Wednesday, October 3, 2012

October 2012 Latest: Yard Sale & Newsletter info


See what you're missing out on:

Nextdoor.com - This private site REPLACES our quarterly newsletters. Currently we have over 150 members in 121 households – which is over 20% of our community. This site is helping us keep current and connecting with news, activities and recommendations. You have full control of your own information.

Current upcoming activity is a Yard Sale on Saturday, Oct 13th from 8am-noon. There are some restrictions so you need to see if they affect you.

Plus this month we are having a membership drive contest.  Where we need to grow our members by at least 40 more. If we reach our goal, we will be entered into a drawing for $500 to go towards a community party.  Also allowed is if you and your spouse/partner use separate email addresses you can add the other person.

So if you Own-Rent-Lease it’s okay to join.  There is a verification process to secure our privacy.

https://hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com/join
Your flyer code: 25E08
See you on nextdoor.com

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Sat, Oct 13, 2012 - Community Yard Sale

Saturday, October 13, 2012

8am to Noon

Let's clear out our garages & closets! 

This will be our first Fall community-wide fall yard sale. 

--------------------- 
**PLEASE NOTE: If you live in THE VISTA'S or THE WOOD'S - your by-laws state that you CANNOT have a yard sale at your dwelling. 

If you do have items to sell you have three options. 


1. List items in the "Buy/Sell/Free" section of this website or, 

2. If you know of someone that already lives in one of the other sub-divisions in Hillpoint Farms - ask them to share their driveway with you. (That's a good excuse to visit with them as well.) or, 

3. Make yourself known by "commenting" here on this event that you would like to share space with another neighbor. Maybe we can find someone that has a similar theme to their items (like: baby stuff, exercise equipment, etc) or, 

There's always room in our driveway for someone else to sell, but you'll need to be here to sell your own goods. 
------------------ 
Don't have much? Share a driveway with a neighbor. 

After the sale we'll have an organization come out to take the remaining items that didn't sell. 

If you have large items, or items of special interest, you can also list them in our Buy/Sell/Free section of Nextdoor.com

Here's a map link to give to your friends for location: 

MAP: http://goo.gl/maps/4pVBH 
(Note: The Vista's & The Wood's are NOT included in the area for Yard Sales) 

Questions? send an email at: hillpointfarms@live.com

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Community Carnival & Picnic Sept 30th 2-5pm

ALL-in-the-Hillpoint Farms Community Carnival & Picnic

Sunday, September 30, 2012


  2:00pm - 5:00pm

Location: Events Field - on Hillpoint Blvd (same place as other community events)




A sweet and simple afternoon for everyone's enjoyment.


What we'll have: 

Southside Baptist Church is suppling the carnival games. Creekside Community Church is hosting the carnival games. 

We have lots of treats and prizes we didn't use for National Night Out 

YOU Bring: 
Your own food (picnic); Chairs or blanket 


Available at the Picnic:  We have some condiments - ketchup, mustard, relish 
Other - Chips, soft drinks & water 


Music: ??? – Your ideas. 

Questions?
send email to: Cusi at hillpointfarms@live.com




To know the latest information on this event or other things going on in the community, join us on:
hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com  This site for now, REPLACES Hillpoint Farms newsletter.
Also, since this site is private and only available to residents of the community, there is a verification process.  (So if you rent, lease or own in the neighborhood in any of our subdivisions, you'll be able to join.) As of Sept 9th, we have over 17% of the community on the site (over 112 residents on it.) 

     https://nextdoor.com/invite/46e5c7b0536dc03af815


Monday, August 20, 2012

Next Event: ALL IN THE FAMILY CARNIVAL PICNIC


Next Event:  All in the Family Carnival Picnic

This is a community event and ALL input and participation is appreciated and encouraged.  I love doing things to help bring us together for events but it does take a lot of work. 

Our weather for National Night Out wasn’t the best.  As a result, we have LOTS of prizes and things we purchased for the carnival portion but were unable to use.   

Here’s the basic plan:

I’ve casually talked with some of you about having a simple-to-prepare-for, Fall event.  The idea is to have a carnival type of event and combine it with a big family picnic.  What do you think?

Entertainment:
Creekside Community Church would still like to host the games at the event and we also have access to a dozen or so games that are owned by Southside Baptist Church.

Food:
Picnic! Bring Your Own Picnic. We’ll provide the chips and some drinks that were not used at NNO.

Music:
??? – Your ideas.

Other Entertainment:
??? – Pet parade?
Puppet show
Law enforcement visit? (Fire trucks)

Date:
We can’t please everyone, and we know MANY kids are busy with sports. So we need to have a general consensus of what day would be best:

Saturday or Sunday AFTERNOON on:  Sept 22/23; Sept 29/30; OR  Oct 6/7

Why these dates?  Weather is usually more comfortable during this time; everyone's back into regular "school" mode including myself.

Let’s see what we can come up with.   
Reply to this or send me a message at hillpointfarms@live.com

by the way, if you're not on hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com we have 99 members on it and several groups have formed.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Virginia Pilot's article on Hillpoint Farms and Nextdoor.com

Here's the article on Hillpoint Farms and Nextdoor.com


http://hamptonroads.com/2012/08/suffolk-neighbors-use-social-network-help-build-community


Newsletter Replacement

We have been asked and we just want to let everyone know in Hillpoint Farms that the hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com site IS a replacement of our quarterly newsletters. The reason for this is because our editor is moving away from our community. Plus with this website we can (all) post things as they come up and we save on postage. 

What you're missing right now: We have people selling items, a couple of groups started, a neighbor looking for someone that offers piano lessons, updates as they come up for upcoming events and meetings. 

We are also planning a day to have a community "carnival" make up day since we we're able to do this during the National Night Out event.

Hillpointfarms.Nextdoor.com has over 83 households/over 90 members on it and growing.  So if you live, Rent, Lease, Own in the community (any of the subdivisions) you are welcome to join. Keep in mind there is a verification process to help keep our site private.


This is the Nextdoor Manifesto. 

The Nextdoor Manifesto

We are for neighbors.

For neighborhood barbecues. For multi-family garage sales. For trick-or-treating.

We're for slowing down, children at play.

We're for sharing a common hedge and an awesome babysitter.

We're for neighborhood watch. Emergency response. And for just keeping an eye out for a lost cat.

We believe waving hello to the new neighbor says, “Welcome” better than any doormat.

We believe technology is a powerful tool for making neighborhoods stronger, safer places to call home.

We're all about online chats that lead to more clothesline chats.

We believe fences are sometimes necessary, but online privacy is always necessary.

We believe strong neighborhoods not only improve our property value, they improve each one of our lives.

We believe that amazing things can happen by just talking with the people next door.

We are Nextdoor. We are simply you and your neighbors, together.

https://hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com/invite/46e5c7b0536dc03af815



Tuesday, August 7, 2012

National Night Out - Still ON - Just scaled down a bit



Sometimes we have to make adjustments when weather and other things are out of our control. So here's what we decided to do.

We decided to have the event on a scaled down version.
Went to the church this morning to pick up the games but with so much rain, we nor any truck would be able to get to the container. So unfortunately, we will NOT have games.  We can schedule some other time to do a mini carnival for a future event.  

We also decided not to have the DJ since we weren't sure what would happened with the weather.  

We do have:
FOOD - Hot dogs (LOTS), chips, drinks, cotton candy, snow cones & Rita's samples
VENDORS - some have prizes to give out, gifts and giveaways for all.
Bounce house still coming
7:30-7:40 - The City of Suffolk Motorcade will arrive - fire truck, police, city officials, etc

We have three canopies/awnings for food and if you have one we can borrow for the couple of hours ANY SIZE, we'd all be greatful. 

Hope to see you all there for some, part or all. 
Will still need volunteers for setting up (Rick is out there right now), taking a trash bag home, and clean up. 

Monday, August 6, 2012

NEED one or two people that have Trucks to pick up Carnival Games!!!

According to the City of Suffolk's Weather Department, we were told that the weather is supposed to clear up and get a little cooler for tomorrow evening. So THE EVENT WILL GO ON! 

All we need now it to find a person or two WITH TRUCKS so that we can go down to our church at 10am to pick up the Carnival Games. 

Don't need you to run them, just load transport them from Southside Baptist Church and bring them back to our Event location. 

Any one available? Please let me know, either reply here, email me:  hillpointfarms@live.com

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Rita's will be at our NNO Event but see what else they're doing the same day.


Rita’s plans grand opening

Published 9:15pm Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Rita’s Italian Ice will hold a grand opening celebration for its new location at 882 Main St. in the Suffolk Plaza Shopping center on Tuesday, and those who attend will have a chance to score a year’s worth of treats.

The first 100 guests in Suffolk’s first Rita’s location will get free iced treats for a year.

The grand opening celebration will also include a visit from the Rita’s Ice Guy from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a ribbon-cutting at 11:30 a.m., a check presentation to the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, and a family celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. featuring the Rita’s Ice Guy and balloons, stickers and tattoos for kids. Service for those waiting in line will begin at 12:30 p.m.

With its motto, “Ice, Custard, Happiness,” Rita’s traditional Italian Ice is made with real fruit available in more than 60 flavors. Rita’s Ice is made fresh on-site daily at each store.

The new Rita’s Italian Ice is owned and operated by franchisee and local resident Kelly Holschuh. The company employs 14 “Treat Team” members from the local community.

“We are so excited to introduce Rita’s Italian Ice to Suffolk, since the closest frozen treat place is over 15 miles away,” Holschuh said. “We invite the community to celebrate and be first in line to win Rita’s Ice for a year at our Grand Opening August 7th.”

The 1,545 square-foot store will be open Monday through Sunday from noon until 10 p.m.
Rita’s Franchise Company, headquartered in Trevose, Pa., is the largest Italian Ice concept in the nation, currently operating in 19 states with more than 625 units.

Rita’s was named one of the Top 25 Franchise High Performers by the Wall Street Journal’s “Startup Journal” and Ranked #156 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 500 Franchise Rankings” for 2011.

NNO Event - where we still need help.

Sorry we cancelled the meeting, we did have a couple people show up and this is the same thing I shared with them.  The only thing I can't share with you is the planned layout of the event. Other than that, here's what we talked about and still need help with.


Event is on Tuesday, August 7th: 6pm-8pm


1. We need coolers (3 or so) they will be used to fill with ice for drinks and for snow cone making. (ideally with wheels so that's easier to move) They need to have family name/address on them so so they can go back to their proper owner. 

2. We need a few people to take a bag of trash with them after the event. 

3. We'll have a couple people either monday-pm or tuesday-am to put the pennant flags up, mini flags to mark where the vendors will be set-up. 

4. We will cone-off a 75'-100' parking area in the center of the street for the City of Suffolk motorcade and dignitaries. They are scheduled to arrive around 7:30pm. So if you're able to walk to the event that may be best.

5. Vendor set-up begins as early as 2pm but must be completely set up by 5:30pm. Same for food (ready to eat at 6pm.) 

6. Let your neighbors know and let's plan on greeting the City of Suffolk motorcade & dignitaries with a great big welcome. 

7. Don't forget your chair to chill out in and outdoor dancing shoes. 

**Notes:  If you have any 10x10 pop-up canopies, they would be helpful to have at the event. Just bring them with you.



Because this is a neighborhood event, you'll need we will not have bathroom facilities. 

Any questions, comments or suggestions? 
reply to this message or contact Cusi at:hillpointfarms@live.com


*

Canceling tonight's meeting due to Weather

Hi all, I'm canceling the meeting for tonight because of the weather. the worst of it won't be past us until 7pm or so.  We'll need to meet by email.  Have questions? Let me know.  Cusi
hillpointfarms@live.com




I just got an email that we're under severe thunderstorm warning for the next hour or so."

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

National Night Out - Final Prior Event Meeting Thursday Evening at Site 7pm

Hi neighbors, 

We will have the last pre-event meeting on Thursday at 7pm at the site. As long as the weather cooperates. 

The main things we'll cover: 

1. Helpers - Creekside Comm Church will have about a dozen volunteers to help man the carnival style games. 

2. Layout. Easier to explain at site. 

3. Food - finalize the count, as supplies & shopping 

4. NEED help with set-up, layout & clean up. 

5. NEED coolers (5-8 each) with your family name & address on them (ideally with wheels so that they are easy to move. We'll need them for ice (drinks, snow cone making) 
6. NEED volunteer (after the event) trash takers to place with your home trash. We CAN'T put the trash in the dumpsters. 
This is a VERY informal meeting, and the above is really what we need to cover. 

In the meantime, if you're planning on going and you're on hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com,

Please do start RSVPing in the "Events" section so that we can get a better idea of how many will be there. 
REMIND YOUR NEIGHBORS AS WELL!

If there's anything you need to discuss regarding NNO, please let me know, I'm finally finishing up with school tonight and will be less stressed out. 



Cusi
hillpointfarms@live.com

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

FYI article about Nextdoor.com

Here's an article that came out today about Nextdoor.com
Upstart Business Journal

Biz Journal Link

NEW UPDATES ON NATIONAL NIGHT OUT EVENT

PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR NEXTDOOR.COM SITE FOR THE VERY LATEST INFORMATION GOING ON WITH NATIONAL NIGHT OUT.

KNOW WHO WILL BE THERE, WHERE AND HOW YOU CAN HELP, AND WHAT TO EXPECT.

Because personal information is on there it will not be posted on the Blogger where the whole world can see it.

Remember, if you live in Hillpoint Farms (Rent, Lease or Own in any of our subdivisions) you may sign up but there is a verification process to keep our site private.

As of right now, according to the site our community has 607 households and 11% are already connected.

What are you missing?  New walking club started, found pets and helping one another with recommendations of all sorts.

Click here to join Hillpoint Farms on Nextdoor.com

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Activity going on Hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com - Join

If you're not on hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com's site, you are missing out on the latest neighborhood buzz. 

join us at:     
hillpointfarms.nextdoor.join
for the latest information in our community.

Biggest buzz right now is our upcoming National Night Event
Save the Date: Tuesday, Aug 7th 6pm-8pm for our 

If you missed last year's event you missed out on some fun. This year we have MUCH more so prepare for the biggest event this community has put on so far. LOTS for everyone to do at the event.  
  • Food - Hot Dogs, snow cones, and lots of treats
  • Games - Bounce House, carnival style games & more
  • Music - DJ
  • Vendors - over a dozen
  • Prizes - different categories

So if you Rent, Lease or Own anywhere in our community, you may join hillpointfarms.nextdoor.join  Because this is a private website for our community, there is a verification process.


If you're reading this and you live in a different community anywhere else in the USA, consider launching your our nextdoor website. It's free!
If you use the following referral code you'll get a $50 Starbucks card.  code: nextdoor.com/starbucks/?r=0734d

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Join us on Nextdoor.com

Click here to Join us on Nextdoor.com




National Night Out Event Space is Fill VERY FAST!!!


We are having an overwhelming early response to neighbors and businesses that want to participate in our All Community National Night Out event. 



Space is filling up VERY Fast with our National Night Out event so if you're thinking of hosting a booth/display for your business please call or email Cusi Hamlin ASAP. 
Email: hillpointfarms@live.com 

WHO IS INVITED TO THE WEBSITE? ANYONE LIVING IN HILLPOINT FARMS COMMUNITY:


  • Fairways Crossings
  • Hillpoint Greens
  • Hillpoint Meadows
  • Hillpoint WOODS
  • Lakes Edge
  • The Vistas
  • River Bluff





For the latest information, sign in to our nextdoor.com site:


https://hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com/invite/46e5c7b0536dc03af815



We are doing our best to make this year's event to be more inviting to all our residents.
Also, If you have a business and just want to donate a gift to be used as a prize/gift, let us know. (they're Rolling in as well.)

Here are some reminder rules we have for this year.
• MUST BE FAMILY-FRIENDLY.
• This year we already have more participants at this point, will limit to 15 or so.
• No repeat of the same organization present. For any repeats we will have a board/table area for business cards.
• Priority to residents at Hillpoint Farms but need to know ASAP for approval.  Written or emailed request must have a link to the website of the business/organization for verification.
• Vendors to provide their own tables 8 foot max length and awning/tent no larger than 10’x10’. No power will be available. If the vendor needs power they will need to provide their own power source (generator) if needed but can’t be very loud.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Meeting Notes from June 11th National Night Out Meeting


For most up-to-date information: go to
HillpointFarms.Nextdoor.com
https://hillpointfarms.nextdoor.com/invite/46e5c7b0536dc03af815
This is Hillpoint Farms private website.

2012 NNO Meeting Notes

Talked about the purpose of National Night Out, what we did last year.

We will start our NNO event (Aug 7th) at 6:00pm instead of 6:30 because we will be serving food.

Share the businesses/organizations that have already committed to participating this year.
    CONFIRMED:
Outside vendor - Vivint Security Systems – Ken Corona
Outside vendor – Rita’s Italian Ice – FYI: Grand opening in Suffolk next to Chick-Fil-A early July
Resident - ADT – Carol VanCamp
Resident - Scentsy Candles – Tangy Boyd

Waiting for final confirmation 90% sure:
      ARMY Recruiters – large blow-up figures; the Hummer with Dog Tags

Possible vendors: **Do you want to have a space?
      Outside vendor - Home Video Studios (home video preservation)
      Outside vendor - Suffolk Voter Registration

What HOA will provide: (This is a VERY small percentage of your dues) 
      Food – Hot dogs (Cusi/Kea), buns (buy), condiments (at Diane) Drinks (buy), soft drinks & water (buy)
      Entertainment – (Rain check) bounce house (cotton candy & snow cones), Music DJ (pay)
      Other – serving and paper products have already been purchased.
     
WHEN WE NEED HELP THE MOST:
1.     Set-up on the Evening before Monday Aug 6th – 7:00pm – Stake out the area, pendant,
2.     Day of the event – Early afternoon – Tents/Awnings up, Games
3.     An hour prior to the event – Food, tables, last minute games
4.    During the event – Games, serving food
5.    CLEAN UP – If everyone can help we’ll be done VERY quickly; trash cans & have trash taken back; borrow a few coolers (with family name & address on them)

Cook Food: Ray has volunteered to bring his grill and cook the hot dogs for us this year.

Activities that will be there (or can have WITH volunteers):
1.     Games for the kids – I have a little pool to put little ducks with number on it for the toddlers to play with.  This is a place where I have some prizes from Oriental Trading tasked for.
2.     Big kid games – Have volleyball net for volleyball – or some (water balloon tossing) I have obstacle/field day types of games we have used for our own family Easter egg challenges.
3.     Adults – Questioning/getting to know your neighbor game. (Prize); Corn hole and bocce ball.
4.     City of Suffolk will have a motorcade of local dignitaries, law officials and various police/fire trucks at the event. They will NOT be there the entire time.  Once they set their schedule, we’ll be notified of
Approximately when they will arrive.
5.     HillpointFarms.NEXTDOOR.com – sign-up at site

Follow-up meeting:
Schedule a follow-up meeting prior to Tues. Aug 7th – maybe around Wed/Thru Aug 1-2.  We can have the meeting at the same location or follow-up by email/HillpointFarms.Nextdoor.com
Then after the event we will have a post-meeting, can be combined with an HOA meeting at the end of August/early September.

Why we are looking for sponsors:
My reasoning is that I would like all the money we receive from the HOA to go to the main staples of the event: food, entertainment, etc.

I would like to get a about $150 - $200, in sponsored money so that we can use this money for purchasing a couple of prizes / give-a-ways for the adults (last year I gave a set of two outdoor folding chairs with a patriotic theme to the winner of the neighborhood bingo approx. $22); Patriot theme trinkets for the kids (I have several different things I've picked out from Oriental Trading Co.’s website.)

Other things to share with you.
1.     Nextdoor.com will have an app available by Aug 7th, so that Leads can sign up neighbors at their events.  I will have that available if it's ready for that evening.  Not sure if you'd checked lately, but we have 59 neighbors already on Nextdoor.com almost 10%.   In the fall, there will be an app for the residents to use.

2.     I will be able to reuse many of the signs from last year including the large banner we purchased.

3.     Groups that our neighbors participate and would like to share: like bible studies, walking groups, etc.  I have no problem with that. How do you feel about that?  

The one thing I would like to start/see if we can do as a community-bonding event is to work on one common goal together on something.  I have several ideas on this but their things that would be easier to talk about in person or as the board group.

Things we still need:
Oriental Trading Company – Have a list of about $150.00 of items to order. Wants but not needs to be used as prizes for kids and nametags with a patriotic theme

Flyers for 2 weeks prior to the event to deliver to ALL residents in the community.

** Organization or businesses participating at our NNO event: Contact Cusi Hamlin at  hillpointfarms@live.com or HillpointFarms.nextdoor.com
·       MUST BE FAMILY-FRIENDLY.
·       This year we already have more participants at this point, will limit to 15 or so.
·       No repeat of the same organization present.  For any repeats we will have a board/table area for business cards.
·       Priority to residents at Hillpoint Farms but need to know ASAP for approval  (no later than July 31st.) Written or emailed request must have a link to the website of the business/organization for verification. 
·       Vendors to provide their own tables 8 foot max length and awning/tent no larger than 10’x10’.  No power will be available. If the vendor needs power they will need to provide their own power source (generator) if needed but can’t be very loud.