news_letter_April_3

Our new Armourdale Business Directory will be coming out soon. The directory is sponsored by the Armourdale Renewal Association and the Wyandotte County Regional Prevention Center. This is an opportunity to have our own production and retail businesses in a unique format thanks to the people at Kansas Colloquies. This is the same company who produced the 1950's book. We also have a few of those left in our office. The cost is $35 each. We hope to have every single business of every type listed in this directory. Sales person Kate Fields will be glad to make an appoitment with you to explain the ads and layout. You can call her at 913-788-5565. This directory is our way of saying thanks to the Armourdale Business community for all the support you have given to the community programs and business luncheons the past 12 years. The directory will obviously need to be updated occasionally, but Kate Fields and Dim Hausback will be available to take that information from you. Our feeling is that this will be a banner year for Armourdale. The directory will launch many great projects and events. Have you noticed the new houses being built? Maybe we can include houses for rent and sale in our directory. This directory is published in your honor. We salute the businesses of this community. Please make sure your business is included in this directory. You will regret it if your business is not mentioned when this is published. If you are a new business and need someone to speak Spanish, please call our office and we will make sure all your business info is included. We do not want anyone overlooked in this project. We have an Hispanic Business committe to provide information to you.

Armourdale Meetings

The Armourdale Parade Meeting will be held on Thursday, April 13th from 10-11:AM at the Armourdale Recreation Center. The Armourdale block captain meeting will immediately follow the parade meeting on Thursday Aprl 13th from 11:AM-Noon.

The Armourdale Community Meeting will be held on Thursday April 20th from 6-7:PM at the Armourdale Recreation Center. We will have a speaker from Kansas City Community Gardens. Sam Peavler of the New Photo shop will talk about the services available at his business. We will also be taking names of people who need smoke detectors. The Red Cross will bring them to the center on Saturday, April 29th between 9-11:AM. Refreshments will be served and the publicis invited.

Armourdale Senior Events

The next senior binog will be held on Wednesday, April 19th from 10:AM-Noon. We play for prized only. Betty Green and Chris Boykin call the bingo games. Wilma Allen serves refreshments. Wilma welcomes refreshment donations. See Betty or Chris about free-will donations for the bingo prizes. We thank Carmen Oropeza for the nice prizes she has been donating. We appreciate Wilma and those ladies who prepare the drinks and refreshments. The bingo games are getting more and more attendance. Call the center if you need more info. The games are not held during the summer recreation. June 7th wil be the last bingo game until July 26th. The summer recreation program will be in progress from June 12th - July 24th.

THE ARMOURDALE SENIOR DANCE

The Armourdale Senior Dance will be held on April 17th from 1-3:PM. The Don Nelson Combo plays great live music from the 30's - the 70's. They also play requests. Refreshments are served. Our Mary King-Kerns has always served our refreshments. She has had some surgery and will need help with the refreshments for April's dance. Our get-well wishes go out to Mary. She has brought new life into your dances. The event is also free. We welcome free-will donations of refreshments or funds if you wish to help. Please call 913-551-0408 for informationi on the dance. The dances are held on the 3rd Monday of each month, except January and Febuary when there are presidential holidays. They are held on the 2nd Monday of the month. They hold these dances during the summer recreation program.

April Is Open Burning Month

April is open burning month. You can purchase a burning permit from any fire-station in Kansas City Kansas. The permits are for any three days in the month. The regulations are written on the permit. April 29th is till Armourdale Clean-up day. This is the 4th Saturday in April. Operation Brightside furnishes trash bags but they are no longer able to pick up large items. They lost the fundings for that program several years ago. This is still a good opportunity to do your Spring cleaning and use the free trash bags. Each resident is allowed 3 trash bags. This cleaning day is not ment to tear out the insides of a house and have a 10 foot high pile of trashed hauled away. This is the kind of abuse that ruined the program for the rest of the community. We are also looking for volunteers to install smoke alarms for disabled and senior citizens on April 29th.

If you have graffiti call the graffitti hotline at 913-573-8789. Our community police officer is Officer Santiago Vasquez. His number is 913-573-8727. The Animal Control number is 913-321-1334. The recycling center # is 913-371-2034. They are open Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday.

Armourdale Optomist Pancake Breakfast

The Armourdale Optomist Club will hold their annual Spring pancake breakfast on Saturday, April 29th at the Armourdale Recreation Center, 730 Osage Avenue from 7:-11:AM. Cost for the breakfast tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children. Breakfast includes Sausage, all you can eat pancakes, coffee, milk or juice. Eggs are 50 cents each. You can purchace tickets at LA Hardware or from Optimist members. Proceeds for this breakfast go to the many children's programs sponsored by the Armourdale Optimist Club. If you would like to purchase tickets for low-income families just stop by the hardware store. For additional information call 913-371-5696. April 29th is also the day of the Los Lobos softball tournament in Shawnee Park. Games start at 8:AM. Burritos will be on sale at the park consession stand starting at 11:AM. The Armourdale Optimist Club has been serving Armourdale children for 50 years. This year we will have a float in the parade celebrating the 50th year. If you are interested in being involved in any of the Armourdale Optimist Programs or helping with pancake breakfast please call Patty Dysart at 913-371-5696 for more information.

Armourdale Historic Courtyard Groundbreaking

It is time to turn in your brick order forms. Try to return your filled out forms in by May 1st. We are getting ready to go on this project. May 20th is the official groundbreaking date. We will be able to fill in ground with blank bricks that can be pulled out and engraved later. The first bricks installed will be in the inaugural brick section. Remember that the business are 8x8. If you need help filling out your forms, just call or come by our office. We are at the Optimist Club on Tuesdays. We are also not in the office on Thursday afternoons after 1:PMd ue to the basketball schedual. This is the day we can visit your office or home if you call and make an appointment with us. We have a brick meeting committee that will visit your place of business, explain the project and leave the forms with you. This give you time to decide on your wording. The committee visits helps you make those dicisions. The marketting committee is not there to high pressure you into buying more expencive bricks, they are there to let you know of all your options. The wording is very important for you. The words will be read down though time. Family and business history preservation is precious. This is our mark left on the ground we walked, worked and live. Universal Equipment and Contracting Company is our project managers. We are imdebted to them. Bruce Yarbrough and David Schneider are valuable employees of this company. They are giving that company time to our project. This project will memorialize Armourdale history. We will need many in-kind services from the business community. We will display names of all those who donate time and services on a prominent sign. The next courtyard meeting is tentatively set for April 26th at the Armourdale Recreation Center from 1-2:PM. Please attend this meeting if you are interested in helping or have more questions.

Armourdale Parade July 15th

Armourdale ony holds a parade every five years. This year will celebrate fifty five years since our recovery from the 1951 flood. Fewer and fewer of us are still around to remember July 13th, 1951. We need to celebrate our family history in this parade. If you still remember the flood we hope you will come down to Armourdale on July 15th and celebrate with us. We will open festivities with a 5k run. The parade will begin at 11:AM and start at 14th & Osage and go down Osage to Pyle and turn left in front of Shawnee Park. Entries will be able to travel back up Shawnee Avenue to get back to their starting point. We will have a lawn mower race on the lot south of the recreation center at the end of the parade. We will hold a talent show at 1:PM on the park pavilion. We are having a little Miss and Mister Armourdale contest for children 4-7 years old. Vendor spots (banquet table size) are $30. Call Patty Dysart at the office to reserve your spot. 913-371-5696. Kim Hausback is the parade coordinator. Art Eickhoff and Susan Bouton are parade chairs. You can obtain parade entries from LA Hardware or the Armourdale Recreation Center. Just call the office and we will mail you an entry. The 5k run entry in on a different form. You can obtain all entries at our website, Armourdale.org.

Membership and Meeting Attendance

This is an important time for the future of Armourdale. The residents and businesses of this community need to stick together. The Armourdale Remewal Association is your organization. We need your memberships and your attendance at community meetings and business luncheons. We also have block captain meetings. You have the opportunity to meet with our community police officer, patrol officers and code officers at these meetings. Networking with your neighbors and your neighboring businesses is very helpful to everyone concerned. You can fill out complaint forms and hand them directly to your officers. If you have a major concern or need to get information or resources the meetings are the place this will happen. You can remain ananymous on the forms. The Armourdale Renewal Association was founded for the express purpose to improve the quality of life for everyone who lives and works in this community. We want to help the new Hispanic residents and businesses succeed. This organization is your represntative to the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City Kansas. Fill out the form on the back and come forward at the meetings.

ARA APPLICATION

Armourdale Renewal Association (back to ARA Home)	Volume 11, Issue 4 4/03/06
ARMOURDALE BRIDGES	pages 1 - 3 (scroll down for next page)