Many thanks to all who donated the Homestead Project! We have approximately $15,000. This is a long way from our goal, but it is a good start! Many fundraising projects will be happening this year – we will keep you posted on the progress!
What is the Homestead Project?
The Homestead Project is a joint venture between the JRTCA and the JRT Museum & Crawford Library. The goal is to purchase a property that will be suitable to house both the JRTCA offices and the Museum, and to hold trials, educational training, practice days, fieldwork, and more.
Ideally it would be large enough to hold the JRTCA National Trial. Keeping the Museum together with the JRTCA is important as their work and purposes overlap and are essential to the protection and preservation of the TRUE Jack Russell Terrier. It will be a tribute to Ailsa Crawford, the JRTCA’s founder.
Why is the Homestead needed?
The Homestead is necessary to ensure the future of both the JRTCA and the Museum by providing a permanent home with fixed costs that will allow it to generate income to pay for itself.
For many years now the JRTCA has been renting costly office space and has faced several large moves over the past 15 years. Each of these moves resulted in expensive moving costs as well as increased rental costs. With the addition of The Museum, rental requirements have doubled both in size and cost; the Museum has already faced one move and has already outgrown our current space.
There has been much uncertainty and confusion during the past decade since the variants of the Jack Russell Terrier were introduced by the AKC. Education is more important than ever and reaching the people to educate is more difficult. The JRTCA is smaller, and although it is now a very dedicated group of members interested in the breed for the right reasons, it is also a large financial burden for the membership to bear.
The Club and Museum cannot continue to ask members for more donations and increased fees as operating costs continue to rise. A permanent home that could generate income to pay for itself would solve that problem – and stop the waste of membership money going down the tubes to pay large rent each month.
The Museum operates strictly on donations and fundraisers – there are no members. To date just enough money is being raised to cover operating costs, and not enough to pursue educational planning efforts of the Museum.
There are many plans in the works for educational projects through both the Museum and the JRTCA to promote and preserve the TRUE Jack Russell Terrier. A permanent location will allow this to happen and ensure our future. Part of those plans include the ability to take this education on the road to visit extensively throughout the country.
The Homestead will provide many benefits to members and Jack Russell lovers throughout the country – it will be a training facility, a practice facility, home of sanctioned trials, an educational Museum and Library, perhaps a Rescue foster area, a place to store our equipment, a central office, and most importantly a place for Jack Russell enthusiasts to gather enjoy and learn from everything Jack Russell!
What do we need to do?
First and foremost, we need to raise funds to have a substantial down payment on a property. Both the Museum and the JRTCA have implemented separate bank accounts for just this purpose. We need to have a substantial down payment before we can seriously look for the property. The more we have to put down, the lower the monthly payments will be and the better a property we can find.
What can Members and Friends of the true JRT do?
Members, and anyone who cares about this terrier, can of course offer donations – there are close to 2,000 members in the JRTCA – if every member donated $25 (includes every adult member in a family membership) we could immediately raise close to $50,000. Smaller amounts of $5-20 would also help significantly, and of course if you can do more than $25 that would be wonderful – no donation is too large or too small. This will give us a great start towards our goal.
We do not expect to raise all of the money needed through member donations – JRTCA members and any true Jack Russell enthusiasts can help by doing fundraisers, no matter how large or small, in your area – every bit helps no matter how large or small.
Here in this area we are considering a monthly Bingo at our local American Legion. We are looking at fun days, raffles, 50/50’s, possible events such as crab feasts or bull roasts – all to benefit the Homestead Project. They do not need to be Jack Russell related. You can do fundraising at any level in your local areas.
A photo contest will be announced on the web site shortly – it will be lots of fun and you can get all of your friends to vote for your terrier. A calendar will be produced using the top 12 photos.
The Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit – donations are tax deductible. The JRTCA is an educational non-profit, and therefore not tax deductible. To donate to the Museum, checks can be made out to the JRT Museum, PayPal payments can be sent to PayPal@jackrussellterriermuseum.com, or you can call the office with a credit card.
Check out Amazon Smile – you can find the JRT Museum there. Many of us shop Amazon, and a portion of your purchase could be donated through their non-profit program.
All funds marked HOMESTEAD go into a separate account for this purpose and we will keep everyone posted of our progress during the coming year!
Talk to other people who are not members – many may be willing to donate to this project. Once a property is obtained, it will be open to all at times for education and training!
The JRTCA and the Museum are working on many plans to ensure our futures – but we can’t do it alone.
A Development Committee has been formed chaired by Wayne May with assistance from Jim Newman, Jack Batzer, Roy Izzo and Lisanne Gray. If any of you would like to work with them, please call the office at 410-560-9958. If any of you are experienced in fundraising and have any ideas – or would like to be involved in planning – we welcome your input. Please call or email!!!
This is a VERY IMPORTANT project. Ailsa Crawford wanted so much to see this happen and wanted to help us financially. Unfortunately, she passed away before she could help or see it happen. This will be her legacy, our legacy, and the JRTCA’s future. Let’s make it happen!