Isobel White shares how reaching out to neighbors helped build a stronger community.
I’ve been hearing a lot about the importance of mutual aid, of building community so that we can help each other when things get tough, whether due to fire, earthquake, or just…2025. My neighborhood does pretty well: we have a Google group, some disaster supplies and a longstanding Halloween block party. But I wanted to do more.
I talked with my neighbor who is a busy mom with a full-time job. “How about holiday decorating?” So, I sent out a note on our Google group. “Come get hot chocolate.”
On Friday morning, we set up a table in our driveway and plugged in the crockpot. Lesson One: it takes a long time to heat up milk in a crockpot. Lesson Two: just being outside our houses helps. Over the next few hours, at least 25 neighbors stopped by. It took longer to decorate – but so what? Lesson Three: you never know when you might be needed. That afternoon, I heard my neighbor yell out “hey, watch it!” A car had just driven by, narrowly missing an elderly woman who was pushing a cart down the middle of the street.
I watched as my two neighbors, gingerly suggested to the woman that she move onto the sidewalk. Turned out she was on her way to the food pantry a few blocks away. A neighbor offered to drive her there. She came back later saying that the pantry had been closed, but she had given the woman her number and offered to drive her on Monday.