As you may know, we've held our kick-off and TGIO pot luck lunch parties at the Naperville Municipal Center every year since 2006. Up until this year, the city of Naperville has provided their rooms without charge to non-profit organizations like National Novel Writing Month. This year, however, Naperville is facing a 1.8M USD budget deficit and they are very, very likely to begin imposing rental fees for use of their rooms, charging $30 for the lunch room and $60 for room BC. We expect these fees will be in place permanently.

NaNoWriMo allows its regions to collect funds to pay for rooms for their big events. In our region, we MLs have done our best to avoid asking for regional donations, preferring that people send their donations to National Novel Writing Month HQ. Now, however, we are left in a precarious situation since room reservation requests (which have to be made a year in advance) are due November 2nd. We will try to request the lunch room; however, competition for use of the lunch room is likely to grow since it is the less expensive room, so we need to be prepared to grab the BC room if we can't get the lunch room, with $60 to $120 on hand November 2nd.

Accordingly, we will have a bucket at the kick-off party for 2016 room rental fee donations. Please note: the kick-off and TGIO, like all our events, will still be completely free. No donations are required or expected; there won't be any pressure at all on participants to donate.

If anyone has suggestions for alternate locations for these (and other) events, please let us know.

Note: although National Novel Writing Month is a 501c3 non-profit organization (and monetary donations to it are tax deductible), monetary donations to the regions can't be recognized--sorry!

Thanks in advance for your generosity, help and support. If donations add up to more than what we need for 2016, we will use them to build a buffer to cover 2017 as well. Donations beyond that will be sent to NaNoWriMo since we want to support National Novel Writing Month and the Young Writers Program. We'll post in this thread the status of our regional finances.

--Tim

The municipal center is a great space. Pass the hat!

I am sure If us writers come together (aren't writers supposedly good at researching lol?)...we can research other locations that may be free to use....but I did researching like this over the summer whenInternational Sailor Moon day: Chicago was being hosted and i formed a 10 person committee. many places were expensive...

Possibly churches if they allow us to use their rooms...;i WAS about to suggest park district parks until i remembered "oh yeah, november. cold"...Or maybe...someone lives in a LARGE mansion like on Empire??? lol!

But i agree about the municipal center...a community space like that is perfect...so maybe check other communities in the area and see if they have anything similar?

Thanks to everyone who donated money at our kick-off. We raised $120.15, enough to cover our kick-off and TGIO room reservations for 2016 and 2017 (Naperville clarified that the lunch room and room B can be had for $30 each; the $60 fee is for combining A and B).

Many thanks to all those who generously contributed, including several anonymous donors and Damon D, Barb Dill-Varga and Bonnie Bradlee. You are the best!

To anyone who was still straggling after i left: i THINK i may have left a mixing bowl on a chair...in a shopping bag...it had my spoopy dessert dip in it? I'm going to call the center tomorrow to see if they have it...

Goddess_Astra wrote:To anyone who was still straggling after i left: i THINK i may have left a mixing bowl on a chair...in a shopping bag...it had my spoopy dessert dip in it? I'm going to call the center tomorrow to see if they have it...

Sam has it!

--Tim

Thanks!!! I don't need it back any time soon...so no rush..I can even wait until a next write-in...Feel free to buy some cookies Sam...and enjoy some dip during a movie lol!

Yes, I have your bowl. Let me know what write-ins you are going to and I can bring it one of those.

I'll be at the Nichols library on sunday....i know i'll attend the all day write in on the 13th....

I be out in Lombard on Sunday, so I won't be at Nichols, but I will try to make it to the all day write-in, though I wouldn't be getting there until the evening.