 Q: What Do you Do for a Living?
A: Risk Management at JP Morgan Chase Q: Tell Us About Your Family and Pets! A: I'm from a big German family in Texas. Oldest sibling, 1 brother and 1 sister, and LOTS of cousins! I live with my partner Mark and we have 2 Australian Shepherds, Jack, and Jillian. You’ll find us sitting on our porch or walking around the neighborhood with our pups! Q: Which Neighborhood Do You Currently Call Home? A: Merion Village Q: Why Did You Move to Your Neighborhood? A: When I moved from Dallas, I didn't know anyone in Columbus, so I was really looking for a neighborhood that had a close community family feel. After looking around Columbus-area neighborhoods (Downtown, Short North, Italian Village, Victorian Village, and Brewery District), Merion Village was where I felt most at "home". Q: Where Else Have You Lived? A: TEXAS! I grew up in Waco, Texas, went to school at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX (Go Red Raiders!) and lived in Dallas for 12 years before moving to Columbus in 2015. Q: South Side Organization(s) Where You Work/Volunteer A: Current Treasurer of the Merion Village Association. Q: How Are You Active in The South Side? A: I've started to get more involved in my neighborhood, volunteering the last couple of years and became the treasurer of MVA in January 2018. Q: What Are Some Causes or Organizations That Are Important to You and Why? A: Love the outdoors and pets! Also actively support Columbus Area Performing Arts (CAPA) and Columbus Museum of Art (CMA). I'm not very artistic or creative, so I really enjoy supporting the incredible talents in our local community. Q: What's Your Favorite Thing About the South Side? A: I love how friendly neighbors are and the sense of community pride - how everyone looks out for each other. Q: If You Could Make One Improvement to the South Side, What Would It Be? A: We have some great places, but really excited about all the new small businesses that are deciding to make Merion Village their home. Q: What Would You Tell Someone Who May Move to the South Side? A: You will love it - join the MVA to get connected, meet your neighbors, and make friends! Each week, we will feature at least one individual who lives, works and/or volunteers on the South Side and who helps to build and strengthen our community every day. If you’d like to nominate someone for the spotlight, email us at spotlight@merionvillage.org.
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 Q: What Do you Do for a Living?
A: I'm the Office Manager for an Architectural Firm in Grandview Heights. Q: Tell Us About Your Family and Pets! A: I live with my Husband and 3 cats (Pepper, Bebe and Boo!). Many of my family members also call the South Side home, including my Mom who lives just a few minutes away in South Central Commons! Q: Which Neighborhood Do You Currently Call Home? A: Merion Village Q: Why Did You Move to Your Neighborhood? A: I was born and raised on the South Side and have been here all my life (minus a few years during my childhood). I have many family members here who are also “lifers”. I've been here so long that I've had to learn to say "South Side" instead of "South End" which is how we referred to home when I was growing up. In fact, all my family members and friends who grew up here give me the stink-eye if they hear be say "South Side"! Q: Where Else Have You Lived? A: I lived in Kirkersville, OH for a few years when I was a young child. Q: South Side Organization(s) Where You Work/Volunteer A: I am the current President of the Merion Village Association. Q: How Are You Active in The South Side? A: I have been a member of the Merion Village Association since 2013 and began serving on the board in February of 2014. I also completed the United Way's South Side Neighborhood Leadership Academy program in 2019 and am a member of the SKILLED FOR LIFE team that seeks to bring free life skills workshops to South Side residents. Q: What Are Some Causes or Organizations That Are Important to You and Why? A: On the local level, I am passionate about helping to build and maintain a strong South Side community though my work with the MVA and partnership organizations throughout the area. As a life-long resident of the South Side, the growth and positive change in our community I have seen over the last 30+ years has been incredible to witness. My goal is to contribute to those efforts in any way I can. Outside of my own neighborhood, I’m a fan and supporter of the Barn Sanctuary in Chelsea, MI. Q: What's Your Favorite Thing About the South Side? A: There any many things I love about the South Side, but one of my favorites are the deep, generational roots in this area. I attended St. Leo school as a child until it was permanently closed after my 5th grade year and I had friends from school whose parents went to school with my parents and whose grandparents also knew one another. I always felt like no matter where I went in the area, I would see someone I knew and so would my parents. I suspect that the South Side is the only place in the world that would feel like "home" to me. Q: If You Could Make One Improvement to the South Side, What Would It Be? A: There have been countless improvements in the area for the last several decades. Most of all, I hope to see the connections and bonds between neighbors grow and strengthen throughout the entire South Side. I believe that good neighbors are the secret sauce to building a wonderful community. Q: What Would You Tell Someone Who May Move to the South Side? A: We cannot wait to welcome you home! Each week, we will feature at least one individual who lives, works and/or volunteers on the South Side and who helps to build and strengthen our community every day. If you’d like to nominate someone for the spotlight, email us at spotlight@merionvillage.org. We're very excited to announce the "South Side Spotlight"! The MVA will be collecting interviews from local leaders, volunteers and business within our community to share through our blog and social media accounts. The spotlight will feature those who live, work and/or volunteer in the neighborhoods on the South Side. We hope the spotlight will help to highlight the incredible folks who help to build and strengthen our community every day.
As our friends at the United Way say: "Shine a Light on the South Side!" If you would like to nominate one of these individuals to be captured by the spotlight, email us at spotlight@merionvillage.org and we'll request an interview! We will kick things off next week by introducing you to our MVA board members and will then share 1-2 new spotlights each week. Be sure to subscribe to our blog updates and a weekly summary of our posts will be delivered to your inbox! Beginning with our meeting on Wednesday, June 3rd at 7 PM, the MVA will host public meetings virtually until further notice. This setting will allow the MVA to conducts meetings in the safest manner possible while we continue to face the COIVD-19 crisis. All interested individuals are welcome and encouraged to MVA public meetings and our virtual versions will be no exception.
To participate in this meeting, all attendees must register HERE.
This will be an interactive meeting where all attendees will have the ability to ask questions and share information.
We will be sharing the agenda for the meeting and any presentation materials through the Zoom interface so they will be easily visible during the meeting. These will also be available through our website. We are excited to have the opportunity to meet with our neighbors again after a 2-month hiatus of our monthly meetings and we greatly appreciate your patience and input as we navigate these new processes. If you have any questions prior to the meeting date, please reach out to us at mva@merionvillage.org. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you on June 3rd! The MVA will continue to follow the recommendations set forth by our local and national leaders to limit and slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This will include implementation of the following:
Our board will publish a monthly Treasurer's Report on our website and will provide any updates on the association through our blog. As always, should you wish to contact the MVA board, please reach out to us through our contact form. Thank you and stay safe! Beginning in March, monthly MVA meetings will return to the starting time of 7 PM! If you’ve been coming to meetings for a while, you’ll recall that they previously began at 7 PM. In 2015, we moved to 7:15 PM in order to allow a joint meeting between the MVA and the newly formed Merion Village Block Watch. Now that the Block Watch has grown into a separate group and meetings are held on a different date and time, the current board felt it may be time to move our meeting start time back to 7 PM. Members in attendance at the monthly meeting on February 5th were asked to vote on this proposed change. The supporting votes were unanimous! So, next week, our monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 4th (and those in the future) will begin at 7 PM! If you haven’t been able to make it to a meeting recently, or you’re looking for an opportunity to check out the MVA for the first time, we hope you’ll join us next week at this new time! Regular meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month (except in December, when we hold a community potluck) at 7 PM in the MVA Info Center, located at 1330 S. Fourth Street. Meetings include an agenda with updates about upcoming events and initiatives, review and discussion of any current zoning variance requests in Merion Village and a guest speaker! At the end of each meeting, the floor is open to all in attendance who have questions or information to share. MVA monthly meetings are open to the public and all are encouraged to attend! We’re looking forward to our 3rd monthly meeting of 2020 and we hope to see you there!  Need to renew your MVA membership for 2020? Maybe you’ve considered joining but haven’t taken the plunge? You can complete our residential and business membership applications online in just a few minutes! Your yearly membership in the MVA helps to support our organization accomplish a variety of efforts through the neighborhood.
Anyone interested in the neighborhood is eligible to join the MVA! Members who reside or operate a business within the Merion Village boundaries are able to vote on elections and/or issues. Membership in the MVA is annual and runs on a standard calendar basis from January 1st to December 31st. Residential and Business membership options are available as outlined below: RESIDENTIAL MEMBERSHIP | JOIN /RENEW NOW!
BUSINESS MEMBERSHIP | JOIN / RENEW NOW!
…but wait, there’s more! Members of the MVA are also invited to reserve space in the Info Center located at 1330 S. Fourth Street, Columbus, OH 43206 at no cost! The Info Center has a single room, open floor plan and includes a private restroom. This space holds groups of up to 40 individuals and includes (6) 6-foot folding tables and (40) chairs that can be used during your event. Whether you're planning an evening meeting for a local organization or you want to throw an afternoon baby shower, the Info Center is the perfect spot for you and your guests. The MVA is thrilled to make this space available to our members free of charge! If you have questions about becoming a member of the MVA or would like to verify your current membership status, e-mail us at Membership@MerionVillage.org. We’re looking forward to a great year and we’re thankful to all of our members for continuing to support the MVA! As we enter a new year, the MVA newsletter is getting a makeover. We will now publish neighborhood and community updates through this blog! The change in format will allow us to share information more frequently, ensuring members and neighbors are kept up to date on the latest news from the MVA.
You can read the blog on our website at www.merionvillage.org/blog and can subscribe to a weekly email digest of our newest posts. We plan to share information related to MVA initiatives and events, guest speakers from our monthly meetings, biography spotlights highlighting members of our community and guest articles written by our neighbors! We’d love to hear from you if you have suggestions for additional content that you feel would be of interest. Email us at blog@merionvillage.org if you have suggestions or are interested in authoring an article! Thank you for taking the time to check out our new blog and for being an active member of the community! |
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