I was speaking to the marketing director at my office on Friday, she gave me a few good ideas for some fund raising ideas for the neighborhood. The first one and probably the best one was to ask the local merchants to donate gift cards or discount coupons for the association to raffle off. We could ask some of the 7th Ave merchants or the larger store we all frequent Safeway, Frys, Bashas, any of the number of restaurants or the merchants at Christown for $10-$15 cards or 10%-15% off a purchase then do a raffle for the items every month. Selling raffle tickets for say $1 that would go into the general fund, the merchants would win because they may be getting business from someone who has never been in their place of business and if you are anything like me you would probably spend more than $10 or $15.

The second idea is to actually knock on doors when we are handing out the luminaries for the holidays. Ask the residents if they would like to pay the voluntary dues at that time, I think we might get a lot more home to participate because they may feel as if they are getting something for the dues they are paying. We could also offer the option to just make a donation of a few dollars if they are unable or unwilling to pay the $10.00 dues.

Dan D - 942 W Glenrosa. dannyboyphx@cox.net