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.
North College Park Neighborhood Facebook Group
NCPNA has an active private Facebook group. One of the administrators will quickly approve your admision to the group. Click here to go to the group page: facebook.com/groups/ncpna
Fall Family Fundraiser Reminder
There are still sessions available for the Fall Family Photo Fundraiser. 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. Please email April Anderson at adawn0105@gmail.com to set-up a time in November or early December if you’re interested. 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/
Walktober Wrap-Up
Our community really stepped it up for this challenge! Melissa Magee (Kenshire) took first prize with 474,345 steps and Jeff Wiser (Morningstar) was right on her heels with 472,129 steps. They will each receive an Amazon gift card of $50 and $25 respectively. As a community we had 15 participants, 6 decades represented from the 1940s-2000s, and we walked 3,822,185 steps or about 1,911 miles or the distance of walking from Richardson, TX to Minneapolis, MN…. AND BACK. We hope to continue to see everyone out on the sidewalks!
Book Club Update
Due to the frigid temps on 10/27, our meet-up was pushed back to Zoom (#2020). We discussed our October book “Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown” by Anne Glenconner which gave us perspective on a fascinating culture different from our own on this side of the pond. Our next book is “What Alice Forgot” by Liane Moriarty and we’ll have 12 books available for community loan around mid-November. We’re on hiatus through the holidays, but we’ll resume in January 2021 with meetings on the last Tuesday of every month at 7:30pm (location TBD). You can join any time by emailing April Anderson at adawn0105@gmail.com.
Decorate Your Mailboxes/Porches Contest
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| Linda & Courtez Brown 1108 Morningstar 1st Place Mailbox Halloween Decorating Contest Winner!-$50 | Cynthia & Julien Bataillard 1106 Morningstar 2nd Place Mailbox Contest Winner-$25 New neighbors in the neighborhood |
Flag Program
Have you noticed all the flags around the neighborhood this past week? We currently have 76 flags waving in North College Park, and next year, our goal is to have over 100! This is part of our annual membership to NCPNA, which is only $25, and for an extra $30, you will be enrolled in the flag program through the Rotary Club five times a year: President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day plus 9/11 Patriot’s Day, and Veteran’s Day. This is discounted from the normal $40 per year for the flag program alone. Flags are placed in the parkway on the Saturday before the holiday and remain until the following Saturday.
Our membership drive kicks off in January, so look for it in next month’s newsletter!
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.
Crime Watch Patrol
Neighbors have asked how someone can join the North College Park Crime Watch Patrol. So, here goes.
The first step is to go to this City of Richardson Police web address and check out the program.
https://www.richardsonpolice.net/i-want-to/sign-up-for/crime-watch-patrol
As noted on their web page: “In the Richardson Heights neighborhood, we initially saw an 83% decrease in residential burglaries.” The program works.
Then apply, Richardson Police will do a confidential background check. When completed, you will be invited to attend a training class, which is normally a 2 hour class, taught by a RPD officer to volunteers from all over the city.
They will contact Doug Freeman at d1004free@aol.com when the class is completed and he will reach out to explain how our North College Park Crime Watch Patrol functions.
You can participate in many ways by patrolling:
- In your car
- Walking the Dog
- Waking for exercise
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
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