Tuesday, May 26, 2009

BPNA Wins Two Blooming Neighborhoods Awards


The Bryan Park Neighborhood Association swept two out of the City’s three Blooming Neighborhood Awards this year! Jan Sorby was selected as the HAND Neighbor of the Year, and the BPNA won the Mayor’s Excellence Award for two projects, the blog and the dog waste bag dispensers. The awards will be presented at the Celebration of Neighborhoods, at the Farmers Market, Saturday, June 6, at 10 am.

Liz Brown and Jon Lawrence, who designed and built the original and second-generation dispensers, and Mary Miller and Sarah Reeder, who campaigned for and designed the blog, will accept the Mayor’s Award on behalf of the BPNA. Jan Sorby will personally accept the HAND Neighbor of the Year Award, for her outstanding efforts over the years to improve the neighborhood. Everyone is invited to share in the Award by standing up and clapping when our neighbors accept the awards on their own behalf and the behalf of everyone who helped them improve the neighborhood. As Vickie Provine, the HAND program manager, says, “Everybody wins when neighbors get involved.”

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Templeton Playground Renovation

Did you know that Templeton Elementary School’s playgrounds are the oldest in the school corporation? It’s true! The cushioned surface is rapidly crumbling and the play structures are showing signs of wear. Too little shade and green space adds to a playground that doesn’t really encourage the active play we know the kids need. The Templeton PTO has been hard at work planning for a full-scale renovation including new equipment, surfacing, and trees. We are in the process of fundraising for this $65,000 project, and are making good progress. Last spring, the kids themselves raised over $1000! But with the second highest poverty rate in the MCCSC, Templeton families and teachers need some help to make this new playground a reality. We would like to invite all neighbors to contribute to making our neighborhood school safe, healthy and beautiful for our children.

If you can help, please send your tax deductible donation to the FMCCS (Foundation of Monroe County Community Schools) earmarking it in the memo line for the “Templeton Playground Fund.” Their address is 315 North Drive, Bloomington, IN 47401.

If you would like more information about the Templeton Playground Renovation, please contact neighbors Angela Lexmond (339-0782; alexmond@indiana.edu) or Jennifer Livesay (334-0764; jennifer.livesay@gmail.com). We know that a safe and beautiful school playground is a visible way that we show our care for children and benefits everyone in the neighborhood by making it a place where people want to live. Please help us make it happen!