Por Jeff Clemetson | Editor

Two years ago, the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Club began a project to replace the old clock at the corner of Waring Road and Zion Avenue with a new clock surrounded by commemorative bricks. Now roughly halfway through completion, what was originally a plan to fix a local eyesore while raising some money for charitable causes has become something more.

“It’s a whole history center up there,” said Kathy Wiskur, vice president of the Grantville-Allied Gardens Kiwanis Club.

The bricks and the messages on them tell a story about the lives of local families, organizations and businesses.

Mike and Suzie Farmer bought a brick to commemorate their first kiss. Local baseball celebrities the Harang family have multiple bricks giving tribute to the game they love and organizations like Little League. Local centurion Thomas Kelly has a brick to commemorate his 100 years, his 60 years as a local resident and the memory of his wife Angela. There are also memorials to family pets, businesses that have come and gone and the good deeds of local charities and churches.

Wiskur is especially fond of one section of bricks called the “PHHS Alumni Angels,” which lists the names of Patrick Henry High School alumni students who have passed away. “At first it was just classmates from my time at Patrick Henry,” said Wiskur. “But after that, all the other classes sent lists of others that passed on.”

There are a lot of bricks memorializing loved ones who are deceased. One such brick was purchased by a man paying tribute to a soldier who died in combat in Vietnam. “It was someone he knew growing up and he wanted to honor him,” Wiskur said.

Although the bricks are meant as a forum for businesses, organizations and individuals to express themselves, there are some limits.

“As long as [the message] is not nasty or offensive, you can put anything on the brick,” said Wiskur.

Only one submission has been denied – a person who wanted to place a brick from “the Weed family” that had a marijuana leaf on it. “He got a duplicate for himself, but we did not put that one in.”

So far, there have been 500 bricks sold and added to the space around the new clock. That space can hold up to 750 bricks and when that area is full there are two other smaller areas that will house commemorative bricks.

The clock and brick project is now the most lucrative fundraiser for the Kiwanis since the group ended its annual Christmas Tree lot sale. “This has taken its spot. This is how we make the money to fund our community projects,” said Wiskur.

The money raised from the brick project goes to fund Kiwanis community service projects, mostly for children, including scholarships for San Diego State University and Patrick Henry students; the Kaiser Treasure Chest program that provides toys to kids in the hospital; and ongoing programs like Circle K for SDSU students and K Kids for younger students interested in community service.

Although it has proven to be a fundraising boon for the Kiwanis, getting the clock and brick project off the ground was a bit of a risk for the club, Wiskur said. To get things going, Kiwanis paid for the new atomic clock upfront with club funds. Kiwanis had to sell at least 150 bricks to recoup the money, so the club went to work to get the word out and sell as many bricks as possible.

“We went door to door in the heat of the summer delivering flyers and order forms,” said Wiskur. “I’m never doing that again.”

The effort paid off and the initial installation of bricks topped 330 contributions from families, businesses, schools, churches and organizations.

Cost of the bricks vary depending on size. A 4-by-8-inch brick with up to three lines, 21 characters per line costs $100. An 8-by-8-inch brick with up to six lines, 21 characters per line costs $150. To add a stock symbol or logo to a brick is $10. A duplicate brick with felt backing to display at your home or business costs $25 for the 4-by-8 and $50 for the 8-by-8.

There is also an additional feature that is free of charge. Wiskur said there is a plan to document the bricks online by having purchasers submit the stories behind the bricks and the people, organizations or businesses in them. Locals can also share and comment on those stories on the Kiwanis brick Facebook group page, on.fb.me/1IPib5s.

To place an order for a brick online, visit bit.ly/22Jq2aY.

––Escriba a Jeff Clemetson a [email protected].