And the winner is....

I'm finally getting around to doing the drawing for Gunther Hauk's book!

Here's the list of the 25 entries (applications I received over mail/email) in the order in which I received them. I was going to write them all down, draw a name out of a basket, and video the whole thing.... but my camera's battery is dead, and I want to get this done ASAP- so I'm going to take the easy way out and use good ol' random.org to draw a random number, which will correspond to the entrant's name.

Without further ado...

The winner is:

Congratulations to Scarlett! I'll notify her and let her know- in the event that she already has the book (or doesn't want it), I'll post an update and pick a new winner.


Stay tuned- I'll be announcing another incentive drawing soon!

300 AND COUNTING!!!

OH YEAH!

YOU GUYS, SERIOUSLY!

We are 2/3 of the way there- only 150 more to go!

 If you haven't sent in your application, please do so and let's close the gap to 450!

 

March Update & Incentives Coming!

Hi supporters of Pollinators!

There isn't a whole lot to report on application count at this point since winter is generally a slooooooow time for pollinators... and pollinator plates. Without many opportunities to get out and show the plates to people, influx of applications slows down to a trickle.

But that's okay! Many local nature and wildlife groups have offered to include something in their Spring newsletters about the plates, and I can't thank them enough! Any exposure is a fabulous thing, whether it's a newspaper, newsletter, forwarded email, word of mouth, etc. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Another fun tidbit is that I finally went through my massive pile of recent emails and finished adding everyone who has contacted me to my contacts list. We now have 570 people who have said they want pollinator plates! Of those 570 people, 317 are in my "not received" list. I send monthly reminders, but I don't like to BUG people (even though some people call me the bug girl...). So... what's a bug girl to do?

I've decided to offer an incentive. I'm going to do a drawing and the winner will receive a copy of Gunther Hauk's "Toward Saving the Honey Bee." If you've seen "Queen of the Sun" or "Vanishing of the Bees," then you've heard Gunther talk about his bees and his ideas on how we can save them. (And if you HAVEN'T seen those movies- why not!? See them! And then tell everyone else to see them! This is important stuff!)

To be entered into the drawing, all you have to do is send me your completed application. That's it! If you send more than one (for multiple vehicles), you'll be entered more than once. One application = one entry into the drawing. Because each one counts toward our goal of 450. (I'll send out an email about this, too.) Once I have 25 applications, I'll close the drawing and pick a winner.

I'll write down the names of applicants on slips of paper and film myself doing the draw. Then I'll contact the winner and mail them the book!

I purchased the book (well, two of them- one for me and one for a lucky winner) last weekend at the Honeybee Fundraiser event for Gunther's Honeybee Sanctuary in Floyd, VA. I drove about an hour and a half to Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden down in Richmond, had a fabulous lunch catered by Whole Foods, sat a table full of beekeeper dudes (and tried to take in all of the interesting bee things they talked about), and then got to listen to Gunther speak about nature... science.... love... bees... for about an hour. And he even threw in some jokes. If you have an opportunity to hear him speak, I strongly suggest you do so- even if you don't keep bees! I'm not a beekeeper, but I'm concerned about them (obvs!) and always want to hear more about how to help them out.


(If you've already sent in your application, fear not! I intend to do another drawing for a different prize from the list of those who have already sent in applications at this point. I just haven't figured out the prize and details yet. I hope to announce that soon.)

February 2013 Update

A few things have happened since December, so I wanted to be sure to share an update with everyone!

First, I got into the Master Naturalist training program! I'm very excited about this. Last year at various plant sales and other events, I had a lot of conversations with Master Naturalists and was floored with how much they were able to teach me in just a short amount of time. I really looked up to them and admired their willingness to educate and share with others... and I'd like to be able to do that, too. I felt like I knew a decent amount about pollinators, but after talking with a Master Naturalist, I realized I still have a lot to learn. I hope to take what I learn and apply it to helping the pollinators even more, and share some of that knowledge with others, too.

Second, the fantastic wonderful volunteers from Sweet Virginia handed me 50 applications last month! Our total is now up to 290. I'm still waiting to hear back from some folks who didn't have their vehicle info at the time they filled out the application... so if you're one of them, feel free to email it to me at any time :)

pollinatorplates@gmail.com .

The new number of applications left to collect is just 160. Considering last year I got about 200 on my own, plus the 50 that the Sweet Virginia folks helped with in the fall, I'm happy to say this WILL be our year! Of course, we have until January ~7th of 2014 to collect applications. Once the bill is introduced, anything can happen- I've seen bills for some plates inexplicably get tabled until the following year. Let's hope that doesn't happen to us! If we have more than enough applications, there would be no reason not to pass the bill. It's not like we're overlapping a cause already represented on license plates, after all. Toward the end of this year, I might announce an action alert to email your local representative and ask them to vote "yes" on the plates. Don't worry, I'll make it easy. I'll provide the email addresses and sample letters and such. Everyone has been so patient and excited about these plates and I want to do everything I can to get them on the roads in 2014. But I may still need a little help.

A lot of people may have heard about the plight of the pollinators here and there... but I really think if we get this message out on something as public as a license plate, it's going to get people talking more about it! Let's be the voice for the pollinators since they don't have one! Well... they do... in their declining numbers. And that speaks volumes- but a lot of people don't even know about that or fully understand the impact pollinators have on everything.

Thanks everyone for your support- I'll be seeing some of you at events this year, and some of you at Master Naturalist training! Looking forward to it!

-Samantha