About North College Park Neighborhood Association
NCPNA is a neighborhood association and, unlike a homeowner’s association, we do not have any authority over anyone’s property. We sponsor activities and projects to help make our neighborhood a more pleasant and safe place to live. Volunteers are always needed, and we look forward to hearing about new ways to achieve our collective goals.
Contact Robert Grinsfelder at rmgrins@aol.com if you can help with any of these activities.
Like us on Facebook! North College Park Neighborhood Association or @ncpna.org
National Night Out a Great Success
We estimate that over 50 neighbors participated in NNO on October 6th! Special recognition to Andy and Meredith Pendleton, block captains for west Windsong and Doug and Cheryl Freeman block captains for west Rainbow for encouraging a great turnout of their neighbors! It was great weather and many people were walking and engaging with friends and neighbors. We should all be pleased with this success as we continue to plan COVID-safe events. Check out the photos which show our appreciation to the Richardson Police and to our Crime Watch volunteers for the great job they do to keep North College Park among the safest neighborhoods in the city!
Fall Family Photo Fundraiser benefiting the Network of Community Ministries
Looking to update family photos while making the world a better place? We’ve got just the shot for you! Our first Fall Family Photo Fundraiser is here just in time for holiday card season. If interested, you’ll sign up for the date/time of your choosing in November (subject to photographer availability). The cost is $125 per package which includes a 20 minute mini-photography session with Valarie Dawn Photography (VDP), a CD with 15-20 edited digital images, an entry into an end of the month drawing for a free Spring 2021 mini session, and a 20% donation from all sessions will be donated to the Network of Community Ministries to aid in their mission to serve the North Dallas/Richardson/Garland community.
If you’re interested in pictures for yourself or your family (singles, couples, kids, pets, all are welcome!), please email April Anderson at adawn0105@gmailcom for a time slot by 10/31. VDP is holding Wednesday 11/11 and Sunday 11/23 open exclusively for our community until then. Other dates/times are available, but these two dates will be released back to the public after Halloween. Payment is non-refundable and required to reserve a spot, but time and location (within 5 miles of our neighborhood) is up to you and flexible based on availability and weather. All sessions can be easily done outdoors and/or socially distanced.
You can view Valarie Dawn Photography’s work here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/855977194836543/?ref=share
You can read more about The Network of Community Ministries wonderful organization here: https://thenetwork.org/about-us/
October Yard of the Month
The Yard of the Month judges fanned out in neighborhood and selected some winners for October.
Winners, Boyd Clark and Kasey Withers
2 Spring Valley Court
Congratulations! They received a $25 gift certificate from Bruce Miller Nursery.
Decorate Your Mailboxes/Porches Contest
For October, we’re having a decorate-your-mailbox contest. You can do a scary Halloween mailbox or a fall theme, or just use your imagination. This applies only to homes with mailboxes in the front. For those of us that don’t have mailboxes in the front, we will have a decorate-your-porch contest.
First place will receive a $50 gift card and second place, $25 gift card.
You do not have to sign up, just decorate. Get your creative juices flowing and let’s see your creations!
The winners will be notified October 31. Any questions, please contact Janice at Elway100@tx.rr.com.
Here are some of the mailboxes and porches already decorated around the neighborhood.
House Number Project
For several years NCPNA has volunteers who make house number signs for the rear of houses. The city requires this as an aid for emergency services and it also helps the crime patrol identify a house. This a free service, all you need do is to contact Doug Freeman at d1004free@aol.com to arrange for it to be installed.
Flu Shot Reminder
It’s almost November and if you have not had your flu shot, then you are late to the party. This is particularly true for those of us past a certain age. This year the combination of the flu and COVID-19 make this more important than ever. Be mindful of the continued danger of COVID-19 and follow the recommended guidelines for social distancing.
Halloween and COVID-19
The CDC is discouraging traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating. While there are some creative ideas for distributing candy while maintaining social distancing, this activity will still involve risk. There are likely to be some children out looking for candy. If you don’t want to participate then leave your porch light off. If you decide to participate, please take steps to minimize the risk to both you and the children.
Window Walk
Please continue to decorate your windows with seasonal or holiday themed items. This really brightens up the neighborhood and children of all ages enjoy seeing your handiwork.
Book Club News
The NCPNA book club wrapped up our first book and it was doozy! The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre kept us all our toes and the reveal wasn’t expected by anyone. While the book didn’t get a 100% approval rating from all members, getting to know our neighbors a little better did! Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner is our next book and we’re meeting Tuesday 10/27 at 7pm in April Anderson’s backyard. It’s never too late to join! We’ll pick our next book at the October meeting, but we’ll be on hiatus from meetings until January.
Walk-tober Results
If you’re not following the weekly updates on our community Facebook page, make sure you do! This community has really “stepped” it up together and found some sole-mates in our neighbors. While we earn bragging rights by weekly category (Individiual, men vs women, and street week so far), all that matters in the end is the overall step count. Prizes will be awarded to the top two steppers and it’s a TIGHT race at the top between Melissa Magee and Jeff Wiser with a few others trailing right on their heels. You can join us anytime by sending your October step count from any device to April Anderson at adawn0105@gmail.com or posting on our community Facebook page.
Crime Watch Report
Thank you to our 20 volunteer patrollers for their efforts in keeping our neighborhood crime free and safe. 
The following comparison chart illustrates our volunteer hours for 2020 in purple and 2019 in yellow. We had another record month.
To all our neighbors who participated in National Night Out. Thank you.
Did you know that if you joined Crime Watch Patrol that you can get credit for your steps in Walk-tober as well? Contact Doug Freeman at d1004free@aol.com for how to do that.
COVID-19
Families still struggling to cope with the financial and social impact of COVID-19. Don’t forget even if you can’t be as social you have in the past, we can still have activities and function as a community. We just have to be more careful. Keep checking on your neighbors, particularly those who live alone.
The Network of Community Ministries is looking for food donations. More information
Richardson Strong Yard Signs
We still have a few signs left. The signs are $10 each with all proceeds going to The Network of Community Ministries. If you want a sign for your yard, please contact Janice Gromadin at elway100@tx.rr.com.
Welcome Baskets
Vicki Bean leads a team who assemble and deliver welcome baskets to new residents.
If you know of someone new, let Vicki know and be sure they are aware of the association, newsletter and website. Vicki can be reached at V.Bean@att.net.
Newsletter
If you did not receive this newsletter in your email, you can easily sign up to receive your very own copy. Our goal this year is to send out newsletters once each month. We will send out special emails when warranted. We promise to not share your email address and we won’t drown you in emails. Go to http://ncpna.org/enews and fill out the form. Be sure and look for the confirmation email and confirm the subscription.
John Slaughter
NCPNA Newsletter Editor