Jane Addam's Day Parade - December 6, 2009
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ORCHiD Neighborhood Community Garden 2010
Hello, my name is L. Joe Owen and I have lived here since 1998. I became involved with improving our neighborhood when I began to see gangs on our corners, prostitutes walking past my house, sales of drugs in the open without fear of arrest and I told myself, "why don’t they do something about this, it’s becoming dangerous around here". You see, I expected someone else to police our problems. Then it dawned on me; what part of THEY do I fit. From that moment on I decided to take my place and do my share in making this neighborhood a nice place to live. Not just for me, but for all of us who choose to live here. In my first two terms as vice president we accomplished many great things. Now that I’m back on the board of directors again as vice president, I have even bigger plans. I intend to add many more people to our board of directors, I plan on collaborating with, but at the same time reducing, the RHA’s footprint in our neighborhood, I plan on making landlords in our neighborhood accountable for the people they choose as tenants, and much more. I’m proud to once again serve as vice president of this neighborhood NPO Corporation, and I certainly can use your help.
ORCHiD Awards and City Proclamation
Hi, my name is Jaye Baer. I'd like to welcome you to the neighborhood. There are a lot of good things here. It's the kind of neighborhood where people talk over fences and share a cup of sugar. There are lots of mature trees here and with the river so close, we have a wide variety of birds. If you enjoy feeding birds, it's a great place. I work with the history of this area. It is rich in Rockford history. Let me know if you want to know the history of your house. I hope you'll find some good things here to enjoy. My husband and I have been here 20 years and we raised our son here. Our older home has given us many wonderful years. We are still working on the repairs. This was at one time a wealthy neighborhood. The homes were expensive to build. Some have ornate fireplaces and large stain glass windows. There use to be carriage houses to shelter the horses. Most of them are gone now as are the hitching posts.
Neighborhood History Poster
My dad's Lithuanian family first lived in this neighborhood almost one hundred years ago. Twenty years ago, my husband, son, daughter and I moved into our renovated/restored Folk Victorian house on Baker Place. This once prosperous neighborhood has had many challenges through the years. Progress has been gradual, but steady. I'm dedicated to investing my time and talent to help further improve the ORCHiD neighborhood. Kathy Waldron, Director of Communication/Website Manager