~From the President's Desk~

Fire trucks! Police cars! What's going on?
Its "National Night Out" on August First at PdR-a-celebration of "America's Night Out Against Crime" presented by Sunnyvale's Department of Public Safety Crime Prevention Unit and the PdR Social Club board in lieu of a general meeting. From 6:30 until 9:00 p.m., let the kids climb on a fire truck or talk to a policeman about staying safe and happy at home or away. That's what life's about, isn't it? Staying safe and happy at home or away. We all need to brush up on how to be successful at this, especially those guys and gals in a hurry who drive too fast on our streets. Boy, do I see them dashing along in front of my house and I know you do too. On to happier subjects.

Two goods guys have taken over the summer cookouts: Al Souza and Joe Andersen. They plan to keep the cookouts going-with the help of all the volunteers-through at least July and August. And speaking of volunteers, if you worked on the cookouts in the past, come and work again, you are needed. Joe and Al will let us know if more volunteers are needed and new people are always welcome.

Al and Jan Souza have lived in the park for "16 to 17 years," as Al says. They are quite a team. You probably know them from when they ran the Bingo games (6 years) or the Fourth of July celebrations or when Al was president of the Social Club. "As long as you get the cooperation you need, you can breeze by," Al says. "We used to be in the Entertainers (25 years) a great group that used to put on shows twice a year, and now we do Christmas caroling around the park." Al also runs bus trips to Indian casinos, and is thinking of doing another such fun outing soon. Al's philosophy is simple and direct. "If you see the people having fun, you've earned your pay, so to speak," he says.

Joe Andersen has been working on the cookouts "for the past 11 years, first as assistant manager for one year, and for the last 10 years as manager of PdR." "I enjoy helping," Joe says, "and I enjoy the people. Al does the money stuff and the rest of us-staff included-work with the volunteers to get everything done. We work well together, so nobody has to worry about anything. Sometimes you just have to step up to the plate. Lois (our cookout chairmen for June whose husband is ill) needed help so we stepped in." So that's the news for this month. Don't forget to step up to the plate-which could be filled with hamburgers, hot dogs or chicken, on Thursday evenings when dinner is cooked for you, or on Tuesday, August First, when safety is the big draw. See you then!

The PdR Social Club is your organization. If you live here, remember that all adults are members and that we'd love to see you at any of our events. Get involved. It's fun to meet your neighbors and work together on making our homebase the place we want to be.

Lulu