Nearly $10,000 for the Greensburg Rebuilding Fund had been raised as of last Friday due to the efforts of an organizer of an ongoing effort to save the CBS program “Jericho.”
Jeffrey Braverman emailed the Signal May 28 asking for charities to which donations could be directed to help the town’s rebuilding effort. Directed to City Administrator Steve Hewitt, Braverman agreed to send gifts to the rebuilding fund, 100 percent of which will “go to rebuild Greensburg’s infrastructure” according to Hewitt.
Braverman said he got the idea to help Greensburg because of the fictional City of Jericho in the series being set in Kansas. “Here was a way to save a real city in Kansas while trying to save the television series,” Braverman said. “The tornado hit Greensburg the same week the season finale of the show aired.”
The network decided last month to cancel the series, causing Braverman to mount an email campaign to pressure CBS to reverse their decision. Expressions of support for the show are being sent to network headquarters thought the delivery of thousands of pounds of peanuts.
Braverman explains the tactic in terms of series character Jake Green borrowing the historic reply of “Nuts!” from World War II, when an American General used the term to respond to a German demand for unconditional surrender in the Battle of the Bulge. Green uses the same response when replying to a final offer of surrender from a hostile, neighboring town in the series.
For every pound of peanuts shipped in the campaign to save the show, Braverman’s effort—named www.nutsonline.com--donates a dime to the Greensburg Rebuilding Fund. There’s also a link on the site to donate directly to the fund without sending nuts to New York.
In addition, proceeds from sales of T-shirts promoting the “nutty” effort to save “Jericho” are going to the Greensburg fund.
On the web site Braverman writes: “Encourage sponsors and advertisers on CBS to donate directly to the Greensburg Rebuilding Fund on behalf of Jericho fans…One way to get it (Jericho) back is to draw even more attention to our campaign. The Nuts have been our tactic. The Greensburg Rebuilding Fund is our humanity.
“This increases our credibility to the world at large, helps save the real people and community of Greensburg, and this gives us even more traction.”
Greensburg, KS —
