Admit it: Your neighborhood isn’t like Mister Rogers’s. You don’t know the name of your postal carrier or beat cop, or even the person who lives next door. But why shouldn’t you? These people who occupy the orbit of your house have the potential to turn an otherwise dull domestic existence into the rich experience we used to know as community.
We’d like to help return some of that richness. Henceforth, the last Sunday in April (that’s April 25 this year) will be known as Neighbor Day, a national—hell, global—celebration of the people with whom we share space. It’s about potlucks and having face-to-face interactions with the people around you. It’s about taking care of your streets and supporting your local shops. It’s about getting to know the people around you that you may not notice every other day of the year. We’ll be celebrating with our neighbors at GOOD. We hope you join us.
All you have to do to make it happen is participate. Bake a cake, lend your lawn mower, or borrow some sugar. Whatever you do, just tell us about it, and help make this real.
The Objective
Help us create a new holiday called Neighbor Day.
The Assignment
Make a public commitment to Neighbor Day plans. Will you host a dinner? Start a lemonade stand? Stage a barn raising? It should be a day of block parties, yard sales, trading stuff, and barbecues. It should happen on sidewalks, front lawns, and on side streets. No traveling allowed; the idea is to know and enjoy the company of your immediate neighbors.
The Requirements
Leave your pledge in the comment field, send your commitments to projects@goodinc.com, or tweet @GOOD with hashtag #neighborday10.
Thanks to Gene Benjamin Baker for suggesting the idea via our Facebook page.
This article first appeared in GOOD Issue 19: The Neighborhoods Issue. You can read more from the issue here, or find out what it's all about by reading the introduction.
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