Saturday, February 29, 2020

2020 Crowdfunding Update #1

Abandoned Columbia River Highway fragment in Gilliam County

So we're a few days into the campaign and have reached 10% of the goal.  A nice start!  Thank you very much to those who have contributed so far, it is very much appreciated.

I'm planning on running this sort of like a pledge drive on PBS/NPR, so I'll be bugging folks every day or so on Facebook as this project continues.  If you have already contributed, I apologize in advance for this!

So far, I've been able to start getting some time in today on repairing some old pages.  I'll be posting links as I continue.  Today's work was made possible by the contributions received so far, so things are going well!

And, as always, every little bit helps, so please consider contributing so we can get this website up and running again, so it once again can be a useful asset for everyone interested in the history of the old Columbia River Highway!

GoFundMe: gf.me/u/xmar2w

Thursday, February 20, 2020

2020 Fundraiser: Rebuilding the Columbia River Highway Website

Elowah Falls, June 16, 2015
Filming for #recreatingthehcrh

To help rebuild the website, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/recreatingthehcrh


With new construction of the State Trail on the horizon, and the new research coming in from Kirk Poole's awesome Past and Present Views Along the Columbia River Highway Facebook Group, it is time to return this much appreciated resource to a usable state.

Originally, I built this site while I was a stay-at-home father and had a lot of time to work on it, but now it is a very part time job and, at the current rate, documenting new research and repairing the old pages, it will take about two years to complete this work.

Because of this, I've decided to try a bit of crowdfunding to speed the job up. My day job work is very slow right now, and this would be an ideal time for me to work full time on the website for several weeks. 

So, my fundraiser is going to be for covering time and expenses for full time work on the website, and to help fund some new research. How much I can get done and how quickly will depend on the response to the campaign. 
 
If fully funded, I plan on getting the site fully restored by the end of March. However, any contributions will help. 

Overall, this project has been a seven-year labor of love and I have resisted seeking donations in the past, but as circumstances change, I am realizing that I need some help to get this work done.
Once the site is rebuilt, I will also be able to focus more on research and video production, on new content instead of just repairing old content. While I am not sure if a feature length documentary and book are still in the works, time will tell, I do want to resume producing video shorts and fleshing out the history of the highway in more detail on the website.

If you have appreciated the content on the website, the associated Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/RecreatingTheHCRH), and/or the YouTube Channel in the past, I'd ask you to consider contributing to this fundraiser. Any amount will help, and I thank you for taking the time to consider helping with this cause.

One way or the other, work will continue on the site and I look forwards to continue sharing the history of the highway with everyone!

To help rebuild the website, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/recreatingthehcrh