Dear Archdale Residents,

In this Archdale area, there are other great communities, such as Bakers Landing, Oaks of Archdale, Archdale Landing, Sterling Forrest, Brookshire and Archdale Manor. Together, (and the special word here is "TOGETHER") people of these communities have touched hundreds of lives of men, women and children, from all walks of life.

I am first talking about the food drive we ran around Christmas time. This food drive was to benefit the Good Samaritan Mission. You may recall that a receptacle (a garbage can) was placed at the Archdale entrance and used as a drop off for non-perishable food stuff. My phone rang constantly with people saying "It's full and about to overflow!" This happened over and over again. It was my PLEASURE to go and empty the can. There had even been new toys dropped off in the can. (I will tell you where the toys ended up in a minute!)

We would really like to THANK all of you who took the time to stop on the boulevard and drop off your canned goods. By the time you finish reading this, you will realize how your effort, no matter how small, when combined "Together" helped so many!

Christmas, late morning, my neighbor Michelle Lantry and her children, together with me and my children, were setting off to the Mission with the collected food and as volunteers to serve their Christmas lunch for the homeless.

As we were loading up the van with boxes and boxes of food, the toys that were included with your donations reminded me to take along the additional toys that were left over from collecting for the foster children toy drive my wife and I had been working on. We decided to take these with us as there would be children at the mission.

Michelle asked if I minded taking a detour via a patient of hers to check on them. After quite a long drive we arrived at a mobile home. Michelle checked on her patient. There were 3 children in the home: a girl aged about 6, a boy about 8 and a baby. They were sitting, just sitting. There was no Christmas wrapping strewn all over the place (like my house that morning!), there were no toys being played with, and there was a half pot of beans cooking on the stove. Christmas Dinner!

Michelle and I decided that these people were well deserving of YOUR efforts to feed the hungry. We went to the van and sorted through the boxes to make up a very nice box of food for this family. We gave them enough, not only for that day, but enough to get them through a few days. They were extremely grateful.

Now what about the children? I asked the little girl if Santa had been by? She said, "no, but maybe later."

Back to the van went Michelle and I. We found some very nice gifts for all of the children. We told the children that Santa had asked us to bring them for him. The little girl yelled happily when she opened her Barbie and Barbie castle. The little boy was thrilled with a new basketball, toy trucks (that were left in the donation box) and remote control car. Of course the baby did okay too!

With Michelle's help, DSS is now helping this family. It was just unfortunate that Dad got real sick and DSS let this family fall through the cracks. Michelle told me that on subsequent visits to this family, the little girl sees her and simply smiles from ear to ear. She doesn't say anything, just smiles. Guess there IS A SANTA CLAUS!

Thank you to every community in Archdale. You came through again!

2) I will be endorsing Jim Lantry as my successor. Please come to the meeting on February 18th. for election of new officers and Crime Watch.

3) Crime Watch Works!

An Archdale resident took down the tag # of the individual driving over our grassed area on the boulevard. The police were called and paid a visit to the parents of these violators. The parents have offered restitution for the damage, but more importantly, word will get out (especially in the High Schools) that we will take action for damage done within our community!

4) Margaret Childs (Archdale's co-ordinator for Share-a-Night at Ronald McDonald House) and her boys are collecting crushed soda cans for their Boy Scout Troop. Call her and she will pick up the cans.

Also, we are collecting the tabs from the top of the cans. Please save them in zip lock bags and give me a call to come and pick them up for the RMH. Thanks

Steve (207-7911)

First place: Merrit - 90 Nightingale Manor

Second place: McDowell - 113 Bindon Circle

Best Door: Childs - 304 Christiee Court

In January we ate at Enzo's Italian Restaurant on Main Street in Summerville. The food, atmosphere, and wait service were wonderful. (I can't wait to take my husband there.)

This month we've decided to visit the Mongolian Barbecue Restaurant at 5961 Rivers Avenue (in front of Desperado's). Several ladies shared their previous experience with this type of dining and convinced us we would have a great time, too. If you're free that evening, please join us on Monday, February 22nd. Reservations are for 7:30 p.m. Call Cherie Jones (760-1942) by February 15 to reserve a spot and arrange for carpooling.

It's that time of year again when all homeowners and renters are asked to participate in Archdale's civic association beautification fund. As always, your yearly $30.00 contribution is voluntary; however, please be aware that it is the only source of revenue that we have to pay for maintaining the boulevard and numerous other common areas. For those of you that sent checks in the month of December, I recorded those monies in January as a 1999 donation.

I know that all of us want an attractive, kept-up subdivision to live in, and, at only eight cents a day, this is a bargain.

Margaret Childs wishes to thank all of you who contributed food for the Share-a-meal dinner last month. Once again, our community came through for this great cause.

We have received several complaints about dogs that are barking unnecessarily (for no apparent reason). Please try to control your dogs. Also, we do have a leash law and would appreciate it if all dog walkers would clean-up after their own dogs.