March 2012
Cedar Park Neighbors Newsletter President’s Message: What is Community? By Monica Allison, CPN President hat is the definition of a community? W It is a group of people who live in proximity to and interact with one another. Our community begins in our homes, extends to our block and surrounding neighborhood and then expands to our city, state, nation and the world. How do we represent our community personally? Some of us keep our blocks clean, plant trees, watch out for the safety of our neighbors, pick up trash, help the unemployed find jobs, and fight for quality education. All are noble causes, because, without each of us, we cannot be a community. I love our community! I love the diversity of people and the diversity of talents and input. I love the mix of businesses and I am enthralled with the sense that we all find our place to plant seeds. As some of you may know, I received the Penn 2012 Martin Luther King Community Involvement Recognition Award in January. Those of you who know me personally know I am not the recognition type of gal. But with February being Black History Month, it started me thinking about the meaning of that recognition and the person for which it was named. Dr. King said so much in his brief time on earth that we can all take to heart. He was profound in so many ways, and as time has moved forward his words become more relevant. One of my favorite quotes
of Dr. King is this: “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” Here we are, right back to community! Dr. King is definitely one of my heroes, if there is such a thing. He instilled in those of us who lived during that time the knowledge of ourselves and who we are inside, because that is who will emerge publicly. In relation to our community, one of the other quotes I try to live by is this: “One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.” May we not protect the status quo or become indifferent, but embrace the challenge of change. In our last newsletter, I was happily recalling the Centennial Celebration of Cedar Park, how much fun was had by all and the wonderful music played by our annual DJ, DJ Jamar. In January, we were all saddened by the death of DJ Jamar Ferrell. Jamar was a mentor, a husband, a neighbor and a friend. He is and will be missed. continued on page 2
C E L E B R AT E S P R I N G – T R E E P H I L LY S T Y L E TreePhilly is a new tree-planting initiative led by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation that helps property owners, businesses and neighborhood residents to improve their communities by planting and maintaining trees. TreePhilly continues Parks & Recreation’s ongoing commitment to greening Philadelphia and supports both
the City’s Greenworks Phila delphia plan and the regional Plant One Million campaign.
the City. You will be contacted in March with more information about dates and locations. This program is for private yard Through TreePhilly’s Yard Tree trees only (front, back, and side Program, Philadelphia residents yards). If you are interested in can receive a FREE tree! a street tree or want to learn Residents can request one tree more about the Yard Tree per address, to be planted on Program, including tree species their private land. Pickup days and size information, please will occur during the week of visit www.treephilly.org. April 22nd to 28th throughout
SAVE TH E D AT E ! Monday, April
23
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The Cedar Park Neighbors annual meeting and Board of Directions election will take place on Monday, April 23, 2012 at 7pm at the Calvary Community Center. All members whose memberships are current may vote in the election. More information on nominees and meeting agenda will be sent in a special communication before the meeting. Stay tuned!