Malverne Civic Association shares goals, initiatives for 2020

The Malverne Civic Association’s ongoing goal — to enhance the quality of life in the village — was met in 2019 through its events, and the group hopes to continue that mission in 2020.

“We have a couple of ideas in mind, but we’re still in the early stages,” said association Vice President Kathi Monroe. “But we’re always looking to find ways to bring residents together and present new opportunities for them to meet and greet and keep the small-town charm that we have.”

The group hosted many of its annual events in 2019, including  such as Groundhog Day with Malverne Mel, the wine tasting fundraiser at Crossroads Farm, e-cycling/shredding and the Teal Pumpkin Project for children with allergies during Halloween. It also hosted Meet the Candidates Night in March — and in Malverne’s first contested races in 12 years, the association worked diligently to cover both parties equally.

“It was easier than you would’ve thought,” Monroe recalled. “Candidates on both sides of the election were very respectful of the fact that the civic is a nonpartisan organization.”

JoAnne Lewis, the organization’s treasurer, said that because the races were contested, members spent a little extra time preparing. “We just had to sort of come up with a way in which it would be fair to all parties without anyone getting upset,” Lewis said. “But once that happened, everything ran smoothly from there.”

One of the group’s goals in recent years was to increase membership to better facilitate the growing number of events. Lewis said the number of board members has risen significantly, which has contributed to the success of its events.

“Many hands make light work,” she said. “It’s been a great help for us, because with each event, we have more hands on deck, and I think we’re finally starting to see the fruits of that.”

“I think we did a good job of working together to make sure that no one was overburdened with covering any of the events,” Monroe said. “We’re always looking to bring in new members, so that when they get involved, it presents more wonderful ideas to our board.”

The group has also expanded its social media presence in recent years, advertise many of its events through Facebook. Lewis said that while members still post fliers throughout the village, they agreed in 2017 that it was time to shift toward social media.

“We understand that everyone’s reading about a lot of events on their phone these days,” Lewis said. “Word of mouth will always be around, but we know everyone is on social media nowadays, so we have to cater to that, too.”

The group meets every month, and many of the events it hosts are discussed months in advance. In 2020, members plan to keep up with their annual events, while continuing the garden tour, which returned in 2018.

“We love to serve the community, so anything that we bring to the community that brings the community closer together as a whole is super-important to us,” Lewis said. “Also, the way in which we help other organizations is also important for the civic going forward. I love to have that cross reach between us and other organizations to provide our support.”

Visit the organization’s website, bit.ly/2MASwCC, to learn more about its upcoming meetings and events.