Hello RNeighbors Board and RNeighborWoods committee members and friends.
Just a few highlights from the last few weeks.
- Last evening the LGR group held their Building Blocks Backyard Bash to raise funds for the block party trailer. It was a great event! They sold out on tickets and many board members were present including Keith, Paul, Kelly, and Aaron. Samantha helped in this effort and last night I had conversations with some of the team who are going to revise the Neighborhood Toolkit prior to their class. I’m extremely grateful for the leadership and partnership with this team. As a bonus, Sandy, our book-keeper won the 100 bottles of wine at the end of the night!
- Saturday, April 29, over 160 volunteers came out and helped get 250 trees planted on the boulevards of the Quarry Hill west neighborhood. These plantings take a huge amount of team work to make things run smoothly and I’m always hesitant to call out folks lest I forget someone but here goes. Thanks to the volunteers who served as group leaders, registration tables, and tree planters. Kudos to our partners in this effort: Rochester Park & Recreation, Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa, Rochester- Olmsted County Youth Commission, Panera, HyVee, and newcomers to our team: Rochester Area Fatherhood Network and MN Adult & Teen Challenge. And last but not least, you can check out action shots from the morning’s effort thanks to the Bob’s: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155640463208132.1073741889.59122718131&type=1&l=7b09f815d0
- Continuing the tree theme, RNeighbors and the Forestry Department were on-hand at the RPU Arbor Day event last week. 1,517 students (grades 3-5) were there and Ellen and myself think almost every single one of them signed our MN Arbor Month Proclamation.
- The Indian Heights Park neighborhood presented their completed Park Cultural Significance document to the Park Board recently. This has been a several year effort that started as a grant through the National Park Service for assistance. This document will serve as a guide for this neighborhood group as they moved forward with efforts in their park.
- This week was Trash Mountain where we get the final weight of litter picked up over the week-long Litter Bit Better effort. Over 3,250 volunteers picked up over 18,400 pounds of trash. That’s over 9.22 tons people!
- There’s more that we’ve been busy with but no one wants to spend a weekend reading a War & Peace length email so I’ll end with this. The May/June Rochester Women’s Magazine is out. In it RNeighbors is highlighted along with several of the neighborhoods that we serve. My fav quote is “We’re about engagement and getting neighbors to interact with neighbors and with the city departments.” For once my rambling hit the nail on the head. (-; https://issuu.com/rochesterwomenmagazine/docs/rwmagazine_mayjune2017web2/36
- Our next full RNeighbors Board meeting is Wednesday, May 17, 5:30; next RNeighborWoods meeting is June 1, 4 pm; and this coming Tuesday, May 9, 4 pm is a neighborhood tree grant planting in the Slatterly neighborhood (meet at 12th Ave SE & 8 1/2 St SE).
Thanks for all of the teamwork that goes into making these efforts a reality. I’d say we can safely say that spring at RNeighbors has been a success!
-Rene
Rene Lafflam, Executive Director RNeighbors Providing tools to GROW great neighborhoods 1421 3rd Avenue SE * Rochester, MN 55904 (507) 529-4150 * www.RNeighbors.org
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead
