Congratulations President of the Year!

Congratulations are in order for our very own Neighborhood Association President Mary Darling, who has won President of the Year in the prestigious St. Petersburg Neighborhood Partnership Awards.

Thanks to Donna Porterfield who submitted the following information about Mary on the awards application:

List and briefly describe accomplishments

In the short seven years that Mary has been a resident of St. Petersburg she has done so much! After working 10 hours a day as a nurse, she somehow finds the time to do the following: She not only completed the St. Petersburg CONA Leadership Program in 2002, she has been mentoring in the program ever since. Twice she has attended the state-wide Neighborhood conference; once in Tampa, and the other time in Sarasota. She is very active in politics by being a Tiger Bay member, the Precinct Captain of District 109 for two years and she served two years as Vice Chair for District 55. Her political functions constantly keep her busy with meetings, fundraisers, and making telephone calls. During the elections she has the job of deputy at the polls. Councilman James Bennett presented Mary with the Sunshine Ambassador Award on behalf of the City of St. Petersburg at our neighborhood Fun Day event last year. She was just accepted to be on the St. Petersburg Beautification Committee. Mary has completed the 8 classes with the St Pete Police Departments Citizens Community Policing Academy, learning how the different departments operate. She has volunteered for the Coquina Key Resource Center, the St. Petersburg Albert Whitted Air Show, St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading, and First Night. She is an active member in her church and sings in the choir. Mary not only came up with the idea of a musical celebrating the 100th anniversary of the church, she also produced it. She was active in the theater in Michigan for seventeen years.

Why do you feel your nominee should be selected as “President of the Year?”

Mary has done an outstanding job during the past six years of being president, helping our new association get to where we are today. Mary is a pleasant, concerned, outgoing person. She enjoys working and talking with people. With her friendly personality, she certainly makes new people feel welcomed into the neighborhood. Mary has been such an asset to our neighborhood association, writing grant applications to get our neighborhood signs, and to have park benches and waste cans installed, as well as writing the grant for the Police Dept. Forfeiture Fund. She always makes sure any project deadlines are met. She sets up the yearly Neighborhood Cleanups, sponsored by the City and our neighborhood organization. She organizes our yearly “Neighborhood Fun Day”, an event that includes yard sale tables, personal wares, games, food and fun! Mary loves to man the children’s face painting table! She is the crime watch coordinator for our neighborhood. She creates our newsletters and composes a president’s message on all of them. She lines up speakers for all of our monthly meetings. She is constantly striving to improve and enhance our neighborhood and bring new ideas to our neighborhood association. By her being active in so many activities, and getting to know so many people, she has acquired numerous relationships which are beneficial to our neighborhood as well, such as assisting us to get new lighting and curbs installed. Mary is always there keeping us focused and working towards our goals to get things done. She is endlessly enthusiastic about whatever project she is undertaking and makes certain that it is always a fun time for all. This is why the board members of the Bayou Highlands Neighborhood Association have unanimously agreed that Mary well deserves to be President of the Year, which you may see by the attached letter of support.

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