Last week we held our annual Ice Cream Social at the National Presbyterian Church (NPC). Over 50 NNV-ers attended, 10 gallons of ice cream and sorbet, and several pounds of toppings were consumed. Several members of the NPC congregation and staff also joined in the summer fun.

How do we pull this off every year? It's an event that takes many more than the combined six hands of Stephanie, Leslie, and Heather!

The planning starts many weeks in advance when Heather sends out a plea to our 150 or so volunteers for help with the event. And, our dedicated volunteers respond almost instantaneously to the call (although a free, all you can eat ice cream buffet may also be an attraction). We typically need about 12 volunteers (plus drivers) to help with an event of this size, and we often receive more offers to help than we need (that's the spirit of our village—and the ice cream, buffet of course…).

Last Thursday at about noon, our set up crew arrived, including volunteers, Anita Bizzotto, Lenore Lucey, Shari Villarosa (and her brother Jim visiting from Colorado), Sam Smith, and Brigid McCarthy. In a flurry of activity, we arrange tables and chairs, unfurl tablecloths, decorate the space, fill coolers, and set up the ice cream buffet table.

Our guests begin to arrive, and more volunteers (Roberta Youmans, Barbara Heffernan, Shanti Conly, and Karen Zuckerstein) leap into action: helping get everyone seated, getting water to all the tables, and taking and delivering ice cream orders while Barbara Kagan, Sam Smith, and Barbara Lardy helmed the scooping station with Stephanie's daughter, Olivia.

We also need to arrange for volunteer transportation for a large portion of the guests. This year volunteer drivers made sure that all 13 of our members who requested rides didn't miss out on our annual summer tradition. Thanks to drivers, Diane Greenspun, Janean Mann, Bruce Exstrum, Gail Love, Merilee Janssen, Shanti Conly, Morgan Gopnik, and Sal Selvaggio!

As bowls and spoons are licked clean, and old-fashioned summertime contentment reigns, our clean-up crew (Roberta, Pete Senden, Elinor Stillman, Linda Lateana, and David Cohen) easily packs us all up and returns the space to its original form.

Our amazing volunteers--in addition to all they do for our individual members: providing rides, helping with computers, and delivering groceries--provide indispensable support for our events. As we continue to say, we simply cannot do any of this work without our volunteers!

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make our ice cream social a success! We hope you'll join us next summer!

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If you'd like to join our merry band, click here to learn more about volunteering and here to apply. It takes a Village!

Photos by Sal Selvaggio and Heather Hill

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