DONATE – Help keep ZORA! Festival Alive!
Today, please make a $5 contribution to the ZORA! Festival Fund and then reach out to 5 others to do the same. Of course, any contribution amount is welcome. Our goal is to raise $150,000 immediately; and we must make substantial progress towards meeting this goal by no later than October 19, for it is by this date that the P.E.C. Board of Directors will determine if we will have the ability to proceed with ZORA! Festival 2012.
Every year, since 1990, the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.) has presented the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities (ZORA! Festival) in Eatonville, Florida, the oldest, incorporated African American municipality in the U.S.
P.E.C. was established in 1987 in response to a “road improvement project” which would have destroyed the historic Eatonville community. Because of P.E.C.’s persistence, East Kennedy Boulevard remains a small, 2-lane street today instead of the proposed 5-lane thoroughfare which would have gutted the town. ZORA! Festival is the direct result of P.E.C.’s effort to ensure that the historic Eatonville community assumes its rightful place in the telling of our nation’s saga and the international recognition of Zora Neale Hurston as the town’s most renowned daughter.
ZORA! Festival is a wonderful multi-day, multidisciplinary event which has demonstrated its broad appeal to young and old, “rich and poor,” and to all members of the human family. During the last week in January, thousands upon thousands visit Eatonville (10 miles north of Downtown Orlando) to celebrate the life and work of Zora Neale Hurston; to celebrate her hometown Eatonville for its historic significance; and to celebrate the cultural contributions people of African ancestry have made to the United States and to world culture.
Your response to this appeal is very important. Though our organization continues to submit grant applications on behalf of ZORA! Festival 2012; to seek corporate sponsorship; and to pursue various fundraising strategies, it is absolutely essential that we be successful with this grassroots campaign. We need to re-affirm that we, as individuals, will support P.E.C.’s mission to “Preserve the Eatonville Community,” particularly as this historic town will celebrate its 125th anniversary in August 2012 as America’s oldest incorporated African American municipality. We must demonstrate, once more, that P.E.C. does indeed enjoy a broad base of support all over the nation as well as outside our borders.
Please make your tax-deductible contribution to the ZORA! Festival Fund- for the sole purpose of supporting ZORA! Festival- by credit/debit card or by Pay Pal by going to the “Donate” button on our Festival website. Of course, you may mail your check and/or money order, made payable to ZORA! Festival Fund to 227 East Kennedy Boulevard, Eatonville, FL 32751-5303.
We will forward your receipt and our acknowledgment immediately. Thank you very much for responding to this “Call to Action!”
Friends of The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.)