Mission Hills – A Must for the Holidays
By Jamaal Jackson, President, Mission Hills Business Improvement District and Assistant Vice President | Branch Manager U.S. Bank Mission Hills
It is an exciting time of year for the Mission Hills Business Improvement District (BID), with the Saturday after Thanksgiving Small Business Saturday kicking off the Shop Small holiday season, Toys for Tots collections and our annual election of directors and officers. As this column goes to press, the BID is on social promoting shopping small and local throughout the holiday season. Mission Hills’ selection of small and large treasures has something to offer even the hardest to please person on your list. Before you go online or head to the mall, consider our local businesses and whether that special gift awaits you. Local support for local businesses helps our neighborhood thrive. And, Holiday in the Hills, produced by Mission Hills Community Preservation, takes place on Saturday, December 9 on the 1600 block of West Lewis Street with fun for all ages, plus a very sought after Santa and a professional photographer. Discover for yourself how much more our neighborhood has to offer this holiday season.
This is the second year the Mission Hills BID is collecting toys for Toys for Tots through a community-wide effort from Monday, November 20 through Thursday, December 14. Toys for Tots in San Diego County collects new toys for children up to age 12 and helps to distribute the toys through 250 non-profit organizations. All toy donations must be new and unwrapped. Mission Hills businesses with collection boxes, include Lewis|Fay at 1620 West Lewis Street; M-Theory at 827 West Washington Street; Mission Hills Nursery at 1525 Fort Stockton Drive; State Farm Insurance at 1527 West Lewis Street; Thorn Brewing Company-Mission Hills at 4026 Hawk Street, Suite A; and, U.S. Bank-Mission Hills at 610 West Washington Street. Please visit one of the six locations to drop off a new and unwrapped toy. All collection boxes will be picked up on Thursday, December 14.
On my arrival as Branch Manager at U.S. Bank Mission Hills, nearly three years ago, I learned that two of my U.S. Bank predecessors served as treasurer of the Mission Hills BID. One of them even hired me back in 2008. I was elected to the BID board of directors and served as its treasurer and later as its vice president. I tossed my hat into the ring this election cycle and was recently elected president, along with Daniel Geddis of Team D&B at One Mission Realty as vice president; Amra Mulic owner of All American Tailor as secretary; and Sarah Mattia co-owner of Pizza e Birra as treasurer. Jesse Zmuda of Backbone Floral was re-elected to the board of directors, joined by Marea Riedler owner of A Designed Space who was elected to her first term. I am pleased to be a part of this great team! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Daniel Geddis, for his tireless service as immediate past president of the BID and for his keen interest in pop culture and news and for his dedication to advancing the BID through 21st Century technology. Thankfully he is continuing on the BID board.
I have met many of you. For those I have not yet met, I’d like to share a little about my journey and how I ended up in Mission Hills and on the BID board. I was born and raised in San Diego. My first job in banking started in 2008 at San Diego National Bank (SDNB) in Point Loma. In 2009, SDNB was bought by U.S. Bancorp the publicly traded parent company of U.S. Bank, and my career began. U.S. Bank is what you’ll see on branch doorways, app stores, national television commercials and much more. At U.S. Bank, we are here to help you along your financial way. Whatever your goals – large or small – our dedicated banking team is determined to help you make it possible.
If you own a business in the Mission Hills Business Improvement District, I invite you to join in the important work and the informative fun at the BID committee meetings focused on Promotions, Economic Development, Design, Maintenance and the Parking and Transportation Citizens Advisory Committee on the second Wednesday of each month and the BID board of directors’ meetings on the third Wednesday of each month. Thanks to the generosity of the Mission Hills library staff, our BID meetings take place in the library’s Community Room. Please visit our website at http://www.MissionHillsBID.com/meetings-and-agendas to view past meeting agendas and minutes and gain a flavor for all we do in support of Mission Hills businesses.
For those of us with young children, the holidays are especially fun with family get-togethers and more toys than I ever received as a child in an entire year. Sound familiar?
I look forward to seeing you in the neighborhood and wish you and yours a safe and abundant holiday season.
Category: Business, Donations, Education, Events, Finance, Holidays, Local News, Nonprofit, Restaurants, Volunteers
