Announcing the Eurithe Purdy Matched Fundraising Campaign
The Al Purdy A-frame Association is very pleased to announce that Eurithe Purdy will be matching all donations to the A-frame Foundation Project up to $10,000, from now until her birthday on November 10, 2023.
The Al Purdy A-frame Association runs a highly successful nationally recognized writer-in-residence program from the former home, a local heritage site, of renowned writer Al Purdy. Built “on the flood plain” from mostly found materials, the passing years and rising water levels have taken a toll. The Purdys’ historic hand-made house is in good condition thanks to extensive upgrades to the wiring, plumbing, roofing, siding, outbuildings and other key infrastructure. But the entire project is threatened by changing local drainage conditions. In order to preserve the house for the ages, so that the residency program can continue to serve the local and national community, the house needs to be raised and a full foundation completed at a total cost of $300,000. To date $139,200 has been raised.
Many of the now 48 writers-in-residence have reported being smitten by Prince Edward County and the A-frame. But no one feels as much love for the place as the woman who helped build and shape the place for decades. As Eurithe says in The Al Purdy A-frame Anthology, “there’s a very different feeling you have about a house when you build it, compared to when you just walk in.”
If you read Al’s poetry you will know Eurithe. She was Al’s wife, muse, travel companion, first reader and foil. “Necropsy of Love”, read here by Leonard Cohen, is a love poem from Al to Eurithe. It gives me the chills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDNGeejhPDg
If it came about you died
it might be said I loved you:
love is an absolute as death is,
and neither bears false witness to the other—
But you remain alive.
In “If Those Walls Could Talk,” Eurithe says, “I look through the books now and then. To me it’s almost like reading a diary of our lives together. I can’t say what my favourite poem would be.”
The foundation work is critical and urgent. Please make a donation which Eurithe will double to $10,000, and put a smile on Eurithe’s face on her 99th birthday. If you wish, tell us your favourite Purdy poem.
Thank you for your consideration, and your support!