Use our Message Board to post your story about National Neighborhood Day!
Jess in Waterford, Vermont:
“What a wonderful afternoon! I've never been so glad I made the effort to do anything else in my life! I really think this is going to change the way we all live here.... I can't tell you how many times I heard: "I've lived here for X years and I really didn't know most of these people." I heard a lot of people setting up play dates, family trips, dinners, etc. I was even involved in a few of them. There were also a few teens here who let everyone know they babysit or do yard work, etc. So now families have new sitters and the older folks know which families are willing to help them shovel out after a big storm, or who has a chainsaw and can come cut up that tree that fell across their driveway! It's been a really great experience! Everyone keeps saying what a great time they had, and now I can drive up and down my road and actually know most of the people I see! It's a really great feeling!”
Founder Lorne Adrain, Providence, Rhode Island:
”We used the invite from the website and put it in mailslots of houses two blocks in each direction from our house (about 200 houses). We had about 60 people come to our first gathering. At that gathering, we put together a neighborhood list using the template on the NND site and circulated it to the neighborhood. Many people who were unable to be at the gathering e-mailed their information to add to the list. What followed was truly inspiring….one otherwise shy woman used the list to get a small handful of people interested in improving the playground down the street and they secured a $50,000 grant to get it done! Another neighbor used the list to get 20 neighbors to sign up to get new trees planted in front of their houses (the trees would be given to them, but owners would have to promise to take care of them). This beautified the entire neighborhood. Another person organized a tool-sharing network. Another put together a baby-sitting list. Another organized a neighborhood yard-sale where the proceeds supported a local soup kitchen. Many keys were exchanged. Many more parties are held in the neighborhood. Many kids were signed up for snow shoveling jobs. Many people have used the list to make invitations to all kinds of events. Perhaps most simply, but importantly, the list is a reference tool – to remember the name of the guy I see down the street every morning, to remember that the woman down the street is ill and needs people to keep in touch with her, to inspire us to reach out to others who have an interest in common with me and/or a need that I can help with.”