Hula's Island Grill Donating Mahalo Mondays in April to Butch & Elizabeth

Time to get your Tiki on!!!  Mahalo Monday at Hula’s Island Grill is benefiting Sergeant Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler this month. 

Each month, the amazing ownership at Hula’s Island Grill benefits a different cause.  For April, Hula’s chose the Santa Cruz Police Department and Sergeant Butch Baker & Detective Elizabeth Butler. 

Here’s how it works….eat dinner at Hula’s any Monday night this month and a portion of the proceeds will be donated.  Not only is Hula’s an awesome place to eat, but each Monday you will benefit a local cause.  That’s a legitimate Win-Win.    

We will plan to put the money towards the final bills for the memorial garden, and distribute the rest directly to Butch’s widow Kelly Baker, and Elizabeth’s surviving partner and father of their children, Peter Wu. 

Come on out and enjoy some great food and support a great local business.  Hula's Island Grill is located at 221 Cathcart Street in Downtown Santa Cruz.  

Thank You Hula’s. 

Memorial Garden Ready For 1 Year Anniversary

It has been a long road over the past year.  Wednesday, February 26^th we will remember Sergeant Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler in a ceremony that will dedicate our beautiful Memorial Garden to them.  The garden has been several months in the making, but it now sits as a fitting tribute and reminder of their sacrifice.  The dedication ceremony will take place at 10:30 AM.

This garden would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our local businesses.  The following local businesses gave much and worked tirelessly to make this vision a reality:

Peter Putt – Putt Construction
Cindy West – Unique Landscape Designs

Tom Ralston – Tom Ralston Concrete

Randy Quilici – Quilici Gardening

Lowell Tucker – West Coast Cranes

Dyanne & Dave – Brinks Awards and Signs
Mike Tell - Graniterock

Not only that, but we are VERY grateful for the huge financial contributions from Take Back Santa Cruz and Plantronics as well as the rest of the Santa Cruz Community who came forward with generous donations.  Thank You All!

Tonight's Event 

There is a community remembrance @ 6:00 PM tonight at City Hall hosted by the City Council.  The public is invited to attend the community gathering event to commemorate our remembrance of their lives and respect for their service to the Santa Cruz community. It will provide an opportunity to come together to remember our fallen heroes as we reach the one-year anniversary of the tragedy.

Memorial Garden Construction Update - Boulders Placed

Progress continues on the Memorial Garden. 

Our 2 ton boulders were set in place Wednesday by the good people at West Coast Cranes and Quilici Gardening.

Nothing like swinging a 2-ton boulder across the courtyard toward the Chief’s office!!!! I wasn't worried for a minute???

A special shout-out and thanks to Mike Tell and his team at Graniterock.  They provided these beautiful exotic jasper boulders for this project.  Mike is the most skilled forklift operator I have ever seen.  Mike has been great with helping us pick out the boulders (lifting, flipping, rolling, etc).

Additionally, the flagstone pathway was set in place. 

Next up…planting, irrigation and final setup of the fountain.  Peter Putt will also be installing the lighting that will spotlight the boulders at night.  Brinks Awards will install the brass plaques on the boulders and we’ll be good to go.

We are still fundraising to cover all the costs.  We haven’t seen the final invoices from some of our providers, but we’re hoping to raise about $10,000 more to cover all the costs.  Our local business partners have been GREAT with providing discounted or free service and materials.  We are so grateful to them.

If you want to donate, you can do so directly through the Santa Cruz Police Officer’s Association at www.santacruzpoa.com.    

Construction Gets Underway for Memorial Garden

We are so excited to see construction started this week on the Memorial Garden honoring Sergeant Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler.   

We are extremely grateful to the crew from Tom Ralston Concrete along with Peter Putt of Putt Construction and Cindy West from Unique Landscape Designs for their help in making this vision a reality.  Big “shout outs” to all of them. 

The plan is to have the garden completed by the one year remembrance of their tragic death.   

With that in mind, our friends at Take Back Santa Cruz and Woodstock Pizza are holding a fundraising night.  The event is:

Thursday January 16th

5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

25% of the proceeds will be donated to the Memorial Garden project. 

The project is not yet fully funded, so the funds are much needed and appreciated. 

We are so thankful to the community for their support, and to all those who have already made generous donations to this project. 

If you can’t make the event and want to help out, you can drop a check by the police department, or donate directly from the Santa Cruz Police Officer’s Association Website here:

http://www.santacruzpoa.com/

Memorial Garden Plans to Honor Sergeant Baker and Detective Butler are Moving Forward

The Memorial Garden Site honoring Sergeant Butch Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler is taking shape as our Parks and Rec team has cleared the slate readying the space for construction work. Here is the site the day following the tragic shooting:

Here is the site just a few weeks ago

 

Here it is today, ready for construction

The next step is to run wiring for the fountain and spot lights for the boulders.  The boulders will have a bronze plaque embedded honoring Butch and Elizabeth. Here are the boulders

After the wiring is complete we will begin construction of a front wall and planter box.  This is where the boulders and fountain will sit above the stone path.  The front of the wall will have a nice stone face and a shelf for those who still wish to leave flowers, etc. 

We are excited about the plans moving forward, and will keep you all updated as we move along. 

We have raised about $3,700 for the project, with $2,500 of that coming from the generous Take Back Santa Cruz donation. 

We are hoping to raise about $10,000 to complete construction and materials for the project.   Our goal is to have the site completed for dedication on the one year anniversary February 26, 2014. 

Donations are being handled through the Santa Cruz Police Officers Association.  Those wanting to donate can do so directly from their Website

http://www.santacruzpoa.com/

or drop a check at the Police Department.