President's Corner - Page 2

Planting Cherished Memories

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Stan Benton, PBCA President

As we move into the month of May, we celebrate the mothers, grandmothers, aunties, kinship caregivers, and other members of our community who provide love and guidance to us all.  For those whose mothers have passed, we hope this can be a time to reflect on cherished memories. Happy Mother’s Day!   A big ‘Thank You’ to the many neighbors who donated funds to improve our Penn Branch 9-11 Memorial Park! In the coming months, the PBCA Executive Committee will announce a fundraiser related to continuing to improve the park while celebrating families—past and present—who are connected to our community.  We really look forward to seeing everyone at the park planting on May 15th at 9 am. Although CDC and city guidelines for outside mask-wearing have changed, since we will be working in a small space, please plan to wear a face-covering to keep all of our neighbors safe.
Please continue to be safe and take care of each other and I’ll see you at the meeting!

Stan Benton,
PBCA President

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It’s Spring Again

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9-11 Memorial Park in Penn Branch DC
Stan Benton, PBCA President
Stan Benton, PBCA President

Spring is looking good. As the weather is getting nicer, now is the time to get back outside to prep our backyards, patios and gardens for use during throughout the warmer months. Your PBCA board has also sprung into action along with a few dedicated community members to help plan our first spring cleaning of 9-11 Memorial Park. It is the gateway to our neighborhood at the intersections of Carpenter and O Street SE. Last month, Joan McKenzie applied for and was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS), on behalf of PBCA, to spruce up the park. The funds will go towards new native plantings and additional signage. However, the park is in also need of a new bench and paving stones. These additional costs were not covered by the grant. So, we’ll soon be launching a fundraiser to help us pay for those items. In the meantime, we’ll gladly accept your donations.

Lastly, we have new families in the neighborhood. Let’s welcome them. Let your block captain know so that we can invite them to join us and deliver our famously practical welcome buckets, which Mrs. Patricia Hall is always putting together with loving care. Thank you for your continued support.

Please continue to be safe and take care of each other and I’ll see you at the meeting!

Stan
PBCA President

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Shall We Dance?

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PBCA Dinner Dance-Early 1990s (credit Patricia Q Hall)
Stan Benton, PBCA President
Stan Benton, PBCA President

I’m starting to see a sliver of light at the end of this COVID-19 tunnel as more vaccines become available.

Perhaps we’ll soon be able to have our meetings in-person and maybe even bring to fruition one of the PBCA Board’s long-term goals for 2022: Bringing back The Annual Penn Branch Dinner Dance.

The Dinner Dance was started in 1987 by the former PBCCA President, Eloise Prince, and was held annually until 2015. The event provided an excellent way for new and longstanding neighbors to get to know one another.  I always enjoyed seeing the younger folks, along with our seniors, all on the dance floor performing the latest line-dance together.

After being held up in our homes for the past year, now is the time to start planning for this event–as well as other ways to get us back together again. To do this, we’ll need your help. Please make a donation to PBCA and share with us any creative ideas you may have. Until then, lets’ keep fingers crossed for continued progress in beating back this virus.

See you at the meeting!

Stan 

The late Mrs. Eloise Prince was a former PBCA President and is believed to have organized the first Dinner Dance
The late Mrs. Eloise Prince was a former PBCA President and is believed to have organized the first Dinner Dance

PBCA Dinner Dance-Early 1990s

‘The Last Dance:’
AUGUST 2014

A quick look back at images from past ‘ Dinner Dance’ events where Penn Branch residents came out looking their best to celebrate, mix and mingle with community and city leadership.

The Last Dance: August 14, 2014
Current PBCA President Stan Benton is All Smiles (2014)
The Last Dance: August 14, 2014
Councilmember & Mayoral Candidate, Muriel Bowser (2014)
At-large Council Candidate, Robert White
Reverend Kendrick Curry Ph.D, Pastor of Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church
Former President, Jimmie Williams Leads on the Dance Floor (2014)
Penn Branch ‘On the Move!’

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Relieving Cabin Fever

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Stan Benton, PBCA President
Stan Benton, PBCA President

As COVID-19 keeps trying all of our patience, we hope to relieve some of your cabin fever by having a panel of speakers at this week’s meeting that’ll talk about the parks and recreation in the area.

Hopefully, this will give you new ideas on things you can do safely outside the house.  The COVID vaccine rollout isn’t going as smooth as it could be. Those that meet the requirements (65 and older and/or working in a health care setting in DC) should regularly check out DC’s Coronavirus website at https://coronavirus.dc.gov to see where they can sign up to receive the vaccine. I highly recommend everyone to go to that website and sign up for their alerts via email or text. This will help keep you up to date on the latest COVID issues for DC residents. Let’s check in on our neighbors to see if they need assistance with those tasks.

As you know, the Block Captains are an essential part of our PBCA communications. If you don’t know who your Block Captain is or if you are not receiving email updates from us, please let us know by dropping us a note at: [email protected], or by giving me a call at 240-416-9221 . And lastly, we have many new neighbors. If you’re not a PBCA member yet, please either reach out to your Block Captain or get on our website at pennbranchdc.org to join.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting!

Stan Benton,
PBCA President

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Change Is Happening

Published on

January 8, 2021

This is a new year in many different ways. Our Association has a new name, with a new board operating under newly updated by-laws. And despite the recent horrific actions that happened on the Capitol, we will even have a new President of the United States inaugurated into office later this month Change is happening.

Stan Benton, PBCA President
Stan Benton, PBCA President

As the new PBCA President, I thank the officers and others in the previous administration for their hard work and commitment over the past two years. 2020 will be a year to remember. Last year brought on a pandemic, the presidential election, and social protests that challenged all of us. However, we have proved resilient as a community, and many neighbors reached out to help others as we all quarantined in place. In the middle of all of the challenges, we still managed to make significant updates to our by-laws to strengthen our organization and community and align us with best practices. After years of videoing our meetings so that those unable to attend could watch them online, I volunteered to become Block Captain Chair. After some serious thought, I ran for President along with a slate of well-qualified individuals with a history of civic and community involvement.

After productive discussions between past and present PBCA Exec Officers and reviewing input from our members, the new board has decided on several goals we would like to achieve including, increasing our membership, decreasing the morning cut-through traffic from Pennsylvania Avenue and making sure our community’s voice is heard especially when it comes to economic development in the area.

To help achieve these goals we need you: We are looking for volunteers to head up a variety of our committees, including my old position of Block Captain Chairperson. Please see the list of committees listed in this newsletter and apply. We’ve proven to be resilient in the face of many challenges, and by working together, we can make this year a better one. We are looking forward to working with you.

Again, Happy New Year, and may 2021 and beyond be amazing.

Stan Benton,
PBCA President

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