Mission Hills for the Holidays
By Jamaal Jackson, President, Mission Hills Business Improvement District and Assistant Vice President | Branch Manager U.S. Bank Mission Hills
For the Mission Hills Business Improvement District (BID), it is an exciting time of year with the Saturday after Thanksgiving Small Business Saturday having kicked off the Shop Small holiday season, the continuing Toys for Tots collections, and the installation of Grant School children’s hand painted art banners featuring our businesses. Mission Hills’ offering of small and large treasures has something for 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 might be just steps away. Local support for local businesses helps our neighborhood thrive. Remember, Holiday in the Hills, produced by Mission Hills Community Preservation, takes place from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, December 14 on the 1600 block of West Lewis Street with fun for all ages. Discover for yourself how much more our neighborhood has to offer this holiday season. As this column goes to press, the BID is on social promoting shopping small and local throughout the holiday season.
This is the third year the Mission Hills BID is collecting toys for Toys for Tots through a community-wide effort which continues through December 13. 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. So, when you are out shopping for family and friends, please pick up a toy for a child in need. Mission Hills businesses with collection boxes include Mission Hills Financial, 1633 West Lewis Street; Salon Sloane, 1605 West Lewis Street; Mail Station, 325 West Washington Street, Suite 2; State Farm Insurance, 1527 West Lewis Street; and U.S. Bank-Mission Hills, 610 West Washington Street. Also joining our effort, by hosting a Toys for Tots collection box, is the Mission Hills Library, located at 215 West Washington Street. Please visit one of the six locations to drop off new and unwrapped toys. All collection boxes will be picked up on Friday, December 13.
I am pleased to share Colors on Canvas has returned to Mission Hills. Thanks to Principal Michele Cain’s love for the project and to Art Coordinator/Artist-in-Residence Sarah Ekedal, the 70 banners are being hand painted by Grant UTK-8 School children in the Art Kitchen and overflowing into the school auditorium. I have seen their progress and I’m impressed. These 30 x 94-inch gigantic banners will be installed on lampposts throughout Mission Hills late-night on Sunday, December 22. Once installed, winning banners will be identified by a panel of judges and a celebration is being planned to take place on February 24, 2025. We hope the individual responsible for so generously gaining funds this year’s Colors on Canvas project will be able to join us so that we may all thank them.
For nearly four years I have been the branch manager at U.S. Bank Mission Hills. At the urging of my predecessor, early-on I became involved with the BID and I was just re-elected to the BID board of directors and also re-elected as its president. Joining me as officers of the board are Daniel Geddis of Team D&B at One Mission Realty as vice president; Amra Mulic. owner of All American Tailors, as secretary; and Sarah Church, co-owner of Pizza e Birra, as treasurer. Michael Metcalf of Metcalf Consulting was also re-elected to the board of directors. Jesse Zmuda of Backbone Floral and Marea Riedler, owner of A Designed Space, will be rounding out the board and returning to serve in 2025. I am pleased to be a part of this great team and thankful for the continuity and dedication as we advance the more than 440 businesses in the BID, along with our executive director Susan McNeil Schreyer.
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, in 2025 our BID meetings will continue to 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.
Mission Hills is a wonderful place for fun get-togethers with friends and family during the holidays. I look forward to seeing you in the neighborhood and wish you and yours a safe and abundant holiday season.
Category: Business, children, Donations, Events, family, Finance, Food, Government, Local News, Nonprofit, Restaurants, School, Students
