HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From the Desk of Anthony Riley

Did Santa get everything right? Not much chance of that. It’s not like he could just go through the Amazon Wish List and click a bunch of debt inducing buttons. Or could he?

We here at Santa’s workshop – I mean the HOA Board – have been very busy. We have new officers. Actually, it’s the same crew. In the season of re-election, we have Anthony Riley as President, Greg Pfister as Vice President, Nell Colbert as our Treasurer and Anna Swenson as our Secretary. Congratulations to all.

We also welcome three new HOA Board members: Ed Measom, Tim Olson, and William Vega. This is the strongest indication that the HOA Board may be doing something right. Or it’s a coup. Either way.

We start 2025 off with our Annual Membership Drive. All those who pay the $25 HOA Dues by March 20th will be eligible for the drawing and two lucky winners will get their $25 HOA Dues back in pizza. Or a gift card rather.

There are many reasons why you should support the HOA with your $25 HOA Dues, but the most important reason is that it shows you care. You care about what happens in this neighborhood. You live in this community – you should care about what happens on the street, how we are treated by Law Enforcement, criminals, the County, wild animals and people that cut through. If you remember, just recently, there were lights and displays of all persuasion demonstrating the idea that we as a neighborhood – care about our community.

Please pay the $25 HOA Dues and get a chance to show you care and maybe win some pizza.

The date for the Spring Neighborhood Garage Sale Extravaganza is set for March 1st. As we keep learning from the past, we intend to have more adverts, more buyers and more work for the clean-up crew.

A reminder –  if you want to take a look at the Casselberry Utilities presentation on the upcoming Winter Woods Force Main Replacement Project, you can see that on our HOA Website here: City of Casselberry’s Water Main Replacement Projects Northgate Phase 1. There will be mud.

At our last board meeting we also discussed the 2025 budget. What we have discovered is that with less than 50% of residents paying dues, we are not able to present the same program as last year, much less plan for new things. Without help.

I still believe anyone reading this is probably in the 50% paying group. What we are considering is allowing either anonymous contributions for specific expenses such as the flowers for the entrance or some of the entertainment for the kids at our events or finding Sponsors who would like to be recognized for helping our events be special for the entire neighborhood.

Anyone interested in this kind of support contact WinterWoodsHOA@gmail.com or anyone on the board.

Everyone is invited to come to come to the HOA Board meeting at 7:00 pm on the second Thursday of every month at South Seminole Church of Christ on Lake Howell Rd or online via zoom. 

Really, the most important reason to pay the $25 HOA Dues is we need our bounce house money.

Man am I glad that is over with. I mean it really did seem to drag on and be particularly uncomfortable. I’m talking about that heat! It has finally cooled down. We’re cool now, let’s see how long we can keep it this way.

Thanksgiving is over. And as I say this, I realize that upon everyone reading this, turkeys will be bones in the rubbage, pies will not be pies, and the tryptophan may finally be out of our systems. Hovering over us will be Santa and gifts to buy, more outrageous food and the Star Wars light display will have a line around the block.

But let’s not get ahead of being thankful. We are thankful for the year in our Winter Woods neighborhood. Many people have participated in making this a great year. Let’s review…

We started the year with the Annual Membership Drive, and we will be starting that up again. Pay the $25 dues, it is for a good cause. We also saw a Traffic Study by Seminole County which told us what we know, there are people who speed through our neighborhood. We also had a Water Main Break on Poinciana, and the County cleaned that up fairly quickly. But not fast enough to squash rumors of a sink hole and imminent danger. For Valentines we rolled out Neighborhood Hugs and spread a little pay it forward goodness. We saw drastic improvements on Winter Woods Blvd with the Entrance Circle Make-Over and the tireless work of our no-name “Island Crew” who keep the grass tidy, and the trash picked up. We rolled out the Spring Garage Sale. We began street-blocked-County-permitted events, starting with the Neighborhood Spring Fling with trademark bounce-house and a snazzy beverage station.

Over the summer we rolled out Virtual Newsletters so that this newsletter continued (without print) for the July and August editions. These online only newsletters included a Blueberry Muffins Recipe from Phylis and if you know, you know…or IYKYK. We just had the Fall Garage Sale and another bounce-house for our Neighborhood Night Out. That was a special event for the kids with balloons, character drawings and the Fire Department showing off their ride.

We also were able to get to a Front Entrance Make-Over (look for Holiday Poinsettias soon!). And as if we had not wore the pavement out enough, we had a Summer Fling Back to School Bash which was sponsored by the Somers Group and we gave away some backpacks filled with some school supplies.

We just finished the Fall Garage Sale and featured sharp looking First Day of School Pictures of some of the local kids.  We also enjoyed the Halloween Decorating Contest with our winners featured in the newsletter and our thoughts to their childhood nightmares.

Last meeting was our General Membership Meeting and there was a detailed presentation about the Winter Woods Force Main Replacement from the County contractors. The PowerPoint presentation is now available soon on the Winter Wood HOA website. Essentially, the disruption along Nottingham will only be for a few weeks and everyone will get a door hanger with an explanation of the work, and anyone directly affected will get a door hanger prior to any intrusion.

I want to thank our neighbors who came out to the General Membership Meeting – Nancy, Sarah, Edna and Becky in person with Debbie and Bridget joining via Zoom.

And that is the year in summary – a month early. We have the Holiday Decorating Contest coming up and new board members to announce.

All these events required a massive group effort. From the board to the advertisers who help finance the events, to the newsletter carriers who deliver the good news, the volunteers, to every person who participated by decorating their house or showing up to an event – we all made this past year happen. And if you didn’t know about or missed any of last year’s events, you’ll get another chance this year. We are all looking forward to another great year for the Winter Woods Neighborhood HOA.