Our second fundraiser for new playground equipment is fast approaching! We will be having a basket raffle on January 22^nd. If you are interested in donating a basket for the raffle, or getting donations from local businesses, please contact Stephanie GianDonato at 240-672-2747 or 721 VGP.

Through the Turkey Trot and donations, we have raised $1400. This is half of our goal! Let’s band together to get the next $1400 raised so our children can have the best park in the area!

Editors note: Neighbors I can’t express how awesome this is that we were able to raise so much from a race. I can’t wait to see what kind of baskets people are able to put together for this next event. Covid-19 makes it hard to bring us together for lots of fun but we can still do small things that add up to big results.

I want to share a cookie recipe from Sarah Winart and family, the amazing person who we all bug now to put something on the front Marquee. By the way, you can also reach her for all those requests at [email protected]. Thank You Sarah and Mat for sharing with us, this is going to be delicious.

Old Fashioned Butter Cookies

1 cup sweet cream butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp. orange juice

1 tsp vanilla

 

 

 

In a 3-qt mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar and egg. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce to low speed; stir in flour, baking powder, orange juice, and vanilla until smooth and well-combined. Chill 2 to 3 hours or until firm enough to be rolled. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out dough, 1/2 at a time, on well-floured surface to 1/8” – 1/4” thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters. Place on uncreased baking sheet. Bake near center of oven for 6-10 minutes or until golden brown on edges. Cool on wire rack. Frost/decorate. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Butter Cream Frosting

3 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar

1/3 cup softened sweet cream  butter

1-2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

In 1.5-qt mixer bowl, mix sugar and butter on low speed until combined. Add 1 tbsp milk and vanilla. Beat on high until fluffy (about 1.5 minutes). Add more milk if necessary for spreading consistency.

 

Hey Neighbors,

It has been a few months now since I started learning how to do all the things needed to run a web page and our Town Crier. A skill set I am still working on mastering. But during that time we have had a few events and some amazing people helping in the Green. I fully believe we have shown what a few volunteers who are willing to give up some time are able to do. I am writing to you on Friday night as has become my routine and am amazed at the impromptu “Light up the Park” that was organized by Jenn Greene as a perfect example. I want to give an extra shout out to her and Ryan for all the things they have done stepping up to help keep our park looking amazing and for the dedication to the Village Green as a whole.

Stephanie Brown GianDonato really deserves some recognition as well, she has been raking leaves all summer and fall and getting them bagged and moved out to the curb. Not only that but if you noticed the front entry way as we drive into the Neighborhood you can see her handiwork at play there too. She dug out the stones, weeded, and landscaped it beautifully back in October. I know there are many others out there that are doing amazing things for us as well. My goal here is to start to highlight those exceptional people who make this neighborhood a true Village. Be it through high visibility things like Stephanie and Jenn, or through all the background things that folks like Donnie Woodruff and family contribute.

I cannot do it all alone, we have over 300 homes here in Village Green! That means there are more people doing great things than my reclusive self will ever be able to see. To catch everyone, I will need help, YOUR HELP. That is right. You, the person reading this right now. It does not take much just send me a few notes of the Who What When Where and Why. If you are ambitious write it all out and well post it in the Crier for you too. You know you have caught your neighbors helping each other out, I see it all the time driving around the Green.

Finally, I will be making a call for volunteers to help with the Crier itself. Contributors, editors, web designers, photographers, I need your help. High Schoolers who are interested in Journalism come and volunteer to help. I will be more than happy to sign your volunteer paperwork too.

Thank you to all the people I have not gotten around to highlighting just yet, I hope we manage to be able to do so soon. In the meantime, keep up the good work. Let us make it a well-known fact that this is more than just a neighborhood, we are a Community. We are a Village, and we do it ourselves through selfless service and commitment.

Your Friend,

Joshua

 

A HUGE thank you to all those that organized, participated, and volunteered for the 1^st Annual Village Green Turkey Trot!! We raised a total of $1,360.70!

The overall winner was Jacob Peek coming in at an astounding 25 minutes! First place Female goes to Rachel Frye at 26:27. The kids also rocked their fun run, being the first race for all of the participants. Jackson Greene was our fun run winner!

This is a great start to our “Fund Our Fun” journey. We have raised almost half of our goal of $2,800. Please keep your eyes peeled for our next fundraiser coming in mid-January. We are planning a Wine and Cheese Night with a Basket Raffle! *The basket raffle will be held no matter what. The Wine and Cheese portion will be Covid/Governor imposed restrictions dependent. We are looking for volunteers to help put together baskets and for donations for the basket as well.  We are off to a great start to help start replacing some of the worn out playground equipment in the park.

By Stephanie GianDonato

 

The time is here Neighbors. We need your help out at the park for the fall leaves. Saturday 28 November at 10:00 is when we are planning on getting started. Bring your rakes, tarps, leaf blowers and gloves and lets make short work with many hands. As a neighborhood the city has scheduled us as Zone 2 and that means leaves need to be out by the Curb by Monday 30 November. Now we all know that does not mean the city will make it to us on 30 November, but this is 2020 and crazier things have happened so lets just be safe. Here is the link to the City’s website for the leaf pickup.

https://www.nnva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/26811/2020-Leaf-Collection-Schedule

This year we have an additional call to action to help one of our neighbors. The Hager Family have more than enough to worry about that we as Village can come together to assist in this small way by helping them get their leaves to the curb. Currently the plan is for Sunday for a few good neighbors to come together to help. However I have faith in our Community and think that we will have more then enough volunteers to be able to do both on Saturday.

As a precaution, bring your masks as well so that we are able to stay safe. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to the VGCA Grounds Committee Lead Ryan Greene at [email protected] or you can always reach out to [email protected]. Looking forward to seeing you there.