Are you ready to join a movement that is making communities better, one neighborhood at a time? If so, National Good Neighbor Day (NGND) is the time to begin! On Saturday, September 28, neighborly activities will be taking place around the country. To help you in your neighborhood, The Hopeful Neighborhood Project (HNP) wants to energize and simplify your efforts at making the place where you live a better place to be.
To make your good neighboring a bit easier, HNP manages a website, nationalgoodneighborday.org. It is full of tips, insights, and FREE resources to maximize your NGND efforts. After you watch the introductory video, you'll be inspired-and surprised-at how easy being a good neighbor can be! To get you going, a series of Getting Started Guides offer resources and ideas for libraries, local governments, neighborhoods and HOAs, and faith communities. An introductory Good Neighbor Guide is recommended for all.
To stoke the fires of your neighborliness, the website offers compelling stories of people in action, serving their neighbors and enriching their communities. Excellent ideas are offered in "101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City." There are enough suggestions here to satisfy any would-be neighborhood improver for years. But if you somehow needed more, the University of Missouri Extension's Engaged Neighboring Program has you covered with its own "101 Acts of Neighboring."
There are TED Talk videos on neighboring; Love Your Neighborhood workshop videos from HNP; how-to resources on meeting your neighbors, planning neighborhood projects, and throwing a block party; as well as downloadable bingo cards and coloring pages. The website also features interesting details about the history and formation of NGND. Those needing supplies can get them from the HNP store.
"Being a good neighbor doesn't have to complicated," says Jennifer Prophete, director of The Hopeful Neighborhood Project. "God's command for loving our neighbors and our neighborhoods is very clear in the Bible, and it starts in Genesis. He directs Adam to care for the Garden of Eden and the people in it. Your neighbors-your neighborhood-are your little "gardens of Eden." In other words, caring for the place you live is fulfilling God's earliest call and purpose for humankind. So, on September 28, if you don't know any neighbors, see if you can meet just one, or one you've never met. It all starts with hello," she adds.