Halloween at our house was a blast! -------------------------------------------------- Cindy Preston coordinated an event that treated 1,100 kids. Three early visitors were roped into volunteering without notice or preparation. Ed Robertson took over the Soda station and after handing out the almost 600 cans which had been donated. He went out and bought soda with his own money to give out to later arrivals. Father and son, Ed (the Painter) and Brian (soon to be an Eagle Scout?) Sarbough, took over the fresh fruit and cookie stands. Ed was able to stress the tougher teens with his size, makeup and wild demeanor while going easy on the littler ones. Brian hid inside the handmade (by Nate Ross) haunted house and created a system for delivering cookie bags using a "dismembered" break away arm attached to a retrieval string. His corner generated lots of screams and laughter. UCD was invaluable with delivery and setup and supervised throughout the night. One Ambassador brought so much love and respect for the children, to her duties, that she won their trust and encouraged safe fun. I think every one has requested "Terry" come again next year. And, even though John Fenton was home with his own small kids, he checked in several times by phone and extended the use of the ambassadors to support the extra hour needed to handle the crowds who arrived. I believe the kids who came will have lasting, happy memories of the holiday.
The Election leaves me with such mixed feelings. ------------------------------------------------------------------- I knew Bush in 1980-81, during one of the more embarrassing times of my life, and believe that we, as a nation, are diminished by choosing him as our leader. I am sustaining myself with the beauty of what I saw at the polls yesterday. We had a 63% turnout. And considering that, on the "eligible" voters list, I recognized names of some who had died, a few listed twice and many who had moved away (none of whom voted B-T-W)... the actual turnout percentage was probably greater. It was delightful to see how many first time voters, including my own daughter Kate, are in our division. I saw many elderly voters who arrived using walkers; volunteers transporting those with needs; and parents with young children. I witnessed civil discourse across party lines and was amazed at the number of volunteers including attorneys and professionals of all ages, who made time to insure safe and honest voting. I was one of the "confused" workers who sat at a Polling place from before 7 AM until almost 10 PM. It was my third time to help out. It is not truly volunteer work, but feels that way, since I have been fortunate enough that I don't normally work for a minimum wage. Access to the buildings begins a half hour before the polls open. In less than a half hour we must setup the machines, learn or relearn the systems and open, no earlier than 7 AM to a line of people trying to get to work, and yesterday the line was long. There were few breaks. In 15 hours I left the table only twice, for bathroom breaks. We registering voters while chewing are lunches. I am grateful for the thoughtful gestures... a husband who made coffee and a breakfast PB&J Sandwich, a friend who delivered soup and voters who, for the most part, were patient with us poll workers. I was on a good team. Rita Cabry has amazing administrative talents. Her daughter Mary Ellen is lively and fun to work with. Ben Palubinsky, a first time poll worker, was a quick study and young and cute and tolerant of our harassment. I enjoyed the results at our division, and went to bed, crippled from being seated so long, but optimistic. I woke up wondering how to sustain optimism for myself and for others who feel their efforts end up fruitless. It is harder to mobilize those who can't count on: good education, connections to employment opportunity and buy-outs by their parent's friends. I believe a win would have meant more to the Democrats, despite some posts I read earlier today. Somehow, I got on a Republican E-list. The e-mails have been enlightening. One of the funnier ones arrived on Monday. It included a detailed map to my polling place along with the cheery news that it was only a ".2 mile drive" and should only take me "1 minute" to get to my polling place. It appeared as another instance of a Republican break with urban realities. How can the party that encourages driving 2/10s of a mile get behind public transportation as a choice or even understand the challenges of folks who can't afford a car or car insurance? Oh well. We are a great nation and even Haliburton, Enron, big oil and family banking scandals can't change that. Count me as another for Hilary in 2008! And on the subject of cars... --------------------------------------- Sometime between Friday night and Sunday morning, someone stole our 18 year old silver Toyota Corolla (4 doors + hatchback). It had 284,000 miles on it and a small dent on the front Driver's side. I was going to ask you all to look out for it, but the police just called, they found it. I won't be able to get many details until tomorrow between 9 and 4 PM, but it feels as if the police worked fast. We hadn't budgeted for a new car until the New Year and I hope the Corolla will be still functional. We are proud that our driving miles exceeded the distance to the moon, even at its widest orbit, and that we were able to conserve materiels and money by maintaining an older car. Some credit must go to our mechanic, Ray Betz, of Sammy's autos. Finally, I note from Ross's statistics that I (and no other woman) still did not crack the top ten for UnivCity posters, but at least Ross extended the list to a top twenty, to get a few women in. All the best! Liz Elizabeth Campion http://ilead.realtor.com/display/?id=13380525&; 215-790-5653 ________________________________________________________________ Juno Platinum $9.95. Juno SpeedBand $14.95. Sign up for Juno Today at http://www.juno.com! Look for special offers at Best Buy stores. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
