CDH Awareness Project - Street Names Across The Country!

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

This isn't my idea, someone on Myspace came up with this and it happened to be forwarded to me. They are doing it for a child with cancer. Why can't we do it for CDH?

CDH Ct., CDH St., or whatever we all decide to vote on to name them... streets across the country named for CDH Awareness. Everyone can petition their local government to name a street in their city or town. And every time someone drives by the street, lives on the street, etc... they will wonder "Why that name?". :) Newspaper and television bits about it to help raise awareness. Photos of you all smiling beside the street signs. Signs... permanent reminders, all year round!

What do you all think?

[StephanieOlivarez]

I LOVE THIS idea. I vote for CDH Street. I also like CDH Avenue.
Will you come up with a standard petition for us to follow? I am wondering if I would write our mayor or our street department?
I love the idea of the signs being permanent. ALL YEAR ROUND AWARENESS. Now that is cool.

[Kristin Morrow]

Awesome idea Dawn!! I'm in. what do we do next?

[karahess]

I think a lot of us often talk about walking the CDH path with our children. So what about CDH Path or CDH Pathway. Is there a set ruling on what the road ending has to be (Rd, Ave, Circle, Drive, etc.)? Where do we find this info out?

[karahess]

Ok, I just realized that using "Path" might not seem right for a street, however, think about your local parks. It always seems that park names, park memorials, buildings or trails in the parks are named in honor or memory of someone. We have a park in our area named Ryan's Park. Ryan passed on from Cancer. How about hitting up Park Systems with this?

[StephanieOlivarez]

I send out my letter to our town Mayor today.
I actually talked with our mayor this week-end. He said send me the information and I will take it to our Board of Works.
I told him that I would send him the information- and if he could be so kind to let me know if this will happen- I could tell him what we would like the street named.
Our town sounds the same as yours Kara- naming streets in memory of....well in my letter I wrote this sentence;
"I have done a little research and from what I learned, Rochester only names streets in Memory of someone. To name a street CDH street, CDH Avenue or however we will do it if this takes place. Is not only naming a street in Memory of babies that do not survice this horrible defect. It will also show our community that you support a baby that is a CDH survivor. You will not only impact our community, but the CDH community.

So, maybe he was just being nice in public or he is sincere. Only time will tell!!!!

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

That is so great, Stephanie!!!!!!

We need a Street Name Coordinator - someone to help others write letters and to keep this ball rolling! Any volunteers???

First person who gets a street named and has their photo with their street sign will make front page Silver Lining News! And a free t-shirt and cookbook! :)

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

Ok, so was this a totally bad idea? :-P

No volunteers? No one interested in doing this in your town? No one willing to just call town hall and find out what needs to be done? Come on, be the first with a CDH street sign! Front page news on the newsletter, plus a newspaper article or maybe local tv news. Think of all the tons of CDH awareness you will be spreading year round!

[StephanieOlivarez]

No, I think it was a great idea!!!!!
Kristin will jump in I am sure!! Right Kristin?????lol
I sent mine to our Mayor and have not heard a word.

I think each town will be different- I know the Mayor here where I live has to ok it by the Board of Works.

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

I have my letter written to my town and am sending it out tomorrow. Since I live on the county line I'm going to see if I can get both counties to do this.

[StephanieOlivarez]

I hope you can get both counties to do this!!!
We have to get ONE town in the US to name a street after CDH!!!!

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

This week I found out the easiest way to get a street named - go straight to home builders! They name the streets on their developments. They deal with all the town/county paperwork. Just have to find a builder with a new development who is open to raising CDH Awareness! They'll do anything to gain extra media coverage or attention to their houses for sale. :)

Or we can do the Adopt A Highway thing to promote awareness too!

As soon as all these events are over, I'm making this my big project for the fall! I'm determined to get at least 5 streets in NC named "CDH" or something to that effect to raise awareness. This will be awareness all year long, permanent and government approved.... perfect for all CDH families to join in and do!

Ok, who is going to have their photo in the newsletter first posing beside our first CDH street sign?

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

I have 3 builders almost talked into CDH street signs! :) With developments in 3 different towns so that's good - can't have more than 1 street with the same name in the same town. Need to find some type of metal plaque that we can post under the street signs that explains what CDH is. Anyone have any ideas?

[Megan Smith-Weedon]

I want to live on CDH st!!!

[KatieValasek]

This is a great idea. I would love to have this in our town. Does anyone have a letter that we could read to get an idea of what to send into our Mayor?

[AmyMiles]

Oooh I will have to look into that, we have a new development going in near our home.

[StephanieOlivarez]

Dawn--I hope this works out!!!That would be AWESOME!!!!

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

I'll try to come up with a letter, Katie. Really though, it's easier to go to a developer than the mayor or town council - less paperwork for you since the developer is doing it anyway. Just need to convince them why it's a good idea to have CDH St. (or Rd, Lane or whatever). I found out that for big developers they just pull names out of a hat they've named so many streets so they are open to doing this - and they love the idea of publicity coming to their new neighborhoods. Plus it gives them a "family" feel as it shows them supporting a children's charity. And, it doesn't cost them a dime more than it would for any other name they would've used.

Or... here's an idea... if you don't want to use CDH St, you can't use your cherub's name. If you post a sign with it about CDH, you're still raising awareness. You can have an unveiling ceremony, etc. Ideally, talk the developer into 2 streets -one CDH, one after your cherub and you can put up a sign at the crossing. :)

[AmyMiles]

oohh great idea!

[Dawn Torrence Ireland]

Now that the events are over, I am going full force with the CDH Street Sign Awareness Project! This is especially close to my heart because Shane was OBSESSED (serious caps needed here) with Sesame St. so having CDH St. and Shane St. would be so special to me. I'm bound and determined to get at least 5 CDH St's in NC before spring!!!!

Who else wants to participate in this?

And our on-line research gurus (hint hint Kara and Darlene and Barb)... can we find some metal sign store so that we can create a CDH awareness plaque of some kind to put under the street signs? Something nice like a small historical marker or something to that effect.

Ideally, I'd love to see a CDH Awareness Street Sign in every state by the end of 2009! With dozens and dozens of photos of you all cutting ribbons at your streets for ceremonies honoring / remembering your cherubs!