Some updates to share

I love putting things together and am having a blast getting all the equipment gathered and creating the curriculum for this mentorship.

I'm starting to ask people for sponsorships to help the apprentices. That, along with the money provided by Supporter mentees, goes towards a pool of funding available to help offset equipment expenses for Standard mentees and other direct-benefit expenses for all mentees. We've gotten $555 from sponsors so far.

People from my knife sharpening fundraiser now have the option of paying me directly for my services, with all of that money going to the equipment that I'm buying to set up the program that is not a direct-benefit to mentees . Anything leftover will either be used for further sponsorship or given to a Queer and/or BIPOC serving org of my choice.

I'm really excited about setting this up as a service-oriented community. One of the traditions we'll be starting is a Solstice Service Project and Party. It will serve as a "mid-term" for mentees, who will build a portfolio of knives that will be used to gauge their progress and then be given away to a local organization in need, such as DV shelters, tiny home villages, etc. Since this mentorship goes from equinox to equinox, the solstice will be right in the middle towards the end of our work on whetstones. We'll be hosting a little party for all the service projects to be exhibited and for each mentee to talk a bit about the organization they're supporting. This will also be a chance for our sponsors to join us and engage with the apprentices directly.

We've got 17 applications in so far, including four people who want to take on Supporter roles. Thank you all for your interest. As noted previously, we'll give this about three more weeks for applications to come in before making a decision. It's less than two months until we get started and I can't wait to get started with the first cohort of mentees.