As some of you may know, I put on several events a year in my community. Mainly use social media to spread the word of what and when. But many people don’t use social media, ya I know strange. I post paper fliers at most all the businesses in the area. Too expensive to mail fliers to over 3000 addresses. So I did a survey and many people asked about getting a billboard I could advertise on. So I collected donations and got all the necessary permits.

The Gwinn Lions Club, which my wife and I are members of, donated $900. A local block company donated the cement blocks. The 906 Community Church donated the sign panels and the vinyl lettering “What’s Up Sawyer?”. I donated $1000 myself.

The sign is 7 feet tall and 12 feet long. Has 3 block pillars. It’s lit up by solar lighting. A flagpole rises 15 feet up from behind it with a 3x5ft USA flag and has its own solar light. There are 4 flagpole mounts on the sign itself for smaller flags. Soon hope to lay some felt and gravel around it. The sign also has 2 boxes on each side for giving out fliers for events and a community calendar which will be started soon.

I also built a mini library kiosk which has 3 sections, 1st books, 2nd can food exchange, 3rd seed exchange. There is a nice bench I built onto it as well. I have built around a dozen mini libraries and set them up all over the neighborhood. Just behind the sign and mini library is a community garden friends of mine built. And if that isn’t enough, some other friends built a Frisbee golf course throughout the remaining field. The Township pitched in as well and donated multiple basketball hoops placed in a side lot along with several balls. A little something for everyone almost.

It took me and two teen boys, Issac Serna and Gordon Hendrickson, about a week to build. I taught the boys how to use the tools and equipment used on the project. They had a great time and did a great job working on the project and their parents are very proud of them. I just wish we could have had more kids involved.

The sign is not only for announcing events. It is being used to inform the community about meetings and important community news as well. Moms are having fun announcing their kids birthdays on it. I built it for the community so the community can have a voice outside social media.

I have plans for 2 more signs to go up at the remaining 2 entry points to our neighborhood. But those will take time to raise the funds for. I need a minimum of $1000 for each one. They wont be as big but will certainly be nice.

Hope you enjoyed my article and come back soon. 🙂