
to
welcome
you
all
keep
coming
yeah.
You
got
it
great
I'm,
a
teacher
so
I'm
like
move
move
so
to
kick
us
off
today,
I'd
actually
like
to
introduce
one
of
our
teen
writers.
Her
name
is
Eva
Gomez
and
she
is
a
star.
A
She
is
one
of
our
advanced
students
in
our
flagship
team,
fellowship
program,
which
is
my
favorite
program
to
teach
in
I
takes
place
every
summer
and
the
fellowship
brings
together
20
teams
from
across
the
city
to
dig
into
their
craft
and
to
hone
their
voices
and
to
really
just
create
a
community
that
supports
each
other,
so
we're
so
excited
to
have
Ava
here,
she's
going
to
share
some
of
her
passionate
and
beautiful
writing
and
her
inspiration
for
writing
and
also
share
a
little
bit
about
her
experience
at
Grove
Street
this
summer.
So
let's
welcome
Emma.
B
Hi
I
will
be
presenting
a
poem,
that's
called
sincerely
Joseph
dear
bellow,
this
daunting
master
growing
inside
you
Bella
has
separated
us,
though
I
never
wanted
it
to,
but
it
moves
so
quickly
ticking
over
all
the
sweet
parts
of
you,
kidneys,
lungs,
stomach
liver.
So
there
is
no
more
to
salvage
all
the
pieces
of
your
natural
home,
failing
as
they
be
gonna.
Take
you
with
them
long
brown,
hair
I
used
to
throw
my
fingers
through
became
thread
in
Hospital
sheets.
Seeing
you
hooked
on
machines.
B
Ivs
attached
to
your
thin
fragile
body
has
permanently
stained
my
memory.
It
makes
these
feet
stumble
when
walking
into
the
hospital
to
see
you
it's
funny.
How
till
death
do
us
apart
felt
so
easy,
but
the
act
unbearable
as
if
I
were
walking
on
hot
coals,
skin
burning
off
me
slowly,
losing
parts
of
myself
trying
to
keep
you
alive.
B
I
missed
the
brightness
in
your
smile
and
never
failed
to
cross
your
strawberry
cheeks
waking
up
to
you
on
days
where
the
world
around
us
was
silent
and
all
I
could
hear
was
the
hum
of
your
snoring.
Was
it
three
extra
years
birthday
Bella?
They
lied
to
you
saying
you
could
overcome
this
with
radiation
and
chemo.
What's
all
the
fighting
worth
it
Bella
your
esophagus
burnt
from
the
constant
vomiting,
your
body,
rejecting
all
the
poison
they
said
would
heal
you.
It
only
prolonged
this
process.
B
B
I
realized
a
lot
of
people
were
in
the
same
boat
as
me,
art
is
trying
to
thrive
in
the
world
where
their
art
is
not
always
accepted
moments
within
the
classroom
that
impacted
my
work
for
the
better
was
sharing
out
loud
with
my
peers
and
hearing
what
a
piece
made
them
feel
or
overall
their
thoughts.
I
found
this
to
be
extremely
helpful,
with
breaking
the
ice
and
showing
pieces.
I
had
been
working
on
and
didn't
feel
confident.
B
Yet
this
created
an
open
space
to
just
let
out
my
chicken
scratch
of
ideas
and
let
them
grow
into
art.
My
piece
sincerely
joseph's
started
off
as
a
monologue.
I
wanted
to
capture
someone
who
was
distraught
and
angry.
I
loved
one
who
passed
away
or
even
someone
that
was
taken
away
too
soon
from
then
on.
I
wanted
to
capture
what
he
was
feeling
in
the
form
of
a
letter
as
if
he
was
sending
her
off
or
even
making
peace
with
her
passing.
B
C
Thank
you
so
much
for
sharing
that
that
was
amazing,
I'm
good
afternoon
everyone.
My
name
is
Kara
Elliott
Ortega
and
I'm,
the
chief
of
Arts
and
Culture
for
the
City
of
Boston
I'm,
so
excited
to
be
here
when
we
began
the
citywide
planning
process
for
Boston
creates
the
city's
cultural
plan
in
2015.
We
heard
time
and
time
again
that
one
of
the
biggest
issues
for
the
arts
sector
here
was
the
need
for
more
affordable
and
accessible
cultural
space.
C
We've
worked
tirelessly
since
then
to
better
understand
the
needs
of
local
artists
and
arts
organizations
and
to
make
sure
that
the
arts
and
cultural
vitality
of
the
city
is
considered
in
city
development
and
planning.
We've
made
some
great
progress,
including
producing
a
study
of
current
facility
and
venue
challenges
for
performing
arts
organizations,
and
that
study
informed,
WSA's
committment
nearby
to
include
three
Performing
Arts
spaces
in
the
Seaport
square
development
and
has
helped
us
add,
affordable
cultural
spaces
and
building
projects
across
the
city.
C
C
There
were
four
great
finalists
to
choose
from,
and
they
all
presented
their
ideas
at
a
meeting
in
district
hall,
where
over
200
people
came
out
not
just
to
hear
the
presentations
and
to
hear
the
ideas
for
what
could
be
here,
but
also
to
have
a
conversation
about
how
arts
and
cultural
space
can
help
make
this
a
thriving
and
diverse
neighborhood,
we're
so
thrilled
that
this
is
where
grub
street
has
landed
becoming
another
anchor
in
this
growing
cultural
hub.
That
includes
the
Society
of
Arts
and
Crafts
and
ICA
right
across
the
water,
which
is
amazing.
C
Grub
Street
is
the
largest
Creative
Writing
Center
in
the
country,
and
their
extensive
programming
throughout
the
city
reaches
neighborhoods
that
have
historically
had
limited
access
to
arts
programming,
including
Dorchester,
Roxbury,
Mattapan
and
East
Boston.
They
welcome
writers
of
all
backgrounds
and
experiences
to
partake
in
workshops,
online
courses
and
neighborhood
classes
and
their
mission
of
transforming
lives
through
narratives
building
bridges
among
community
members
and
developing
voices
and
empathy
aligned
directly
with
the
city
of
Boston's,
larger
goals
for
strengthening
the
city
through
arts
and
culture.
C
This
new
cultural
space
at
fifty
Liberty
will
allow
grub
Street
to
expand
its
current
programming
and
allow
for
even
more
collaboration
among
Bostonians,
regardless
of
race,
age,
gender,
socioeconomic
background
and
writing
proficiency.
So
we're
so
excited
to
see
grub
Street,
bring
a
dynamic
narrative
arts
center
to
the
City
of
Boston
and
I
want
to
congratulate
Eve,
Britt
burg
and
her
whole
team
for
making
us
a
reality.
C
D
Thank
you
very
much
Karen
and
carries
do
an
amazing
job
in
the
city
of
Boston,
as
chief
for
thoughts
and
culture
in
the
city.
I
want
to
thank
her.
Even
your
team
I
want
to.
Thank
you
as
well.
Amazing,
amazing.
This
is
a
beautiful
space
and
I'll
talk
about
that
in
a
minute
Ava.
You
were
amazing
up
here.
Thank
you
very
much.
You
did
not
some
job
another
round
of
applause.
It's
not
easy!
D
I'll
tell
you!
It's
not
easy
to
publish
speak
in
front
of
people.
It's
not
easy
to
public
speak
in
front
of
about
100
plus
people,
and
you
did.
You
did
an
amazing
job.
So
congratulations
to
the
Fallon
Company.
Thank
you
very
much
for
your
investment
here,
the
BPD
a
and
the
staff
there
Brian
Gould
and
his
team,
and
to
all
the
folks
that
are
here
today
to
all
the
writers
and
artists.
D
This
congratulations
welcome
and
all
the
right
where
it
is,
but
I
can
tell
you
when
I
walk
in
today,
I've
been
running
around
the
city
all
day
and
everywhere,
I
go,
there's
a
TV
camera
and
the
TV
camera
is
generally
asking
me
not
like.
You
know
you're
gonna
grab
Street.
How
great
is
gonna,
be
it's
like
you
know.
What
do
you
think
about
this?
So
what
happened
there,
or
one
went
on
here
and
and
the
world's
little
crazy
right
now
and
when
I
walk
in
the
door
when
I
walked
in
the
door.
D
I
want
to
thank
you
for
just
keeping
going
to
the
young
people
in
the
room.
We're
doing
some
great
things
in
the
city
of
Boston
and
we're
gonna
continue
to
great
things
in
the
city
of
Boston.
But
it's
up
to
you
to
continue
to
push
us
and
push
elected
officials
and
push
private-sector
people
and
push
all
the
different
areas
that
you
can
just
to
make
sure
that
people
don't
forget,
because
because
when
I
was
running
in
2013,
what
we
start
to
review,
we
start
to
look
and
see
the
auxin
culture
cabinet.
We
sit.
D
Ok,
let's
see
when
Boston
had
announced
a
culture
cabinet
and
we
went
back
and
we
looked
at.
You
know
we
looked
at
the
2000s
and
we
went
look
at
the
90s
and
I
think
it
was
90
in
the
80s.
We
had
one
and
then
somewhere
around
80,
something
it
stops
and
there
was
no
record
of
it
stopping
and
we
couldn't
find
anything.
And
then,
when
somebody
came
in
one
day
with
a
cultural
plan,
they
gave
us
I
from
whatever
year
it
was,
and
it
was
an
old
one
and
and
I
couldn't
understand.
D
The
importance
in
Boston
were
in
Boston,
where
we
have
so
many
incredible
institutions.
We
have
so
many
artists
of
all
different
backgrounds
and
cultures
and
and
in
special
talents
and
skill,
and
we
didn't
we
weren't
recognizing
honson
culture
as
something
that's
really
important.
The
city
of
Boston
and
a
lot
of
you
were
part
of
what
we,
what
we're
doing
here
in
the
city
and
one
thank
you
for
it.
For
the
last
five
years,
as
Kara
talked
a
little
bit
about
it,
we
put
a
renewed,
renewed
focus
on
the
Arts.
D
We
want
to
make
sure
that
artists
can
truly
thrive
and
people
from
all
backgrounds
gonna
be
heard.
We
I
believe
not.
We
I
believe
that
art
is
for
everyone
and
that's
something
that
is
really
important.
We've
taken
some
very
big,
bold
steps.
As
I
mentioned,
we
talked
about
cabinet
level,
position
caris,
it's
in
the
meeting
and
before
her.
D
The
previous
ask,
commissioner,
sat
in
the
meeting
and
when
I
thought
was
unique
years
ago
was
when
it
first
started,
we
had
we
had
the
count
we
had
Julie
was
it
was
that
was
it
was
head
of
arts
and
culture,
and
she
was
talking
about
programs
and
doing
some
stuff
on
the
public
and
the
fire.
Commissioner
of
all
people
said
wait.
D
We're
invested
in
artists,
honey,
affordable
artists,
housing
I,
don't
have
to
tell
you
that
neighborhoods,
like
Brighton
and
in
the
four
point
channel
in
other
areas
where
artists
live,
he
is
has
been,
has
I
guess
you
could
call
it.
Gentrification
have
been
pushed
out
for
condos
and
higher
higher
higher
end
apartments
and
housing
and
we're
working
to
make
sure
that
we
continue
to
build
housing
for
artists
or
artists
can
stay
in
the
city
of
Boston.
We've
cut
the
red
tape.
D
If
you
will
for
performance
permits,
we've
launched
a
citywide
cultural
plan,
of
which
many
of
you
were
part
of.
Last
week
we
celebrated
a
two
hundred
thousand
dollar
grants
to
local
youth
organizations,
shouts
indicate
looking
at
not
forgetting
our
young
people,
making
sure
that
they
have
access
to
to
money
and
we're
not.
You
know
we're
not
talking
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars.
We're
talking
about
some
organizations
just
need
a
few
bucks
to
be
able
to
buy
supplies
and
do
special
things.
There
we're
also
investing
in
cultural
spaces.
D
We
want
to
make
sure
that
our
local
artists,
Ananse
programs,
have
room
to
thrive
and
grow.
We
want
to
make
sure
that
it's
affordable.
We
want
to
make
sure
that's
sustainable
for
years
to
come
because
a
lot
of
times
our
organizations
don't
have
the
supporters
of
deep-pocket
supporters.
So
we
need
to
make
sure
the
space
can
be
sustained
by
an
organization.
We
want
to
make
sure
also
we
should
kill
spaces
like
this,
for
arts
and
some
of
our
fastest-growing
neighborhoods
it
down
here
in
the
Seaport.
Well,
we
look
at
sites
like
this.
D
We
see
tremendous
opportunity.
First
of
all,
it's
probably
the
best
space
you
could
have
when
you
look
out
the
front
door
and
see
the
ocean.
If
you
want
to
dream
about
going
to
a
hot
island
in
the
wintertime,
you
can
look
across
the
bay
and
see
a
plane
take
off
and
wish.
You
were
on
that
plane
going
someplace
thanks,
but
it
is
a
great
thing.
It
is
a
great,
a
great,
a
great
place
and
we
have
many
many
of
these
sites
that
were
coming
here
in
this
great
neighborhood.
The
opportunities
here
also
helps
us
meet.
D
Our
housing
needs
make
street
level
more
welcoming
lively
from
old
socks
and
culture,
and
if
people
move
into
the
neighborhood
they
get
a
chance
to
come
in
to
see
some
incredible
organizations,
we
see
I
see
a
across
the
way
there.
It
can't
just
be
one
institution,
it
kind
of
be
a
whole
ecosystem
of
institutions,
so
the
institutions
can
feed
off
one
another
and
that's
something.
That's
key
that's
happening
here.
The
Boston
planning
and
development
agency
wanted
to
make
sure
that
this
project
supported
all
these
goals.
D
D
We
modeled
this
process
that
brought
the
Society
of
Arts
and
Crafts
to
pf4
in
2015.
We
also
wanted
to
find
organizations
that
would
create
welcoming
year-round
space
of
bosses,
diverse
community
grub
Street
won
by
unanimous
vote
before
I
talk
about
grub
Street.
We
also
had
other
applicants
and
it
showed
the
interest
and
the
desire
to
be
in
a
space
like
this
and
that's
exciting.
D
Webb
Street
has
been
doing
incredible
work
for
over
20
years,
they've
grown
into
the
largest
Creative
Writing
Center
in
the
United
States,
by
giving
young
young
people
to
support
and
mentorship
that
can
change
their
lives.
We
heard
it
today
now
I'll
be
able
to
make
they'll
be
able
to
make
a
even
bigger
impact.
Club
Street
will
also
receive
three
hundred
thousand
dollars
towards
improving
this
space
and
they
will
pay
a
little
bit
of
rent.
Think
you
can
handle
it.
I
know
if
I
should
say
it.
I
won't
say
it,
but
it's
a
lot.
D
The
cost
of
this.
You
know
all
the
mix
to
expand
their
programming
to
reach
more
people,
it'll
be
able
to
elevate
voices
here
in
Boston
in
our
diverse
neighborhoods,
and
also
that
which
is
really
important
as
a
seaport
continues
to
grow
and
evolve
and
as
other
parts
of
the
city
continue
to
grow
and
evolve.
As
we
look
at
it,
we
hope
to
see
more
great
spaces
like
this.
We
hope
to
see
more
great
organizations
and
institutions
to
be
able
to
access
this
type
of
space.
D
This
will
help
this
neighborhood
reaches
potential
being
welcoming
diverse
and
it's
riving
neighborhood
from
one
of
the
things
the
complaints
I
hear
a
lot
about
the
Seaport,
it's
kind
of
like
you
know,
restaurants
and
shops,
and
what
else
we
do
down
there
and
having
an
organization
like
this
here
and
other
organizations
really
changes
in
adds
dynamic
flair
to
the
community.
I
want
to
thank
everyone
who
made
this
possible
I
wanted
throwing
club
street
fouling,
Company
B
PDA,
all
the
city
staff
community
members
who
gave
their
feedback
on
the
process.
D
I
look
forward
to
coming
back
to
the
supporters
of
grub
Street
that
are
here.
The
financial
supporters
I
want
to
thank
you
for
supporting
this
incredible
organization.
It
is
important,
as
we
talk
a
lot
and
you'll
hear
me,
talk
a
lot
about
adding
120
thousand
new
jobs
to
the
city
of
Boston.
The
last
five
years
you'll
hear
me
talking
about
the
great
economy
that
we
have
and
all
the
great
things
that
are
going
on,
Boston
they're,
all
true.
D
A
Thank
you
so
much
Mira
wash
and
thank
everyone
again
for
being
here.
I
just
wanted
to
tell
you
a
little
bit
about
myself
and
my
relationship
with
grub
Street
over
the
years
so
go
back.
15
years
ago,
I'm
sitting
in
my
apartment
alone
on
the
couch,
with
my
laptop
writing
for
the
hundredth
time.
But
this
time
I
say
I
can't
do
it
alone,
anymore,
so
I,
Google,
Boston,
writing
and
grub
Street
pops
up
I
had
never
heard
of
it
and
lucky.
A
For
me
they
were
having
an
open
house
coming
up,
so
I
attend
the
open
house
on
Boylston,
Street
and
I.
Remember
taking
the
tea
there
and
clicking
my
way
over
there
and
my
shoes
and
going
up
the
elevator,
which
was
a
little
sketchy,
not
going
to
lie
and
still
is,
and
when
I
got
there,
the
elevator
doors
open
and
it
was
see
any
room
only
not
unlike
this
and
people
were
talking
laughing
drinking.
But
I
was
in
this
place
where
I
was
so
scared
to
take
that
step
into
the
room.
A
I
always
wanted
to
be
a
writer
I
mean
since
I
was
three
years
old.
Four
years
old,
but
I
had
never
felt
like
I
actually
could
I
didn't
know
how,
and
so
I
came
to
this
open
house,
because
at
that
point,
I
had
a
deep
belief
that
if
I
just
came
to
this
place,
people
would
help
me
and
that
it
could
be
possible
and
I'm
not
going
to
lie.
A
A
Where
is
he
with
his
smile
and
I
walked
in
the
room
and
he
just
was
very
friendly,
as
was
everyone
and
I
stayed
in
the
room,
and
I
came
back
to
the
room
the
following
week
and
the
week
after
that
and
the
month
after
that
and
the
year
after
that
and
I'm
thrilled
to
say
that
I
became
an
instructor
after
kind
of
maxing
out
on
the
classes
and
instructors.
I
found
a
new
home
there
with
new
new
colleagues.
Soon,
I
helped
develop
the
right
down
the
street
program
and
develop
the
yacht
program.
A
Both
are
great
programs
that
help
like
you
know.
Emma
was
saying
marginalized
communities
come
together
and
to
really
join
and
share
our
stories
and
to
make
one
collective
voice.
What
I,
love
too,
is
that
I,
never
graduated
from
Grubb
I
could
never
graduate,
because
there's
always
something
more
to
learn,
there's
always
another
class
to
take.
A
Which
I'm
so
happy
about?
And
it's
it's
a
title
you
might
you
might
like,
because
many
of
us
in
the
room
have
often
been
asked
the
question:
where
are
you
from
now?
Where
are
you
from
from
now?
Where
you
really
from,
and
so
the
title
of
my
novel
is
called,
don't
ask
me
where
I'm
from
and
it
tells
a
story
of
a
team
girl
from
Jamaica,
Plain
and
she's
in
the
Beco
program
and
she's
new
to
school.
A
Suddenly
she
realizes
her
father's
missing
her
her
father's
missing,
but
she
realizes
that
he's
actually
not
missing
he's
on
he's
been
deported
and
she
didn't
know
her.
Parents
were
undocumented.
So
it's
a
real
coming-of-age
story,
but
it's
also
the
story
of
a
girl
who,
who
wants
more
and
wants
to
learn
more
about
herself,
so
I
just
want
to
again
welcome
everyone
and
have
you
know
that
Grub
Street
has
played
such
a
vital
role
in
my
professional
life,
but
also
my
personal
life.
E
E
E
We're
enormous
ly
grateful
to
the
mayor's
office
of
arts
and
culture
of
the
Boston
Planning
and
Development
Agency,
and
the
Fallon
company,
which
awarded
us
the
space
and
is
giving
us
this
opportunity
to
build
a
lasting
home
for
this
incredible
community.
In
particular,
we'd
like
to
thank
mayor,
Walsh,
Jo
Fallon,
who
I
know
isn't
with
us
today,
but
there
are
a
lot
of
folks
from
the
Fallon
company.
Thank
you,
Richard
McGinnis,
joy,
Celina,
Hannon
and
Cora
Eliot
Ortega.
E
E
They
have
worked
tirelessly,
they've
come
to
I.
Think
60
meetings
with
grubby's
have
a
lot
of
opinions
about
the
space
and
I
think
the
original
plan
was
15,
they've,
been
tireless
adaptive
and
are
creating
incredible
designs,
which
I
cannot
wait
to
stand
here
with
you
next
April,
when
we
launch
so
that
you
can
see
their
beautiful
work
their
plan,
if
you
haven't
gotten
a
map
already
and
toured
yourself
around,
please
feel
free
to
do
that
after
this
program.
I
also
want
to
thank
Peter
nobly
of
Smith
and
st.
John,
our
wonderful
project
manager.
E
Are
you
here,
Peter,
you
wave
your
hand.
Thank
you.
It's
really
hard
to
believe
that
in
just
a
few
months
the
upstairs
space
will
become
expanded
classrooms,
a
podcast
studio
which
is
wonderful
addition
for
us
and
also
a
community
lounge.
We
chose
it's
really
important
to
note
about
the
community
lounge
it.
We
chose
the
most
beautiful
spot
in
the
building
with
the
best
views.
E
If
you
haven't
been
up
there
yet
to
see
it,
please
do
before
you
go
for
our
community,
we're
grateful
for
all
the
advocacy
when
we
put
our
proposal
in
to
get
this
space.
The
whole
community
came
together
and
really
helped
us
get
over
the
finish
line,
and
we
wanted
that
that
the
sort
of
crown
jewel
of
this
space
to
belong.
Everyone
involved
in
the
community,
where
we're
standing
right
now,
we're
gonna
have
a
bookstore
one
run
by
the
wonderful
Porter
square
books.
E
We
look
forward
to
celebrating
and
supporting
diverse
writing
talent
and
to
engaging
audiences
that
reflect
all
of
Boston
and
the
world
along
with
Porter
spread
books
were
honored
to
be
partnering
with
mass
poetry,
Michael,
ansara
and
Daniel
Johnson
are
here
today.
They're
gonna,
be
wonderful
partners
to
help
us
bring
this
space
to
life,
and
we
look
forward
to
deepening
our
work
in
Boston's
neighborhoods,
in
partnership
with
the
Boston
Public
Library
and
the
brookview
house,
who
are
current
key
partners.
They're
gonna
remain
partners
and
we're
really
excited
to
continue
and
expand
that
work.
E
This
dream-
and
it
really
is
dreamy,
would
not
be
a
reality
without
the
extraordinary
generosity
of
so
many
organizations,
foundations
and
people.
I've
made
this
list
as
short
as
I
could
but
I
hope
that
you'll
all
bear
with
me
when
I
continue
to
thank
a
few
people.
I
want
to
thank
Andy,
Zhukov
and
Erin
clay,
we'll
of
Goodwin
Proctor
we're
gonna,
be
neighbors.
E
They're
right
across
the
street
they've
been
working
tirelessly
as
our
pro
bono
attorneys,
as
we
make
this
leap,
we're
grateful
to
Bob
O'connell
of
auric,
Harrington
and
Sitka,
and
also
Hill
holiday,
for
also
supporting
this
project.
With
pro
bono
support
the
Calderwood
foundation,
the
bar
foundation,
MCC,
is
cultural
facilities
fund
the
vertex
foundation,
we're
excited
to
be
neighboring
with
vertex
and
dozens
of
committed
individual
donors
have
stepped
up
early
with
significant
funding
and
support.
I
want
to
thank
our
dedicated
and
generous
and
our
tireless
capital
campaign
committee
for
their
incredible
leadership.
E
Please
look
at
your
flyers.
We
have
them
out
on
the
tables
earlier
and
look
at
the
names
of
all
who
are
helping
us
make
this
home
possible.
Every
person
on
the
list
is
volunteering
hours
and
hours
of
time,
digging
deep,
financially
and
lending
us
their
expertise
and
best
thinking.
We
absolutely
could
not
do
this
without
them.
E
I
need
to
particularly
thank
one
person
in
both
of
those
groups
and
that's
Kathy
Sherbrooke,
because
she's
our
board
chair,
where
are
you
Kathy
and
she's,
essentially
become
a
grub,
Street,
employee
she's
in
our
office
three
days
a
week,
working
so
so
hard
with
so
much
generosity
and
wisdom,
and
we
just
couldn't
ask
for
a
more
talented,
brilliant
and
loving
leader
of
our
board,
so
Kathy.
Thank
you.
So
very
much.
E
Many
of
you
in
this
room
have
already
made
generous
gifts
to
our
early
quiet
phase
of
fundraising,
and
we're
really
really
grateful
for
that.
If
you've
not
yet
joined
our
campaign
and
have
the
capacity
I
want
to
invite
you
today
to
join
us,
we
can't
do
it
without
you.
As
the
saying
goes,
it
takes
a
village,
but
in
this
case
I
think
it's
gonna
take
a
city
and
it's
worth
the
investment
our
world
desperately
right
now
needs
the
connection,
understanding
and
meaning
that
come
from
telling
stories
and
sharing
stories.
E
In
the
words
of
the
author
Viet
Tuan,
when
through
writing
and
reading
through
identifying
with
characters
who
are
nothing
like
us,
we
who
love
ler,
we
who
love
words,
learn
to
love.
Others
I,
don't
think,
there's
anything
more
important
to
invest
in
right
now,
so
I
hope,
you'll
consider
getting
involved
before
we
wrap
up
and
I
promise
you
it's
gonna
happen
in
a
minute,
because
I
know
everybody's
been
standing
for
a
long
time.
I
wanted
us
to
have
a
round
of
applause,
some
woods
and
cheers
for
a
couple
of
things
so
bear
with
me.
E
Well
I
list
them
off
and
then
I
hope
we'll
do
that
and
then
we're
going
to
end
at
the
very
we're
gonna
end
with
a
writing
exercise
which
I
hope
you'll
all
appreciate
this.
We
have
to
write
so
please
join
me
in
a
round
of
applause
for
all
the
pro
bono:
organ
organizational
support
for
our
incredible
early
philanthropists,
who
have
supported
the
campaign
already
for
our
incredible
staff
and
instructors,
so
many
of
whom
are
with
us
today.
We
couldn't
that
our
staff
nor
instructors
are
the
engine
they're,
the
most
important
people
in
what
we
do.
E
E
And
now,
because
this
is
a
Writing
Center,
we're
gonna
do
a
writing
exercise.
We
invite
everybody
here,
whether
you
identify
as
a
writer
or
not.
Maybe
your
reader
to
share.
We
have
writing,
prompts
on
the
roles
and
we'd
really
love
to
hear
to
hear
from
you.
We
want
to
know
why
you
read
and
write
what
you
hope
this
space
will
bring
to
the
city.
Your
thoughts
are
so
important
to
us.
They'll
help
guide
us
together
in
this
next
leg
of
the
journey.
Thank
you
so
much.
Thank
you
all
for
coming.