Command Central: Feeling The Love
In This Great Neighborhood, We’re Fortunate To Build On The Bonds Of Generations That Came Before Us
By Lana Cordes
Executive Director, GPHC, Inc.
March marks my third anniversary as executive director at Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Last year at this time I took the opportunity to write about my affinity for Park Hill. This year, considering I’m writing this very column on Valentine’s Day, it’s only appropriate to expand on that theme.
Yesterday my husband and I went for a run with our two sons; it was a particularly warm winter Sunday. On our way home we noted no fewer than five (and as many as a dozen) people out on basically every block, strolling the neighborhood along with us. We felt really enveloped by and embedded in the community at that time.
But why? Being in the presence of people on the street doesn’t bond you to those people. Despite its most basic definition, geographic boundary does not a community make. Those emotive bonds come from shared experience.
Our shared experience here is rooted in a sense of place. Conversely, the sense of place is created by our shared experience and our bonds with one another. This cycle of bonding and experiencing and creating place has been going on for generations.
I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to quite put my finger on what makes this neighborhood a community, but I do think that we are the fortunate beneficiaries of what was honed by many before us. We get to step into this place that’s already here and waiting for us. We get to enjoy all the warm and fuzzy feelings of this place. And if we’re lucky, we’ll be good stewards who help nurture and sustain so we can pass this place along.
Thank you to these donors and volunteers who supported our operations this past month:
DONORS
Dang Soft Serve Ice Cream
God’s Will Christian Fellowship
HCA Healthcare Foundation
Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church
Network for Good
Park Hill Community Bookstore
Park Hill United Methodist Church
The Spicy Radish
Unity on the Avenue
Christine Allen
Penny Ashley-Lawrence
Grace Baker
Simon Blamires
Barry and Karyn Brandt
Nancy Brauer and Jeffrey Kent
Joanne Bronstein
Alex Brown and Mary Stone
Jennifer Calderone
Inga Calvin
Barbara Cavender
Pranav Chawla
Carmelita Clayton
Rachel Coates
Jenna Cruff
Emma Cummings
Christine Davidson
Carrie Davis
Caitlin Deane
Brenna Derritt
Jocelyn Durkay
Janet Fairs
Steve Farley
Jack Farrar
Elisabeth and Raymond Fedde
Anne & Joe Frank
Georgia and Woody Garnsey
Bobbi Gillis
Simon and Elizabeth Hambidge
Amy Harris
Adrienne Hill
Jane Hoback
Lacy Hochman
Dana & Bill Hughes
Mark and Diane Imhoff
Katherine Jeter
Shirley Johnson
Bill Juraschek
Lynn Kalinauskus and Trevor Williams
Sue and Roger Kilgore
Dolores Kopel
Phillip and Constance Lanphier
Mary Jo Lorenz
Deborah Maslov
Jeff and Mayzie Mayfield
Richard McCanna
Ann McLaughlin
Carol and Gordon McLennan
Sheila Mcmullen
Megan and Bill McQuinn
Stefan and Brenda Mokrohisky
Harriet Mullaney
Chris and Erin Nielsen
Annie and David Pratt
Ellen Reath and Craig Maginness
Susan and Paul Riederer
Mary Salsich
Karin Schumacher
Barbara Sharp
Beverly and Peter Skram
Skip and Carol Spensley
Clark Strickland
Marilyn Swan
Susan and Darwin Toll
Wendi Torres
Alex Walsh
Shari Walsh
Stephanie Wasserman
and David Fine
Nikki Wiederaenders
Tom Wordinger and Bill Benzie
Al and Ann Yates
VOLUNTEERS
Ann Baumgartner
Sue Bruner
Celine Davis
Greg Davis
Amelia Drumwright
Claudia Fields
Maria Flora
Noni Horwitz
Debra Lovell
Justin Lovell
Chuck E Nelson
Deb Rosenbaum
Heather Shulman
Lindsay Wadman
Jeannie Willis