Like many people I thought it was a great idea to connect with my neighbours and start living in a community instead of just a street, but I hadn’t got around to it. With Neighbour Day approaching on March 29 I bit the bullet and dropped an invitation for morning tea in my apartment in the letterboxes of all the people (owners and renters) in my building.
Fourteen neighbours came along, many meeting for the first time. We haven’t looked back! Every month or so we have morning tea in different apartments, with 10 to 20 people coming each time. We now have 25 neighbours wanting to connect out of 42 units. We have a list of activities neighbours would like to do with each other and contact details – some are playing bridge or table tennis together and we are bringing in composting. What blew me away was that someone suggested the idea that if a neighbour was unwell they’d be happy to help with shopping or something, and 10 people put their names to that! I think many of us are more than happy to help our neighbours – we just need to know them first.
One talented neighbour made the corridor on her floor an art exhibition for neighbours to come and see her beautiful paintings. Carin said, “This was the first time I showed my neighbours my work and I was really surprised at the interest and connection that it generated. It definitely helped increase the feeling of community. I shall definitely do it again!”
My wonderful neighbour Pat, who I met when searching for the source of a flute playing, is sharing the connecting role with me for our building and it’s great having someone to bounce ideas around with and share the organising.
We are looking forward to creating more opportunities to connect and share.
Irene Opper
St Kilda, Victoria
Wow! You’re doing such a fabulous job Irene.
We are organising monthly Finniss Films nights at our place. The first two have been nice, but not many new people turning up (yet). Another couple to close out the year and we’ll take stock of how they’re going. If we can get 10 to 20 people to turn up we’ll be very pleased!