December 2013

2013 is a wrap.

In the closing weeks of this year, there is plenty of news to excite and encourage all of you who have been behind AMP for so long.

Our long-standing support from the Newman's Own Foundation continues with a check received on December 3rd for $75,000. This is a first payment of a $225,000 grant for general operations. In addition to the obvious financial boost, I hope this grant will serve to encourage most Connecticut foundations and corporations to make their contributions to AMP as well.

Last week, AMP was awarded an ACP Historic Preservation grant from the Ct Office of the Arts for a project we will be doing this spring at the Winsted mill. Three Connecticut schools will participate in this first round. We hope this will be a pilot program so we can include many more schools throughout the state in the years ahead. If you are a teacher or parent of a 5th/6th grader, get in line for this one. We are going to have a blast and create some amazing tiles for AMP's atrium.

I met last Monday with Sarah and Rebecca from Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, taking the handoff of two giant boxes of sculptures created by Hole in the Wall kids, and making the easy decision to continue the project this coming summer. These pieces will be incorporated into a fountain dedicated to Paul Newman in AMP's gardens. 

With all this good news, if you have not yet given your 2013 donation, there is certainly time to help us out by clicking here and donating. Every bit helps.

And if you are just kookier than cocoa puffs right now because you can't find that perfect gift for a key person on your list, there is no finer present out there this season for anyone, any age, than our AMP Advisor, Sandra Boynton's new CD. It is enough that she has convinced Dwight Yoakam, Ben Folds, and Fountains of Wayne (to name a few) to record these songs for her, but, mostly, it is the magic music she has created that makes Frog Trouble so special.