Whedonesque : Comments on 16224 : "They would have had a Whedon house.. built by the end of that day".

You know that may not be a bad idea and it may be a good way to help promote Dollhouse, before it airs. Perhaps sometime in the summer or early fall.

Get some of the people from the show, as well as past Whedon shows, throw in a bunch of fans and find out if Habitat for Humanity is building in or around LA and join them to build a house for a day or two.

RavenU | April 30, 16:46 CET

I am loving this awesome idea! The mind boggles at the thought of a house of Whedon.

We would of course have to equip it with VERY comfy couches for all the DVD viewing, plus a life size Morgan Freeman cut-out. (And, invariably, the guys would argue over what kind of TV, DVD and sound system to equip it with.)

missb | April 30, 16:52 CET

The house that Whedon built. I like that idea.

palehorse | April 30, 17:20 CET

Fabulous idea for some grassroots promotion of Dollhouse! And I already know that I'll be wishing I didn't live in middle America so I could take part.

TiffintheOK | April 30, 17:21 CET

"Imagine if Joss went to Habitat for Humanity and 200 fans joined him there. They would have had a Whedon house or a Whedon block built by the end of that day."

I'd do it. Tell me the time, the place, and maybe loan me some money for a plane ticket and I'll so be there!

And weren't there more than 200 people there? *asks those in the know*

Mirage | April 30, 18:18 CET

Not counting the writers and actors who were there, we had over 400 people according to the WGA strike leader.

C. A. Bridges | April 30, 18:28 CET

Yes I believe there were closer to 400 fans in attendance by the end of the picket.

If anyone is interested in doing a habitat for humanity build I have opened up a topic over at whedonesque.org to guage how many people would be interested in volunteering or taking part in someway.

RavenU | April 30, 18:35 CET

Lynn's been wanting to have the SoCal Browncoats build a HFH house for years now. Maybe this will be the jolt needed to get us moving on it. Count us in if/when it gets set up.

danregal | April 30, 18:55 CET

Wow, I'm actually in the process of setting up a HFH trip for myself this fall. I was trying to get some of my Browncoat friends to join me, too. What a wonderful idea, and for such a good cause. Count me in.

[ edited by Dizzy on 2008-04-30 15:57 ]

Dizzy | April 30, 18:55 CET

Little acorns! By which I mean if it looks likes there's going to be a viable fan effort expect Whedonesque ~~plugs~~ coverage.

Simon | April 30, 19:01 CET

Subject to work and money issues I would love to do something like this.

zz9 | April 30, 20:01 CET

OMG! I would love to take part in the Habitat for Humanity idea, someone please set it up!!

dulce_serenidad | April 30, 20:16 CET

The real question is how many of us are experienced in actual construction. Even if we have a bazillion people, at some point we need enough experienced foremen to supervise us newbies and keep us hammering the right things, if we want to get done fast.

jclemens | April 30, 20:20 CET

jclemens raises a really good point. We need people with construction experience if we wanted to do this, and a few people prepared to manage things in certain key areas.

ponders

If it becomes a serious effort I would see if FOX would be willing to get involved somehow. I don't know what the angle would be for the pitch, though.

gossi | April 30, 20:24 CET

You don't need any construction experience to work with HFH. Just the desire to work hard. They handle the technical aspects and we would do the grunt work.

edit to add: usually they do builds in teams of 20 or so. This would be an unusual project for them I think. Someone might want to get in touch with them to see if they can work with this idea. Because 400 people on a build site? Chaos.

[ edited by Dizzy on 2008-04-30 17:34 ]

Dizzy | April 30, 20:24 CET

I have sent an email to the LA HFH chapter, to see how we can arange this and coordinate it for later in the year. Including what we will need to do before hand.

If you want to see what it takes to volunteer with HFH go here.

RavenU | April 30, 20:35 CET

Lynn saw the post and she is all in. I've emailed the 1300+ members of the SoCal Yahoo group to let them know we're going to do this, and to get a local to be our organizer. I don't think we'll need the official non-profit capacity of the California Browncoats to do this, but if needed I'll submit a proposal for their (our) help too. I check the HFH site and there are plenty of builds scheduled in the SoCal area.

Once we get a good base and this thing looks to be happening for sure, I'll email Fox (or someone better connected can) and see about their support. How could they turn down fans building a house right about the time DollHouse is being promoted?

danregal | April 30, 20:36 CET

I love this idea. It's a way to flex our *power*. What was said in a joke, becomes reality by us. Our combined will can move moons.

Our community has plenty of contacts, would it be hard to find someone with experience? Dizzy, you said you were setting one up for yourself, have you already done the research on what's required? If not, I guess I could do it. It would beat doing work, I guess. :)

korkster | April 30, 20:38 CET

Wow, I really take too long posting comments. Someone already beat me to everything!

I'll just be over here, out of the way.

korkster | April 30, 20:40 CET

I definitely think a SoCal organizer would be optimal, if it would be built here, so I think it might be best to coordinate those involved within the fanbase before contacting HFH, and folks outside of the fanbase.

Just planting seeds, as the late Bill Hicks used to say... ;>

QuoterGal | April 30, 20:43 CET

Ooo, this is exciting. I was all set to get signed on another build, and now this may be happening. They only thing better than building with HFH is building with HFH with bunches of Whedon fans. Hee!

Dizzy | April 30, 20:44 CET

Thanks for stepping up, James! I'm excited to see how this grows!

lexigeek | April 30, 20:48 CET

danregal, RavenU, can you two email me please?

If this is going to happen I'll put a section on Dollverse about it, once we've got a rough plan.

gossi | April 30, 20:49 CET

I agree a local organizer would be the best thing to have, when we start the move and yes we can move quickly, but for now we are just info and interest gathering. Once we see what can be done, we will plan it out using local contacts and organizers. Right now we aare just out with feelers at this point. We do have time to settle into a viable plan of action. This is just a request for interest at the moment.

RavenU | April 30, 20:51 CET

Gotta say, I always love seeing how fast this fandom mobilizes to put fantastic ideas into motion. And this is a hell of a fantastic idea.

Lady Brick | April 30, 20:55 CET

Cheers! I'll bring pizza for snack food. Are we setting up the "volunteer tracker" on whedonesque.org or will we also have one here? (Probably one or the other, I guess.)

korkster | April 30, 20:59 CET

To be honest if SoCal Browncoats have been looking at it for years I think organisation should land squarely in their area (like all that work I just gave you people? Huh? Huh?). I can help with attempted prodding and poking of people and general web stuff if needed. And actual building, if it happened to fall between July and August, as I'm in LA.

gossi | April 30, 21:02 CET

Dude, we are so taking you out for a drink when you're here (despite all the work you just handed us). And I was thinking August/September. July is out since Comic-Con is a big monster that month.

We already have 2 SoCalers that put their name in for running this thing. Now we just have to see who will have the time to do it. It's all coming together and we should have a team in place by tomorrow (hopefully).

Kevin, I've got no time (or ability really) for web stuff, so I may call on you for that, plus the other prodding and poking.

danregal | April 30, 21:12 CET

Somebody needs to send the link to this thread to Brian Pines. It'll make his head spin. :)

jcs | April 30, 21:17 CET

Well, we should definately give Mr. Pines credit for this project. In fact, on the beautiful finished house, there should be a little plaque that gives him credit for this. Something like "Brian Pines ideas are realized by Whedonesque". :)

korkster | April 30, 21:24 CET

I hate to be a negative nelly but getting help from Fox may be a step too far for a large number of fans. I know the network is going to show Dollhouse for which we are really grateful for, but rivers run deep and I still get shivers from getting in bed with Universal. We're more cynical as a result.

But that's just my thoughts on the matter. I'll still quite happily back any fan action that happens.

Simon | April 30, 21:25 CET

This sounds like a fantastic idea! If I wasn't an east coaster, I'd be more than down to lend a hand. Love to see where this goes.

cookiepartier | April 30, 21:25 CET

Simon, it depends how it's handled, and if they'd touch it at a corporate level. Who knows, I'm not going to worry about that on this stage. I will say given the best bit of 'buzz' publicity for Drive was the fuel pumping thing - which I suspect didn't really work very well - this would be a neat thing for them to think about.

[ edited by gossi on 2008-04-30 18:37 ]

gossi | April 30, 21:37 CET

danregal, August? In LA? Really? That being said, I'm in and will try to use my very very limited influence on another front.

TamaraC | April 30, 21:39 CET

I'm amazed in how an idea can be picked up like this, truly remarkable :) Hopefully it actually gets done!

Oh and happy Queensday for those of us who live in the Netherlands :D

Krusher | April 30, 21:40 CET

How do I get my group involved?
Groups with up to 10-15 volunteers are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to sponsor organizations.

Please e-mail the following information to lrandall@habitatla.org to register your group. You will be contacted by the Programs department to schedule volunteer days for your organization.

Group Information:

Group Name
Group Type (Business, College/University, High School, Friends, Service Organization, Faith Group, or Other)
Group Size
Group Availability (Weekdays, Saturdays, Both Weekdays and Saturdays, or Undecided)
Interest (Home Improvement Store or Construction Site)
Group Contact Person

First and Last Name
E-mail Address
Phone Number
Group Mailing Address
Comments

Our contact person(s) also needs to attend a Volunteer Orientation for an Introduction 101 on how it'll be. Their schedule for this, however, is not up to date (2007). I'll contact the person for a more up-to-date list.

It is also mentioned that there are more desires to build than there are funds to support it, which is why corporate groups get bumped ahead of others. There is a donating section, however, which should give those who are too far away a chance to interact by giving us (the builders) the supplies we need to build a house.

Does anyone know who the potential contacts are for Whedonesque on this so I can coordinate with them?

korkster | April 30, 21:42 CET

The Olympics are in August, but that shouldn't get in the way of things, right?

korkster | April 30, 21:43 CET

TamaraC - Yep, August. Because what's a little heat stroke when you're doing something good? :) And thanks for any help you can give.

danregal | April 30, 21:45 CET

korkster - Right now I think you can send information to me. At least until we have our official in charge person. danregal_ff at yahoo.com

danregal | April 30, 21:48 CET

I'm an east coaster and not able to make it out to LA... but it seems like a lot of people must be in that situation. Is there anyway we could CSTS this? Groups all over the country could build on the same day? It shouldn't be too hard, if you only need a group of 10 or 15.

I know it's not exactly the same as doing it in LA, but we could wear Dollhouse shirts, and of course there'll be a website, and press coverage...

ormaybemidgets | April 30, 21:49 CET

I don't think anyone would have a problem with FOX being a part of this. The way I see this is it's for a good cause first; a way to spend time with friends and fellow fans second; and a promotional tool third. I'm sure most people would see it that way.

And also, seconding TamaraC's "August? In LA?" Yikes! We'll be a sweaty, smelly bunch, heh.

Dizzy | April 30, 21:51 CET

The way I see it, our top priorities are:

1) Doing it to shock Mr. Pines
1) It's a good cause
1) A nice way to meet/mingle with fellow Whedonites
1) Ties in nicely with Dollhouse

Those are our 4 #1 priorities. And don't you forget it, people!

korkster | April 30, 22:33 CET

Also, if you die on the site, we'll just build you into the walls. Every down-on-their-luck family needs to have their own ghost. I mean, look at all the good Cordy's ghost (what's his name?) did!

korkster | April 30, 22:34 CET

Yes! *two thumbs up* I'll be spreading the word now...

Mirage | April 30, 22:47 CET

OK, so it looks like we'll probably be expanding this past LA. But let us get our team in place to have a focal point for coordination. Once we have that, we'll set up how everyone who wants to be involved can get involved.

danregal | April 30, 22:50 CET

Korkster,

Phantom Dennis (the whole reason he was called Dennis apparently :) )

fmwt | April 30, 22:56 CET

Personally, I think it'd be good to get the ball rolling well on LA before expanding it further, just to see the organisation challenges this could involve.

gossi | April 30, 22:59 CET

Yep, that's the plan. We'll do all the work here in SoCal first. If it looks like there is enough interest nationwide, we'll provide a road map to getting things done.

And now comes the fun part...what are we going to call this? The Whedon House? The House that Whedon Built? Be a Doll, help us build this House?

Suggestions welcome!

danregal | April 30, 23:08 CET

I agree. LA could serve as our beta site. With it's imminent success, we'll already have the "know-how" to spread it wider. Remember, funds play on this too. For some reason, you have to buy supplies now-a-days. *hmph* But, if we can spend money on needless pencils & pizza, I guess wood, hammers, & nails wouldn't be a stretch.

Thanks, fmwt. For the life (& death) of me, I couldn't remember his name. I kept wanting to call him Simon or Sid for some reason. At least I got the "i" and "s" right. :)

korkster | April 30, 23:12 CET

Ooh, danregal, I like that last one. That could be a banner slogan for advertisements or the like. "The Whedon House" also has a nice ring, like a greek house or something. Is there anyone in the 'verse who could come up with some nice banners and the like?

korkster | April 30, 23:15 CET

Would it be wrong to call the project "The Doll House"?

I mean, would it be too pander-y or something?

'Cause it almost names itself, if it's not too... smarmy.

ETA: Oh, yeah, it's got to be L.A. only, for now. The work involved means "start locally, then expand globally" - if you can.

You'll be amazed at how much work will be involved, and how volunteers don't always stay around... meaning no disrespect, of course...

[ edited by QuoterGal on 2008-04-30 20:27 ]

QuoterGal | April 30, 23:24 CET

I'm not sure we have the right to put the Whedon family name on this. (I'm also not sure if Joss would care or not). Although we have the technology!

gossi | April 30, 23:25 CET

Wow. This fandom is incredible.

I can't personally help out, but kudos to all of you.

UnpluggedCrazy | April 30, 23:26 CET

I remember when we had that PayPal account to buy those pencils during the strike. It would be nice to have an account set up for this venture, should it come to fruition, so that those of us unable to help physically can still participate (beyond saying "go team!")

kazzmere | April 30, 23:34 CET

kazzmere, yeah, I think that can be arranged. There'll be a website and such for this shortly, methinks.

gossi | April 30, 23:35 CET

And now comes the fun part...what are we going to call this?

Fans4Habitat

Sunfire | April 30, 23:37 CET

This is awesome, look at we can do in a day!
I wouldn't be able to go to LA (Philly is a little far) but you have my support ($$).
It was very easy to buy pencils during the strike, so a website for that would be great.

And just to clarify, by $$ I mean a humble donation :)

Patty | April 30, 23:44 CET

I'd love to be involved, although I think we're going to have way more people than money. I'm not going to hold my breath on swinging a hammer for this first/SoCal build but I'll kick in some cash once that part is up and running.

I've been planning to do a Habitat build in Thailand for my "big" birthday in a few years, but if Joss is involved in any way there's no reason to wait.

I wonder if there's any chance that multiple houses could be done at once in New Orleans? They're still rebuilding, right?

[ edited by deadbessie on 2008-04-30 20:51 ]

deadbessie | April 30, 23:45 CET

Again, too bad it's so far. My husband owns a construction company, I'm pretty sure I could persuade him to help...

Well, let me know how I can help.

Patty | April 30, 23:53 CET

Sunfire, Fans4Habitat - that's pretty damn good. Maybe we could start with that, and if and when there's specific houses, each one could have a jazzy name.

However, I do reiterate my suggestion of just starting with one house, and see how we do with that...

danregal is, I think, both a good person to contact - until there's a SoCal coordinator and a committee assembled - with ideas, and to whom you could express your desire to volunteer and/or donate. His email address is in the whedonesque.org thread mentioned above. And you can also sign up for the SoCal yahoo group and get info as it comes...

Hey, how cool is this. I like when the fandom leads us to do good works. I mean, it is important to decide the top ten outfits of BtVS (I actually liked "Blue Shirt Spike") but once that's done, we still have all this energy...

ETA: BTW, I didn't post this to suggest that people stop making suggestions or to quash discussion on this thread, so sorry if my post has even remotely had that effect - I just wanted to make sure that people with a lot of energy and ideas got involved on the groundfloor organizing via the SoCal Browncoats...

[ edited by QuoterGal on 2008-04-30 21:24 ]

QuoterGal | May 01, 00:01 CET

OK, I'm in - just with the $$ though, living in Europe and all. Will the Paypal link be linked here or on the dollhouse site or where should I look? I'm not really regularily looking in to the SOCal Browncoats - Shame on me.(Greetings danregal, tamaraC, remember me? German girl? LA 2005? Wizard World?)

In spirit (and humble donations) I'm with you guys.

ETA: Spelling seemingly is not as hard as interpunctation

ETA: While editing a hundred times important info gets posted. Sorry for the superfluosness

[ edited by Harpy on 2008-04-30 21:26 ]

Harpy | May 01, 00:23 CET

I was going to make a joke about instead of building a block of houses, we build a nation of dollhouses...but I see this thread has already left the jokey phase.

Whedonesquers are damn impressive.

hacksaway | May 01, 00:32 CET

Harpy! Of course I remember you. The info will likely be here, the Dollhouse site and on the SoCal group/site. So you'll find it without looking too hard. :)

This is going to take a day or 2 to get running, so please bear with us while we set things up. Lynn and I had previous plans tonight, so reaching me will be a little difficult after 5 PM or before 11 PM PST.

We've got a great team already being built, but please send an email if you want to help organize, volunteer for a build or donate. I'll start a database that will be handed to the person on the team in charge of those areas, once they are picked.

I agree with you all, it's amazing what this fandom can do. I've been blessed to be a part, and in awe, of a lot of things over the last 3 years.

danregal | May 01, 00:35 CET

I also like Fans4Habitat. A possessive part of me though wants to add a name that would remind people of who the "fans" really belong to.

Mirage | May 01, 00:35 CET

I was thinking the same thing. Since it's not involving other fandoms, a more Whedony related name might be better.

Buffy the Doll Sing-A-Long Firefly House?

danregal | May 01, 00:49 CET

HFH does have a fundraising area on their site for donations. Perhaps a link to that on the yet-to-be-named site?

And I wanna come to LA to do this. I'm already working with my local HFH this summer, so I'd be glad to set something up here (once things get ironed, of course), but I wanna go to LA again. :)

[ edited by Dizzy on 2008-04-30 21:52 ]

Dizzy | May 01, 00:52 CET

THIS is why I keep coming back here! Some of the most awesome people in the world frequent this site.

Nebula1400 | May 01, 00:52 CET

And me.

gossi | May 01, 01:01 CET

I was thinking maybe it would get bigger than Whedon fans. It takes a lot of hands to raise a house or barn, you know? And Whedonfans seem to rise to the top in terms of visibility in these things even if the actual group on the ground is a mixture of fandoms. My suggestion would be for Whedon fans to lead, and organize their own thing, but encourage others to join and follow, too.

The Dollhouse link is good, but I do worry a bit it may come off pretty cheesy if it's linked to Dollhouse's U.S. debut. No real cheese here at all, I realize, but this is really nifty idea that is about helping people in need, not advertising tv. So I'd shy away from attracting media attention to that link, if I was planning this. It'd be hard to convince a reporter that this is about fans helping others when the show's not been around long enough to attract fans, by conventional standards.

But it's up to the people leading this in L.A. of course, what it becomes and what it is named. It's your baby-- run with it!

I do hereby call dibs on D'Hoffryn House for D.C. for a future event though. Sometime after the L.A. pilot is done. It's killing me, not trying to add D.C. back to the CSTS map this year, but the summer's just unbelievably lousy for me to do this kind of thing. Helping with Habitat I think I can do. And D.C. needs houses.

Sunfire | May 01, 01:02 CET

(Doll)Houses for Humanity? Terraforming a New 'Verse? Extreme ReVamping: Home Edition? :p

[ edited by hacksaway on 2008-04-30 22:05 ]

hacksaway | May 01, 01:05 CET

The Echo Chamber? (well, maybe not)

jcs | May 01, 01:05 CET

A thought ...

Since it says in the Habitat For Humanity statement quoted above that there are more volunteers than funds to get houses built, which is why they give priority to corporate-sponsored groups, perhaps the person(s) in charge at the Whedonesque end should ask how much money is required to build a HFH house, do a fundraising drive (I can't donate much, but I'll certainly make a contribution) to reach that target amount and *then* say, "Okay, we've got X funds and Y volunteers, we'd like to build a house ..."? Like I said, a thought.

Shapenew | May 01, 01:30 CET

Just out of curiosity, how long DOES it take to complete a project house? I know on those 'makeover' shows, they do it in a week, with the help of a whole community of volunteers though.

I ask because school starts at the end of August, and for my daughter (who HAS to take part in this), she will be back finishing up her Construction Technology/Liberal Arts degree.

This is just so very exciting!

saxon | May 01, 01:31 CET

See, so much of this is going to depend on HFH. They usually take a summer to build a house, with the new homeowners helping alongside the volunteers. I have a feeling that if they are willing to work with this idea, they may want groups of fans scattered at different sites. Or have different groups work on one project over several weeks. I highly doubt they'd have us build a house in one weekend. That's not the way they usually work. Really, I think we need to talk to HFH first to see what's possible before we do much else. HFH have been around a long time, and I’m sure they’re used to requests like this. They’ll let us know what we can and can’t do.

[ edited by Dizzy on 2008-04-30 22:42 ]

Dizzy | May 01, 01:40 CET

God damn I love this.

Carry on.

NYPinTA | May 01, 01:57 CET

Rock on y'all! Coming back to check this thread again after it exploded with such energy is putting a huge smile on my face. I'd be willing to help with a contribution however this is set up. Cheers.

Zannadoo | May 01, 02:08 CET

HFH usually takes a year to build a house (I just spoke to them). We might be able to "fix" that a bit, but until we get there, a LOT depends on whether people can work during the week from (8AM to 3:30PM) and raise money. In order to work on a Saturday, we have to donate at least $5,000 USD. The Saturdays are usually given to corporations because of this, but with a pay pal account and some creativity, we could raise that by August. (To build an entire house, we need $200,000.00 USD.)

What I'd imagine would happen would be as follows:
-We raise money ($5,000)
-We schedule volunteers for the week before Saturday (T,W,F)
-We schedule volunteers for that Saturday
-We schedule volunteers for the week after that Saturday

Then we see how far we got. In a year, we could probably build an entire house on our funds.

korkster | May 01, 02:34 CET

Simon, would it be possible to move this to the sidebar when this gets kicked off the front page? I have a feeling more discussion will be needed.

korkster | May 01, 02:36 CET

WAAAAAH!

I hate that all these really cool, helping-out-others things always happen when I'm broke. Or...I hate that I'm always broke, and can't help out in these really cool things.

Guess all I can lend is my virtual support and well-wishes to the Whedonites who do this. And, yes, I think H4H/FansForHabitat need to go nationwide, especially down in New Orleans. But a "dry run" of sorts in LA is a definite must.

I'll promote hell out of this on the Bronze once everything's established.

ShadowQuest | May 01, 02:44 CET

My korkster, you're with the info. Did you talk to the LA chapter? Sometimes things differ between chapters.

I don't think raising the money will be a problem. Knowing this fandom, we'll raise $5000 in about 10 minutes, heh.

And once again, the HFH website is set up to assist with fundraising. They have a way to set up a direct link so people can donate at their website with the donations going to the project selected. So no need for anyone to mess around with collecting donations, paypal, or tax issues, nor anyone questioning if the money donated is going to the right place.

Dizzy | May 01, 02:50 CET

God damn I love this.

Carry on.
NYPinTA | April 30, 22:57 CET

Join us, NYP... >:)

Dizzy | May 01, 02:58 CET

I wish I could contribute in the form of building (AZ isn't too far from LA, and the heat wouldn't bother me).
Unfortunately, I've got to heal my back and shoulder...grumble. Yet one more reason to hate car accidents.
I'll donate what I can, but 'twill be humble.

BandofBuggered | May 01, 03:05 CET

Yes, you're right, Dizzy. The requirements do vary slightly from chapter to chapter. I was a bit hasty in my response, but the LA branch was taking to long (still haven't responded)... so I contacted my local San Diego chapter. The SD chapter didn't seem to know about direct links from certain groups (they offered people to write me a check and then give them the amount), so that's why I (& others) thought PayPal would work.

However, it seems we may diverge from this payment plan option. Our goal at the moment seems to be if we can create a guide for others to follow to do HFH, so all Whedonites will have a chance to contribute. For the rest of the week, I'll be checking out many & various areas in the United States for HFH to see what the requirements are (if there's a pattern). This could lead to a new slogan: Building Whedon homes since 2008.

Anyway, regarding the donations, there are other "levels" of large donations that our group could shoot for, if we still wanted to do both approaches.

From what I'm told from danregal, the HFH-Whedonites will be having some informal meetings this week to get everything together. Then I'll have more actual information to tell you.

In the meantime, I would ask those that are too far away from LA to build here... if you could please send me your city/state area, I would most appreciate it. This way, my random searchings for patterns will have more of a focus. My e-mail is korki dot miller at gmail dot com.

ETA: To not receive spam. Thanks, QuoterGal!

[ edited by korkster on 2008-05-01 01:17 ]

[ edited by korkster on 2008-05-01 01:19 ]

korkster | May 01, 04:10 CET

Korki - may I suggest you edit your post and write your e-address as "korki dot miller at gmail dot com?

Your email will get spam-harvested eventually, but not as easily...

and heya...

QuoterGal | May 01, 04:16 CET

OK, I was just looking at the habitat.org site... it's not the most easy site to find information ever. I was signing up for their Global Village program, which is where I got the information for setting up a site for fundraising. I'm sure their normal program offers this too (they must, right?), but I couldn't find it on their site. Hrm.

[ edited by Dizzy on 2008-05-01 01:51 ]

Dizzy | May 01, 04:50 CET

Believe me, I know how you feel, Dizzy. That's why I need to do the random general approach to see what they're capable of, and how much we need to come up with on our own.

korkster | May 01, 05:20 CET

*sigh*

Have I told you lately that I love you guys?

I used to volunteer with Habitat in my college town. In smaller areas, the volunteering process is a lot more relaxed. You figure out how many people want to help (yourself or a group), then ask when they need help and show up accordingly. Saturdays usually got groups (like from our colleges) and for weekdays they'd often just leave us an open invitation.

This might be good for us non-"LA"ers to keep in mind as plans come together for a formal event there. The rest of us can pitch in our time locally if we want to make a show of our solidarity. It just requires a little research into your local chapter.

On a related side note - has anyone here ever done demolition? We tore down an old trailer for Habitat once. Demo is possibly one of the most cathartic experiences one can have... ;)

schaef | May 01, 08:42 CET

Could we look into what HFH is doing in New Orleans? That is surely a place that has great need for our money and labor.

Tina | May 01, 10:16 CET

Late night doubts - I've just been on the HFH website, and it reminded me that HFH is a Christian group that describes itself as a "housing ministry." Have Whedon fan groups ever been allied with religious charities before? I remember them as all secular, correct me if I'm wrong. The Purplefulness is pretty vocal about being an atheist. I think that if we're starting anything along these lines with his name or his projects' names we should make sure to get his approval first.

Also, as someone pointed out by email - new housing is a lot more time and resource-consuming than rehab housing. And there are groups for that. We could be flexible?

[ edited by dreamlogic on 2008-05-01 09:41 ]

[ edited by dreamlogic on 2008-05-01 09:43 ]

dreamlogic | May 01, 12:27 CET

I dunno dl, while you're there you could casually say stuff like "Isn't it weird how the optic nerve attaches to the front of the retina ?" or "'Problem of evil', what a doozy, right ?". What, atheists can't evangelise too ? ;-)

(probably wise to check with the big man if his name's going on it - even if he doesn't mind the religious aspect he may have some other issue with the organisation. Some people for instance, despite being very pro-environment, don't donate to 'Greenpeace' because they don't agree with their position on everything)

You guys never cease to amaze. Happy to chuck in funds even if LA's just a smidge too far for me to chuck in labour (or materials - my shoulder's never recovered from the last time I tried to heave bricks over the Atlantic. It was worth it though, 'Ned and Stacey' simply couldn't go unpunished).

Saje | May 01, 12:40 CET

Suggestion for project/team name: Once More with Ceiling. ;)

[ edited by Chelleatrix on 2008-05-01 09:59 ]

Chelleatrix | May 01, 12:55 CET

Heh ;).

Saje | May 01, 13:57 CET

I like that! :)

I was wondering what would get more attention, small donations from a lot of people or a big donation from a group...
Of course that wouldn't influence much on the "helping" factor (please use your fingers when reading these quotation marks). But it's always nice to get our beloved Joss some exposure.

[ edited by Patty on 2008-05-01 12:09 ]

Patty | May 01, 14:59 CET

This fandom never ceases to delight and amaze me. Whatever comes of this, I just want to give a virtual hug to the entire board. :)
Which is all I can do, from the middle of the Pacific Ocean and in dire financial straits.

Shey | May 01, 15:50 CET

Just smiling here, I've got nothing else at the moment :)

zeitgeist | May 01, 15:57 CET

"Join us, NYP... >:) "

Heh. I will in spirit and with some cashy money. :D

NYPinTA | May 01, 17:38 CET

Obviously we should ask Joss before attaching his name to it, but I don't think that's specifically because H4H is originally a Christian organization. Like, what? They don't require homeowners to convert or anything like that, they don't care who their volunteers are as long as they want to help, and it's not like they sing hymns during lunch break or anything. Pretty much the only thing that affects it is that they often draw volunteers from local churches. I do not see what the big deal is. I've been to many builds in my area and on all but one you would've assumed it was a completely secular organization--on one, somebody prayed before we started. You don't have to participate in that!

Anyway...I know that for Flower City Habitat for Humanity (in Rochester, NY) if your group donates $2000, you're considered a main sponsor and you can send people to the build site whenever you want! That's a big deal.

Sabbrielle | May 01, 18:23 CET

>Obviously we should ask Joss before attaching his name to it, but I don't think that's specifically because H4H is originally a Christian organization. Like, what?

Well, when they're talking to Christians, they sound pretty damn Christian.

Having said that, if Joss says it's cool, I'm in for at least a small donation.

whirlygirl | May 01, 20:03 CET

I do not see what the big deal is.

I think the point is that if his name or his work is going to be connected with the effort at all, it's reasonable to suggest that perhaps HE, and not anyone here, gets to decide whether or not the issue is a big deal.

The One True b!X | May 01, 20:04 CET

Sabbrielle, I wasn't using "Christian" or "religious" in a pejorative sense. It's just that this is a big project that will just by our participation bring Joss's name into it and I'd like to see us start off with as much clarity as possible.

And I don't know how to "ask Joss" anything. I guess I'm just hoping he'll show up and give us his thoughts, as ever ;)

I'm part of the SoCal Browncoats working group on this. Today will be our first day of meeting and planning.

And admins, I'd like to second Korkster's request for a sidebar-link to this thread.

dreamlogic | May 01, 20:17 CET

As I said earlier, I don't think we should put the Whedon name on it, 'cos Joss himself is pretty careful what he puts his name on. That said, I don't see the problem with using Dollhouse in the title somewhere.

gossi | May 01, 20:31 CET

Several years ago my husband and our son participated in a Habitat "Blitz Build" in Albuquerque. My husband's a teacher who does general contracting on the side. Our son was fifteen.

A Blitz Build is when a large corporate sponsor like Home Depot or Lowes donates materials, and a ton of people come together to build a house in just a week or two. Like an old-fashioned barn raising.

In this particular Blitz Build they built two houses next door to each other- one for a woman with a family, and one for a man with a family. To make it more fun, women built the woman's house and men built the man's house. They made it a race.

I wonder if Fox would like to sponsor a Habitat Blitz Build as PR for Dollhouse? They probably won't want to commit to so much money for a show that might not fly, but still it would be great PR for the network in general. Maybe it's worth a shot to ask? Corporations usually have a charitable giving department. If folks think this is a good idea maybe someone could approach them.

And to second Sabbrielle's experience, our family is Sikh and nobody at the build site cared a whit that they weren't Christian. Everybody's welcome.

Amrita | May 01, 20:36 CET

As I said earlier, I don't think we should put the Whedon name on it, 'cos Joss himself is pretty careful what he puts his name on.

Of course, his name is going to be "on" it whether it's on it officially or not.

The One True b!X | May 01, 21:35 CET

Right, but there's a difference between (and I make up names here)

"Hey, check out Dolls4Houses, these Whedon fans are building houses!"

versus

"Hey, check out WHEDONhouse, these Whedon fans are building houses!"

The second one lends itself to much more confusion, I think. I'd assume as long as it's clear it's fans, and he's not affiliated in any way, and some care was taken to not slap his name on it, it wouldn't matter so much what fans do, as long as it's clearly fans and not him. If that makes any sense.

Sunfire | May 01, 21:51 CET

Don't worry, all, we're looking into the "name" thing. Thank you, Amrita, for the "Blitz Build" info. I think I'll contact Albuquerque today and ask them some more about that. Was it through HFH? A way to do this might be to go through a model of Blitz Build HFH, but on our own (if we can get sources & contacts). Our group doesn't quite fit into the HFH schedule, but I'm still looking.

And, Simon, zeitgest, Caroline, I third dreamlogic's korkster's request to put this on the side-bar. This is good input that hasn't reached my inbox yet, and the more information I have, the sooner I'll ~~take over the world~~ help the fellow board members push through with this idea.

Thanks, all!

korkster | May 01, 23:07 CET

So...in case no one noticed, this thread is now linked to the "Writers Give Back" website on the sidebar Blogs We Like. They spelled the name wrong, but the link works.

Znachki | May 02, 00:54 CET

Well, how 'bout that. Creepy.

korkster | May 02, 01:22 CET

korkster, the Blitz Build was with Habitat for Humanity. If you google "habitat for humanity blitz build" (w/out the quotation marks) you'll find a lot of information.

We might be able to form our own model for a Blitz Build, but IMHO, Habitat for Humanity already has name recognition, charitable status for tax purposes, and a well-oiled machine for doing this sort of thing. I think it more likely that corporations with deep pockets (and we'll need very deep pockets if it costs $200,000+ to build a house) will donate to HfH before donating to us.

One approach to this might be to talk to the folks at Habitat to get the benefit of their expertise on how to organize and finance a Blitz Build. Then talk to, say, a certain television network and show them how they could get great PR for working with Habitat to give a family a home. And we, the Browncoats and Dolls, could provide the labor, additional donations, and generate a lot of positive media attention for all the parties involved. It would be win-win for everybody.

Amrita | May 02, 01:24 CET

Its amazing that from an idle comment, a grassroots campaign sprung up so quickly. And what really makes me smile is that if this happens, some needy family would be getting a home and a new start. I am in awe of the human kindness. I'll gladly donate to this worthy cause.

alexreager | May 02, 04:50 CET

Kudos for everyone who's giving this initiative some effort.
Well, foreigner, you know, but I'll donate some $$, when the donating part starts.

Numfar PTB | May 02, 05:04 CET

There are over 2 million empty homes for sale in the USA. Just saying.

Succatash | May 02, 07:24 CET

One time at the mall, they had playhouses for auction. Companies or groups built children playhouses. They then auctioned them off for charity.

Anonymous1 | May 02, 07:43 CET

DL, thanks for bringing up the christian thing; I was going to, but you saved me the typing.

If we decide to go looking for sponsorship, a well-worded presentation to Fox would not go amiss. One that reminded them how ridiculously popular shows like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are, and how doing a similar special say... a week before the Dollhouse pilot airs, would certainly hook people into tuning in for said pilot. And those who didn't watch the special would still hear about it, seeing as Fox's involvement would equal news coverage. Hell, we may've come up with Hollywood's newest, most favoritist advertising ploy.

Is that good or bad?

Banter | May 02, 07:51 CET

Hey,

Are we going to get a link on the sidebar, since the thread is now off the main page??

dulce_serenidad | May 03, 00:10 CET

Hopefully there will be a place - soon - for folks to brainstorm about this project... Someone will, I'm sure, link to it when it's settled on and up & running.

QuoterGal | May 03, 02:34 CET

April 30 2008