I just look at the pictures

My monitor has gone out on me, leaving me to beg use of Mark's computer while I have my fixed.
We traced the problem to the video card.
With a little luck I will be back on line soon.
The kiln load was a nice firing.
Lot's of production pots in this load.
Mugs, bowls, tumblers, vases, bottles and the pots for the "Three Cups of tea" fund raiser.
I hope to shoot some pots soon and be back on line.
Later!
M

“SEAGROVE POTTERS FOR PEACE – 200 CUPS OF TEA”

13 Seagrove Potters have created special drinking vessels as a fundraiser for American Greg Mortenson, whose #1 NY Times Bestseller “Three Cups of Tea – One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time” explains his own efforts for peace.

Mortenson, through his Central Asia Institute (CAI), has built hundreds of schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where illiterate and impoverished children are prey to recruitment by terrorist organizations.

On Saturday, August 15, 200 teacups, mugs and tumblers will be offered for sale, with the full purchase price being donated to CAI. Many items are specially inscribed for this event. Copies of Mortenson’s book in adult, young adult and children’s versions will be for sale at several potteries.

Vessels by Whynot, Thomas, Old Gap, Jugtown, From the Ground Up, Caldwell-Hohl and Ben Owen Potteries will be for sale at the individual shops.

Vessels by Westmoore, Tom Gray, Old Gap, From the Ground Up, Dover, Dean & Martin, Bulldog and Cady Clay Works Potteries will be for sale at Cady Clay Works.

Items will be available exclusively at the shops until August 24, when any remaining vessels can be ordered by email or telephone.

More information about the individual potteries, as well as a request form for a free Seagrove Area map, can be found at www.discoverseagrove.com, or email seagrovepottersforpeace@yahoo.com.

Mortenson, who many believe will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, will be the NC State Convocation speaker on August 17.

After a failed attempt to climb K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, Mortenson got lost and wandered into a remote mountain village in Pakistan. The impoverished local people shared what little they had and nursed him back to health. He returned to the US, sold most of his belongings, lived in his car and tried to raise money to build the village a school. The skeptical villagers, who had heard promises from foreign climbers before, were astonished when he returned a year later with building materials.

In CAI’s publication, “Journey of Hope”, Karin Ronnow explains:
“Ultimately, most Pakistanis and Afghans want peace. They want working democracy. They want more and better-paying jobs, good roads, clean drinking water and food to eat. They are fed up with violence and they want to get on with living their lives.
And they know a better future for their children starts with education.”

More information can be found at CAI’s website, www.ikat.org, or www.penniesforpeace.org, an educational fundraising program for schoolchildren of all ages.

Potter Beth Gore of Cady Clay Works urges everyone, of all beliefs, to read “Three Cups of Tea”. “It’s obvious that we, as Americans, are woefully uninformed about the people, beliefs and way of life in these areas of military conflict.”

“Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time … (and) proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.”
- Tom Brokaw, who made the first $100 donation to Mortenson’s effort in 1993.


- Beth Gore, Cady Clay Works, 910-464-5661, seagrovepottersforpeace@yahoo.com.

“THREE CUPS OF TEA”

Mark and I are asked many times, sometimes weekly, sometimes daily to donate pottery to fundraisers.
One year I kept track of all the pots we donated and how much it cost us to do so.
The women who does my taxes asked me if I could really afford to give away so many pots.
Not really I thought.....
Mark and I decided we needed a plan for donations.
We would donate to our local community; hospice, local arts, the North Carolina Pottery Center, and then other exceptions would be made.
Last year with the fire we figured donations were out for the year.
We would not have enough work to feel generous enough to give any away.
Then one day Beth Gore from Cady Clayworks emailed me and said I would like to talk with you, let's have lunch.
It took weeks for me to find a day, with the wedding and all we had going on just getting our lives back to a sense of normal.
When we sat down to order she slide this book across the table and asked if I had read it.
Beth is a great reader and always has a good book going.
I had hear of it and had seen Greg Mortenson speak on TV about his life.
Then she presented her idea to me:
Here it is in letter form-

“SEAGROVE POTTERS FOR PEACE – 1000 CUPS OF TEA”
For the past 6 years of the Iraq war, I have been complaining that instead of bombing the Middle East and creating future generations of America-haters, we should be building schools and hospitals so people would learn to love Americans. Remember the hymn, “…they will know we are Christians by our love…”? People have told me I am naive and that’s not how the world works. Well, I just read the book “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and lo and behold, here is a man doing just what I have been only talking about!

After a failed attempt to climb K2 (the world’s second-tallest mountain), he got lost and wandered into a remote mountain village in Pakistan. The impoverished local people shared what little they had and nursed him back to health. He returned to the US, sold most of his belongings, slept in his car and tried to raise money to build the village a school. Many years, trials and dangerous travels later, with no religious or government affiliation, he has built dozens of schools through his non-profit organization, CAI (Central Asia Institute). Without these schools, the only other option to millions of impoverished children is to attend radical fundamentalist institutions that breed terrorists.

The book made me ponder what I could do to help, and at the same time I happened to mention it to my customers in my spring e-newsletter. I got responses and links from potters around the country who are doing “teacup” fundraisers for this organization. Isn’t this just the time to think “outside the box” of our own economic woes and focus on others less fortunate?

We all get numerous donation requests, I know, but wouldn’t the title above be a wonderful gesture to the world? There are over 100 local potters – what if we each donated the sale of 10 cups (or drinking vessels of any kind)? A simple act from each of us could create such a powerful result! 100 potters x 10 pots/potter x $15 avg price/item = $15,000!!!! It costs CAI $1 per month for one child’s education. (They pay teacher salaries and upkeep on the schools they build) We would be sending over 1200 children to school for a year!! And, if you are “sitting on the fence” about this idea, how about the wonderful PR the project would generate? I think we could get a lot of media coverage of some GOOD news for a change!
Sample plan:
- each potter makes 10 teacups or drinking vessels to be sold at their regular price, and that amount donated to a bank account for CAI. Items could be sold at individual potteries or a central location, or both.
- I will, at my own expense, produce a small poster to display in each shop with the items for sale, and also a small insert to go with each sold item.
- I will contact area news sources and try to get as many articles published as possible, listing all participating potters.

PLEASE FILL OUT THE RESPONSE BELOW AND REPLY BACK SO I KNOW YOU RECEIVED THIS EMAIL!

Are you interested in participating in this fundraiser? (I have submitted it to CAI and received their enthusiastic approval.)

Name(s) of participating potters from this pottery:

How many total items are you willing to donate?

Sale price/item?

Do you think the items should be inscribed on the bottom?
If so, "Seagrove Potters for Peace"?
"3 Cups of Tea"?

Do you want to sell these in your own shop or at a central location?

Would you be willing to buy a copy/copies of the book to have on display or for sale in your shop? They cost $8.55 net on Amazon for 3 or more new paperbacks. Cover price is $15. (Link from http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ so they get credit for the sale, or I will order them. He has also written a wonderful children’s version, “Listen to the Wind”.)

If you sell other potters’ work in your shop, would you ask them to participate?

Would you be interested in helping to plan this project? (Trying to keep it VERY simple!)

No matter what you think of this idea, PLEASE READ “THREE CUPS OF TEA”!!** It is obvious that we, as Americans, are woefully uninformed about the people, beliefs and way of life in these areas of military conflict.

Many people expect Greg Mortenson to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He will be the August 2009 Convocation speaker at NC State University.

For more information or different ways to help: http://www.threecupsoftea.com/.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this!
Beth Gore
Cady Clay Works
910-464-5661
seagrovepottersforpeace@yahoo.com

** “Three cups of tea” comes from a local custom. The first time you share tea you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.

The potters who are participating are:
Ben Owen Pottery
Cady Clay Works
Caldwell-Hohl Artworks
Dean & Martin Pottery
Dover Pottery
From the Ground Up
Jugtown
Old Gap Pottery
Thomas Pottery
Tom Gray
Westmoore Pottery
Whynot Pottery

Mark and I are donating 20 drinking vessels each.
He has made small ,hold in the hand, cups for tea, juice or wine.
I have made 20 drinking vessels, larger, for ice tea, juice or wine.
We thought this was a cause not to be pass up.
If anyone else is interested get in touch with Beth.