We’ve been busy!
We celebrated our first anniversary with a Solstice Party on June 23. Three firemen and a fire truck were there, not to put out the fire in the Johnsonville BBQ trailer that Andy and Stacy Pyle reserved for us, but to help eat some of the delicious bratwurst and hot dogs that Brandon Carroll and his daughters cooked. Brandon and Gene Campbell organized the event with help from Teresa Pope and Marianne Jones. Theresa Bettmann and Kassidy Bader made the car/dog wash a success. Teresa Pope, Jessica Ballisle, Joan Gentry, Erin Gray, and Rosemary Kammerer worked voter registration for the League of Women Voters tent. Sam Mendez played tunes on acoustic guitar for us, and PAR Officer Boomgaarden demonstrated the proper technique for donning riot gear in 90° temperatures.
Hot on the heels of that event, I and some other folks (Jeff Brossard-Sims, Ray Burmood, Brandon Carroll, Dan Cunningham, and Nancy Williams) walked the neighborhood, delivering handbills for the July 10 Second Annual Ice Cream Social. We went house-by-house, business-by-business, over 1,000 of them, and there were a few things I noticed:
1. It was bloody hot.
2. We have a great neighborhood. And
3. A lot of folks are interested in our neighborhood association but are very busy with family, school, work, and life in general.
How then did we measure success? — One scoop of ice cream at a time … after all, it was 96 degrees on July 10. Gene Campbell and others served treats. Jean and Fred Ackley, Doling Neighborhood Association, showed us caterpillars from the Monarch Waystation at the Talmage Dip. Most of us just hung out and talked with neighbors and friends at Westminster Church. Officer Boomgaarden explained, and thankfully didn’t demonstrate, the finer points of police academy training with CS gas. Bocce ball, disc tossing, and rock painting activities rounded out a fun day of celebration.
By the time you read this, we will have participated in the National Night Out on Aug. 7 and held our Back-to-School fundraiser and neighborhood social on Aug. 20 (our Delaware Neighborhood Night Out) for Delaware Elementary students. Brandon Carroll is organizing the event in coordination with Principal Stephanie Young and Counselor Robyn Fondren.
The event will be held at Westminster Presbyterian. Also, on Nov. 4, we hope to participate again in the 2018 Bass Pro Conservation Marathon Neighborhood Challenge.
In the last year, we’ve cooperated with Rountree on two neighborhood clean-ups (October 2017 and May 2018), and we hope to host our own on Nov. 17. We need volunteers: please, contact Nancy Williams the clean-up coordinator (whimsicalwms@gmail.com). Also, we hold monthly meetings at Westminster Presbyterian Church on the first Tuesday of every month. The potluck dinner is at 6:30 p.m. with the meeting beginning at 7 p.m. We have guest speakers lined up for meetings this fall, including an arborist with NeighborWoods and several City Council members.
Delaware neighborhood is like a little town in the heart of a big city. In Delaware Neighborhood Association, we care about the well-being of our neighbors and seek to improve the livability of our neighborhood. We have some historic homes and some great amenities around us.
We have a great school that serves special needs. I sometimes joke that in Delaware, we are “South Of Roun-Tree,” or SORT-of Rountree. It is a nice place to live and we live here because we love it. So, when we feel too busy with work and all of the other commitments we make, remember that this neighborhood will only be as enjoyable as we make it. All of the people mentioned above and all of the many folks who attended events and participate in the organization know this. To quote a recent President only slightly out of context, “… It was on these streets where I witnessed the power of faith, and the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss. This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.”
And, we try our best to have fun.