Dear Neighbors,
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family. As a community we certainly have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season! BAPA staff, board and major donors enjoyed a very special evening at our annual donor recognition event, honoring Pat and Lorraine Stanton for their commitment to the neighborhood. It was well deserved honor for the Stantons and lovely night for recognizing the people who support BAPA’s work in Beverly/Morgan Park.
One thing I am always most thankful for is that our community comes together to face big issues. We don’t shy away from difficult topics, we address them together. Over the last several weeks we as a community were faced with some serious safety concerns and, once again, we came together to discuss what could be done to more effectively address community safety. More than 300 neighbors gathered in St. Barnabas Church basement to listen and ask questions. BAPA was joined by Ald. O’Shea, Commander Harmon of the 22nd District Police and other members of the Chicago Police Department for this important discussion. The biggest takeaway from the night was that the community requested that the police issue a community alert anytime there is a gun-related incident in the neighborhood.
This is an important first step in engaging the community. BAPA has developed a community safety survey to get input from as many neighbors as possible. The survey is available online at www.bapa.org. It will only take a few minutes to complete and will help guide the efforts of the BAPA staff and board to implement more strategies to assist in keeping our community informed and safe.
Thanks to the hard work of the Morgan Park Business Association, 95th Street Business Association and the Mount Green Community and Business Association, our community was able to enjoy a wonderful Small Business Saturday. Thank you to all the businesses that participated in activities and to all the neighbors who came out to support businesses by shopping small.
BAPA is preparing for our 2nd annual Holiday Cookie Crawl on Dec. 9. Due to its popularity, we have partnered with Olivia’s Garden to create a Christkindl Market on Dec. 9 and 10. The cookie tins are sold out, but you don’t have to have a tin to enjoy the shopping and festivities of the season at the Christkindl Market, and by continuing to shop small this holiday season.
One last suggestion: Become a 2017 BAPA Member. As you know, membership the cornerstone of BAPA’s operation. We work every day providing services and advocating for our members and community. We hope this holiday season you will consider a gift of community by supporting BAPA through membership. A membership envelope is inserted in this issue of The Villager.
Have a wonderful holiday season!
Cheers,
Margot
Margot Holland, BAPA Executive Director
