Neighbors Building Brightmoor

Neighbors Building Brightmoor seeks to mobilize our neighbors to work together to equip families and individuals to improve the quality of life in our neighborhood.

November 2012
Dates to remember NBB mtg. and Potluck Wednesday November 14, 6:30-8:30pm at St. Christines Soup Kitchen, 22261 Fenkell. Brightmoor Alliance mtg. Thursday November 15, 6-8pm at Leland Missionary Baptist Church, 22420 Fenkell. Kids Corner Mondays 4-6pm at St. Christines Soup Kitchen, 22261 Fenkell.

NBB: Ready to Go to the Next Level

by Riet Schumack

NBB has always been a unique organization in Detroit and probably in all the world. We are not a block club, yet we are in the business of building up each block; we are not a community development organization, yet we are doing a great job building community; we are not a service provider with paid staffing, yet we provide thousands of hours of service and assistance to our neighbors. As a community, we refuse to be put in a box. We are innovative, creative and caring, and we have done great things just the way we are. We have been able to be so many great things because we are not dependent on funding from many organizations and government. We decide we want to do something and we go out and do it, not waiting for approval or funding from outside entities. We have now arrived at a very exciting point in our history, a point where we have the opportunity to prove to the world that a neighborhood organization can continue to be totally operated by its members even when it gets bigger. We can prove that neighbors do not have to rely on outsiders to service them and thus take away our selfdetermination. This is very important in a time where we can no longer rely on our government to do things for us. All each neighbor has to do is to take upon themselves a small slice of the total work load, each according to their ability. (continued on page 2...)

Special thanks to:

St. Christines Church for hosting our events Speedys Gas Station for donating $20 every month Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc. for printing our newsletter Great Lakes AWSNA Delegates

NBB 2012 meeting schedule

Our NBB meetings are always on the second Wednesday of the month and are mostly held at St. Christines Soup Kitchen. They start with a potluck (bring a dish to pass) at 6:30pm and the meeting starts promptly at 7pm. We try very hard to stop at 8:30pm. The next NBB meeting will be Wednesday December 12

NBB: Ready to Go to the Next Level (continued from page 1...) If you are a member of our community, if you have noticed the reduction of blight, crime, drug use and prostitution, as well as the presence of gardens, parks, playgrounds, and activities for your children, then this month you have the opportunity to become part of the continuation of all these good things! By coming to the November NBB meeting and participating in the NBB job fair, you can choose that piece of the work pie that you would like to take on to help keep our community a great place for you and your family to live. Remember, a community is only as good as the involvement of each of its members. November NBB Meeting This weeks NBB meeting will give members the opportunity to learn about and choose to participate in seven committees: Planning & Land Use, Physical Resources (tool bank, etc.), Parks & Open Space, Communication, Finances, Volunteers, and Safety. We will begin as usual with a potluck at 6:30. At 7pm, each committee will give a short presentation about its duties. NBB members will then be able to go around and visit the committees (like a job fair) and begin choosing which ones they would like to participate in. This will also be the time when neighbors who are not yet dues paying NBB members may join the organization. (The member fee is $5 per year. *Note: you must be a member of NBB to sit and participate in a committee.) At 8pm we will announce the newly formed committees, and then move on to other announcements. We will end the meeting at 8:30pm, as usual. DPW Winter Hours & Yard Waste Pick-up Beginning Monday November 5, DPW will switch to fall/winter hours of 8:30am 4pm at its dropoff locations, including the nearby Southfield Yard (12255 Southfield Service Drive). Residents can discard there: bulk items, yard waste, tires (limit of 4), and recyclable items. Due to the high volume of paper bags of yard waste, DPW crews may not collect yard waste on the specified day or week that bags are placed at curbside. Residents should leave their bags at the curb until collected and will not be ticketed. Brush and leaf pickup continues with regular trash pickup on Mondays until December, weather permitting. Put brush in a separate pile 6 ft. from your Courville container, and leaves/yard waste in paper bags or your own plastic or metal garbage can (no larger than 32 gallons). You can also check with local gardeners to see if they want your leaves! Food & Clothing Drive West Outer Drive United Methodist Church (12065 W. Outer Drive), is holding a "One-Stop Shop" on Saturday December 1 from 10am - 3pm. There will be clothing, toys, books, food and a free Christmas tree raffle, with activities for children while you "shop". No registration required. Call (313) 937-3170 if you have new or gently used items to donate (before November 25), or need additional information. Kids Corner by Katharina Walsh We had a very full and fun-filled October making Halloween decorations, crafts, lanterns, puppet theaters and baking yummy things to eat for our snacks! We celebrated Halloween with over 85 children from the neighborhood at our Halloween Party on October 27th. Thank you to St. Christine's for use of dining hall and for helping with all the many kids! In November we will have a lantern parade, build volcanoes and bake more sweet and delicious treats For more info call Miss Kat at 918-9160. Kids Corner after-school art club will continue through November and December on Mondays from 4-6pm at St. Christine's Soup Kitchen (22261 Fenkell). We will meet: Nov. 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th & Dec. 3rd. Kids Corner is open and FREE to all children in the Brightmoor neighborhood.

BrightStars Early Learning Centers

Mondays
Parent Book Club (ECFRC) 10-11:30am Storytime (DCI) 10:30-noon Transportation Available Music & Movement (ECFRC) 11:3012:30pm

Tuesdays

Wednesdays

Thursdays

Fridays

Parent Roundta- Music & Movement ble (ECFRC) 10-11 (DCI) 10:30-11:30 Transportation Availam able Discovery Time (ECFRC) 11Father & Child Play12:30pm group (EFCRC) 1112:30pm Nature Explorer (RCC) 12-2pm Sewing for Beginners (Adults) (EFCRC) 1-3pm Music & Movement (RCC) 6-7pm

Circle Time with Toddler Playgroup Mr. Mike (ECFRC) (DCI) 10:30-noon Transportation Avail10-11am able Music & Movement (0 to 18 Just for Fun Kids months) (RCC) 6- Book Club 7pm (ECFRC) 1-3pm

Cooking Matters (adults) (ECFRC) Beginning Thursday October 18 at 11am. You must preregister for this six week class. Halloween Party (DCI) All BrightStars Families are invited! Wednesday October 31 at 10:30am.

BrightStars offers a variety of FREE resources and programming for families with children 0-5 years of age.

For more information about these programs or to join BrightStars, contact Mike Martin at (313) 2550900, ext. 2125.

Choose from 3 locations:

Development Centers, Inc. (DCI) (313) 255-0900 ext. 2125 17321 Telegraph Rd. (between Grand River & 6 Mile) Redford Community Center (RCC) (313) 387-2787 12121 Hemingway (west of Beech Daly & north of Plymouth) Early Childhood Resource Center (ECRC) (Formerly DLA) (313) 766-6475 23450 Davison West (old church offices located on the DLA Campus-East parking lot)

Greening News
Urban Agriculture Education Series Warming Winter Soups & Stews Monday November 19, 6-8:30pm at Mudgies Deli, 1300 Porter St. (east of Trumbull, south of Michigan). Participants will learn how to make a variety of wonderfully delicious stews and soups that are sure to please! RSVP to Kido at 313-285-1256 or kidokale@yahoo.com. Each One Teach One: Teacher Training Saturday December 8, 1-3pm at Hannan House 4750 Woodward (north of Warren, south of Forest), parking is available behind building and on Hancock. This class will help you brush up on your teaching skills and equip you to teach a class of your own.

Detroit Recycles
Having trouble getting the hang of recycling? Recycling is really about looking at trash with new eyes: seeing that much of what we throw actually can be disposed of differently or put to use again. Start getting into the recycling habit a couple of items at a time. When finished reading the paper, or emptying a box, keep it OUT of your rubbish in the house. When you take out the trash, pick up the newspapers and cardboard and put those into the blue-lidded bin. After that feels routine, think about plastics: rinse out the empties, put them with the newspaper and cardboard. Then metals and glass For those living between City limits and Outer Drive/Lahser, blue lidded recycling containers will be picked up on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month. For those who live east of Lahser, pick up days are the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. DO NOT recycle: styrofoam plastic bags food fabric anything toxic (such as empty bug spray cans, cleaning products, etc.)

NBB Block Contacts

Grayfield Riet Schumack 283-8091 Myra Jessie 808-3074 Beaverland Nicky Marcot 590-1965 Scott Unger 310-7052 Bramell Tim Miller 687-2806 Gwen Shivers 533-9455 Chatham Michelle Young 918-8945 Eaton Donna Voss 804-7540 Lamphere Bill Hickey 541-2601 Tywan Bell (248) 755-1034 Jeremy Kenward 701-2063 Jackie Adams 753-5446 Dacosta Sherry Courtney 537-5558 Dolphin Craig Reinke 778-2710 Need an additional captain. Rockdale Ilka Lapeer 532-9272 Need another block captain to help Ilka. Outer Drive Bernice Walker 926-1975 Lyndon Lyndon is in our target area. We need block captains on Lyndon. Fenkell Still need a block captain.

For questions about or submissions to the NBB newsletter, please contact Leah Wiste at (530) 902-5332 or leahwiste@gmail.com.