Dear Subscriber First Name,

The past year has seen a whirlwind of activity within ENA. We got to celebrate these successes and look back at 20 years of ENA’s impact on Eastwood last month at the ENA Annual Meeting where Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh issued an official proclamation commemorating ENA’s 20th Anniversary.

ENA is a membership organization with over 900 members who elect the all-volunteer board of directors. The Annual Meeting is an opportunity for us to report back to you, the members, on ENA’s programs, events, and finances. I encourage you to review our Annual Report. Over 80 members attended and elected six new individuals to our board of directors. We’re excited about the ideas, skills, and passion they bring. We were also treated to a great presentation by Beth Crawford & David Rudd on The Arts & Crafts Movement in CNY, Stickley’s Eastwood factory, & their Influence on Eastwood. 

What has ENA been up to over the past year?

• Meet and Greet with Santa and Mrs. Claus held at the Palace followed by a screening of The Grinch. More than 230 people attended and toy donations for Huntington Elementary were collected.

• Earth Day Neighborhood Cleanup, planned with Eastwood TNT and Growing Good Works, the event attracted over 100 volunteers. The event was followed by an ENA sponsored pizza party with frozen yogurt donated by Luv Handlz.

• Eastwood Memorial Day Parade. Working with the Eastwood American Legion we were able to hold the parade – for the first time since 2019 - just in time for the 75th anniversary of the Greenway Veterans Monument. More than 450 people attended the parade. We raised $1,500 in donations from Eastwood residents and organized 20 volunteers to manage many of the intersections.

• First Annual Eastwood Home & Garden Tour presented by Sarah Barrows, Keller Williams Realty highlighted five beautiful Eastwood homes to tourgoers. More than 200 tickets were sold, raising $2,300 for Eastwood beautification projects.

• Nearly 40 vendors showcased their wares at Eastwood Market Day.

• We launched the Walk Eastwood Challenge. Walkers completing the challenge visited every block in Eastwood– 43 miles of roads and 99 streets. Walkers shared great photos of the neighborhood, and nearly all commented on how much they enjoyed seeing all of Eastwood. We have more shirts for folks who finish by 12/31. We plan to make this an annual event.

• Eastwood Past & Present. Supported by a grant from The Gifford Foundation, Eastwood resident, David Haas, has written three columns about Eastwood residents with a multi-generational connection to Eastwood - expect the fourth next month.   We also developed an interactive map of historic sites in Eastwood and are continuing to add to and update it.

• 17th Annual Eastwood Five-Mile Run. We went from 187 finishers in 2022 to 270 in 2023! Thank you to Race Director Meghan Vitale for all of her hard work. The run raises money for our Community Scholarships. Eastwood businesses donated refreshments and raffle prizes and over 70 Eastwoodites volunteered to make this event possible.

• $3,000 in Community Scholarships. The Aaron Wood Memorial Scholarship was awarded to the Henninger H.S. Cross Country team to support their fall 2023 trip to the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational. To graduating Eastwood seniors: the Tom White Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Luke DeLorenzo and the Margaret McVicker Memorial Scholarship was split between Hannah Kinne and Brendan O’Brien.

• We partnered with Syracuse Parks & Rec to offer skateboarding classes to kids ages 8-13 on the Second Saturday of each month from May – September at the East Woods Skate Plaza. These were well attended and we hope to do more in the future.

• The Eastwood Community Garden continues to thrive, wrapping up their 8th growing season. Two beautiful mosaic benches were installed with funding from ENA, Eastwood TNT, and Syracuse Parks. A farmstand was installed with TNT funding, providing a place for gardeners to leave free produce for the community.

• Beautification. ENA supported volunteers gardening Eastwood’s many public flower beds, held several volunteer cleanup events in our parks, purchased new flag poles for James Street, distributed 2,000 tulip and daffodil bulbs, and purchased what will hopefully be the first of many self-watering planters for James Street.

• Health & Wellness. ENA offered series of aerobic classes and tai chi classes and Syracuse Yoga, an ENA Business Supporter, offered discounted yoga classes.

• Halloween. We used our new website to create an interactive Trick or Treat map to highlight the many streets (in addition to Forest Hill) that welcome trick or treaters. Over 200 Eastwood households signed up. We hope we made some headway encouraging folks to spread out and show some love to other streets.

None of this can accomplished without you, our members, our donors, and volunteers. You are what makes this organization and Eastwood great.

In lieu of annual membership dues, we ask ENA members to make an annual donation to defray ENA’s operational expenses that make all of this great programming possible. Please consider making a donation to support ENA. Using the button below you can find options to donate via our website or Venmo or where to mail your donation. 

You can learn more about upcoming events on our website and please sign up for our email list to get monthly updates. Thank you for supporting ENA and our wonderful Eastwood neighborhood. We appreciate all that you do.

Sincerely,

Join us for an Eastwood Community Christmas Presented by Nastri Real Estate

Sunday, December 17, Join us at the Palace Theater from 2:30 - 4:00 for photos with Santa & Mrs. Claus.

Cookies donated by 5th District Councilor Jimmy Monto. 

ICE AGE: A MAMMOTH CHRISTMAS starts at 4:00 PM.

This event is free and open to the public. Please consider bringing a new unwrapped toy appropriate for K-8 aged children to donate; toy drive benefitting Huntington Elementary School.