As a longtime resident of the Hopewell Valley (three in Hopewell Borough, seven in the township, and the last eight in Pennington Borough) I’m probably as close as one gets to being “local” without having been born here.
After moving to Pennington, I decided I wanted to give back to the community by helping my neighbors with their committee on Pennington Day — Children’s Rides. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of individuals that I would have never met otherwise. Two years later I co-chaired Pennington Day, and now, I chair the board of trustees for Pennington Day, Inc.
I’m not writing this because I thought anyone would be interested in my personal history, but because I’m looking for volunteers to help us organize Pennington Day 2008. The group I started my Pennington Day “career” with, hasn’t changed much over the past five plus years. The main difference is that our children have grown a bit and are not the main target group anymore. They’ve gone on to high school or college. We are not organizing Pennington Day for our own children anymore, but for yours!
About a month ago, we wrote a letter to the HVN that appeared on these very same pages looking for volunteers to co-chair next year’s event. The result — nothing! Is this because no one wants to volunteer, or is it because people are tired of the “same old boring” event every year. Either way, please let me know.
Did you know that in 2007 we actually raised over $10,000 that we then granted to local organizations throughout the Valley that count on our grants for their activities. (As evidence, visit our Web site, penningtonday.com for a list of 2007 grantees.) An interesting fact that I would like to share with you . . . in 2007, between the Hopewell Harvest Fair and Pennington Day, $25,000 was raised and returned to local organizations throughout the Hopewell Valley and Mercer County in the form of grants. I owe it to these organizations to let them know if they can count on this money again in 2008.
Please send me an e-mail and let me know if you are interested in volunteering for Pennington Day 2008. Also, let me know if you feel we need to make changes or if Pennington Day has outlived its usefulness. E-mail me at albert@penningtonday.com.
I encourage you to visit our Web site at penningtonday.com and check out all of the fun from previous years by scrolling through the three pages of photos we have in our photo gallery. Perhaps you will even see yourself or a neighbor!
Albert Teixeira, chairman,
Pennington Day Inc. board
