THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS

Fall Festival 2008

Dear Volunteers:

This is a letter of thanks to each of the volunteers who contributed to the Belknap Neighborhood Association’s Fall Festival which is a part of Week in the Highlands. Many volunteers graciously donated their time and energy to making our Festival a tremendous success. Thousands of visitors came to our neighborhood and it would not have been possible if the volunteers had not shown such support in working a variety of shifts to help wherever and whenever needed. It is my hope that each person who helped will realize how appreciated their efforts were and how much they contributed to the fun and excitement of those two days.

Linda Bowles is the Fall Festival Chair and coordinates this event. She works year-round preparing for the festival. During the weeks before the festival, her husband, Chip Bowles, and her son, Charles Bowles, assist with the many tasks necessary to produce this remarkable event.

There were also two weekends before the Fall Festival this year that were particularly challenging. On Sept. 28, 2008 fourteen volunteers from the neighborhood also came together to clean the Douglass Loop area. They did a wonderful job of cleaning, sweeping, pruning, picking up litter, putting out signs, and many other tasks associated with clean-up and preparation for the festival events. However, there was a huge tree down in the area of the Family Fun part and we were all trying to figure out what to do with that huge tree. During the week 311 and 211 were called and nothing could be done. Tom Owen’s office could not get the pick up of debris scheduled before the Festival because the entire City was struggling with a clean-up from the storm on Sept. 14. Finally more volunteers were called from a city wide area and fourteen additional people responded for this remarkable job of clearing the area for children.

Many, many other volunteers very generously donated their time. We are compiling the list and it will be published soon. It is very difficult to have volunteers for three weekends in a row. However, this year the support from neighbors and friends was tremendous and the Belknap neighborhood looked wonderful for the successful BNA Fall Festival, 2008. We thank each of you for contributing so warmly and freely.

Nancy Carrington, President
Belknap Neighborhood Association