President’s Letter

By Eleanor Ingersoll, QVNA President

Hello Neighbors,

Better Together, that can be a supportive mantra as we settle into the (sometimes daunting) winter.

Knowing that the City’s Safer at Home initiative strives to minimize both the COVID infection rate and its burden on our healthcare systems does not make the prospect of minimized social and business interactions any easier. Hence, the mantra that reminds us that it’s a sacrifice that we are making for each other.

During the pandemic, it’s more important than ever to buy locally; your gifts, your food take-out, and everything in between. It will take a village to come out on the other side of this with the spirit of our unique business community intact.

The challenges of this pandemic have made for some positive developments; more and more neighbors are participating in Zoom Community meetings where topics have been directly sourced from local concerns for discussion to engage with the professionals and City agencies than can directly affect outcomes. (For any of our recorded Fall 2020 meetings, visit www.youtube.com/queen village.)

The pandemic has also spurred this Association to review how it can fine-tune its engagement with, and support of, community gems. A fringe benefit and a hopeful salve in these challenging times: offering neighbors an avenue for social interaction and community investment. Look for more opportunities to participate safely in pocket park clean-ups with the Clean and Green Committee, planting trees with Tree Tenders, contributing to the aspirations of the re-energized Safety Committee, volunteering for partnership building and with Courtyard Apartments and their youth enrichment programs, submitting article ideas to the Queen Village Quarterly Crier magazine, brainstorming projects funded by the QVNA Grants Program, and supporting Santore Library and Shot Tower Recreation Center.

In the New Year, QVNA welcomes new and returning Board members excited to develop these goals with the primary purpose of engaging and supporting the community that makes Queen Village the unique community that it is. But there is always the opportunity to do individual outreach with random acts of kindness— a warm hello to a masked stranger, sweeping the sidewalk of a fellow resident, or making muffins for a neighbor— just because you can.

I look forward to seeing more of you, weather permitting, around the neighborhood. Here’s to a safe and happy holiday season to you and yours. It’s going to be a great 2021 because we are Better Together.