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Celebrate St. Patty's Day With Your GPNA Neighbors!

Why not cure the cabin fever this cold-cold winter has caused? GPNA's first Pot Luck Supper for 2014 will take place Monday, March 17th and will start at 7 PM. Valerie Magnuson of Louisville Grows will be our guest speaker. Everyone is asked to bring a veggie or dessert dish. GPNA will provide the main dish. The gathering will take place at our center, 1094 E Kentucky Street. Please checkout our website at gpnalouisville.com for detailed updates on all items we are involved in. Thank you.

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-You are Welcome to Keep Up with What's Happening and Please Spread the Word-

The # 1 way for neighbors to stay current is to connect to our Facebook Page. Please bookmark it, and definitely "like" us. Here is the address/link-

http://www.Facebook.com/GermanParistownNeighborhoodAssociation.

Our team of Jeff Cross, Tomy Molloy and Amanda Keeton will be posting a quarterly GPNA E-Newsletter and emailing to all our members. This communication will be placed on the Danny Mac's Germantown-Schnitzelburg Facebook page as well.

Membership to GPNA-

The annual membership fee is $5. Though this is one of the lowest annual membership fee amounts for any non profit in Louisville we are intent to make your signing up even easier. When paying the $5 fee you will be given at no cost the booklet "A Short History of Germantown and Paristown".  The paperback contains a brief description of GPNA's 40 years of activities and care for our area. It also contains unique color photos. There is also a section that details for you the process so you can follow to research your home address, and come to know the history of your residence. The booklet takes only a short time to read but is chalk full of interesting facts including explanations about shotgun houses, the history of our many mills and our many churches.

Finally, the process to join for 2014 can not be any easier. All needed is to provide your name, residential address and email address. If you prefer to sign up by email here is how you do it. Forward the required information to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . In his role of administrator Steve will hand deliver to you the $5 dues bill and at that same time drop the booklet to you. Another option to join is by attending any function GPNA hosts.  At every event there will be a a welcome table inviting membership. Individuals signing up at this time would be asked to pay the $5, and be given the booklet then. We will take cash if the new member is joining at an event, but that is the ONLY TIME. If forwarding payment for membership by mail then we ask you to make the $5 check out to "GPNA". The address to mail to is GPNA Center, 1094 E Kentucky Street, Louisville, Ky. 40202-1936. The final option is to simply drop the check through the slot that is in the middle of our front door. Again, no cash if dropping off. Please make sure the check is in a sealed envelope marked "Membership".

GPNA Work Items for 2014 as Suggested by the Work Committee-

1. Website- Mark Muse, a VOA-Ky. volunteer has provided a plan for social media options for our considering including some changes to our website. The board will take up this issue at its 3-17 meeting.

2. Shotgun Festival- The committee concluded why mess with a proven formula. Our plan is to replicate last year's event at the same place and involve a number of the same bands. The date for the festival has not been finalized but most likely will stay on the last Saturday in September.

3. Monday Bingo has started a new raffle and it appears to be helping attendance. We do see business advertising for the event as an option to pursue to help create more income. This too will be talked about at our 3-17 meeting. We thank Steve Redmon of Metro One Heating & Cooling for raising this idea.

4. Rain Garden monitoring- Of course the nature of any Rain Garden is it not needing a whole lot of maintenance. John helps oversee the overgrowth and works to set up the garden for the start of the season and works to shut it down for the winter. Bill is the person who cuts the lawn at our center and also cuts the grass edge area of the Rain Garden. These two persons helping us the way they do will continue. A number of board members are willing to work at the Rain Garden if for some reason that is needed. We will simply keep and eye on how well it is dong once spring arrives.

5. We are proud of GPNA connection with the Center For Neighborhood' Neighborhood Institute. Board Members Amanda Keeton and Mary Hardesty are representing GPNA in the 2014 class. Thank you ladies!

6. GPNA is working to finalize a plan to create fund raising support for  Germantown Mission Inc. to allow our mirrored not profit to take a more clear mission. We want to become more active in protecting our neighborhood's historic shotgun houses, our mills and our many other historic buildings/churches. Ultimately we want to call on every person who has an interest in protecting the rich heritage of our urban area. If in reading this you want to help out please let us know by calling 855-0223.

7. We are participating jointly with SACC in the Goss Avenue Beautification Project. This too is currently in the planning phase. Thanks to Councilman Jim King we have an advocate that will be assisting us in finding the money needed to implement our plan. We thank Mike Morris, President of SACC, who is the true point person on this project.

8. The most immediate project that has already received the board's approval via a special meeting is that of seeing 100 trees planted in our neighborhood.  The organization that is leading this cause is Louisville Grows and we have their staff person Valerie Magnuson to thank. March 29th is the day all the plantings will take place. Our center will be a beehive of activity come that day.

9. Two other events we are working to see happen are Canning Classes at our Center and a late Spring Farmer's Feast. Both are in early planning stages. The success of last fall's event at Hope Mills was overwhelming. The goal is to replicate the last event.

10. The association continues to work with 4th District Police to help monitor with those frequently share crime activity stats.  Officer Hagan is available to you and will help implement community policing strategies that our police want to see advertised and supported.

11. A project we are looking at is to build an indoor ramp to allow handicap access within all the rooms of the first floor at our center. We will be working with Beacon House on this project and hope to see this build before June 2014.

Come Out an Play

We have the best neighborhood association bingo in the state-

Our Monday Bingo is in its 28th year of continual operation. Doors open at 9 AM and games start at 10:15 AM. The last game is normally played out by 12:15 PM. Our gaming license number is 00058 and posted. This long running weekly event offers residents a unique and fun experience. It certainly allows new and regulars attending to get to know each other and learn about the neighborhood. Bingo is held at our GPNA center, 1094 E. Kentucky Street. The location is just west of St. Therese Catholic Church. We can lay claim to this "best" title because we know of no other neighborhood association with a state gaming license approved to operate bingo sessions. The money raised has been so helpful in meeting our budget projections.

Posting Tied to Our Compliance Status- GPNA keeps on file its approval letter from the IRS. This letter stipulates that GPNA is a 501 (C4) non-profit organization. To stay in good standing we file an IRS-990 each calendar year. We also file with Kentucky to maintain legal recognition with the Commonwealth. The overall reporting to the state requires our forwarding an Annual Report and we must provide quarterly to the Department of Charitable Gaming detailed gaming activity reports.  We are required to complete annually a gaming license application.  GPNA is currently in full compliance and in good standing with the federal, state and city governments and all the reports listed have been filed on time.

A final reminder- The various updates here are shared for two reasons. In laying out these details please know we want you to think out how what you are good at might and enjoy doing can help us as we move towards the future. We are not shy in asking if you see opportunities to become involved. We would love to tap into your talents and commitment. If interested the easiest and best way to do so is to contact our volunteer administrator, Steve Magre. His phone number of 502-855-0223. You can call or text him at this number. You can also send him an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . You may also want to click on the category to the right titled Board of Directors and see if any of the members listed are people you know. Any board member would welcome your call and would help you become a new member and become involved.