#374: How Are You Helping Your Neighborhood?

"No man is so poor as to have nothing worth giving: as well might the mountain streamlets say they have nothing to give the sea because they are not rivers. Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think." -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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In her blog Monday at www.sparkpeople.com/mypa
ge_public_journal_individu
al.asp?blog_id=3425861 , Lori (MOMMA_LITTLE) wrote about starting a trash pick up/recycling effort in her neighborhood in Texas. It is merely one effort at improving a neighborhood. What are you doing to make yours a better place to live?

In my neighborhood, the city has been installing new streetlights and sidewalks and planting beautiful blooming trees. The Orlando Magic chose our area's recreational center for improvements to the game room and gym. A web site is up and running, a neighborhood cookout is planned to celebrate National Light Out on August 3rd.

We now have a new commissioner, new association president and new board members who finally envision the successes possible with creative and innovative thinking. Our neighborhood youth programs are strong and and the center is a vibrant place with computers, big screen TVs, free computer, sign language and other classes, lunches for the elderly through a city seniors program, and more. And we're not a wealthy neighborhood.

I realize this may be a boring read for many yet I hope some readers might be inspired to form an association and then to work with the board members to improve their neighborhoods. Ours is not a homeowners association for we do have have deeds and covenant restrictions but is an association to better where we live.

And, as I have seen recently, with partnerships with the police and local businesses, it is becoming a place where pride of home ownership is once again making a comeback, where the kids don't hang out in the streets but in the gym playing basketball or in the game room or weight room. It is a place where newcomers are welcomed and where the elderly are looked after. Many residents recycle and, like Lori, pick up stray trash on their daily walks.

What can you do to improve your neighborhood? What programs can you help start for the kids? How can you assist your elderly neighbors? How can you work with your commissioner to make your neighborhood safer? What effort can you offer to help at your area schools?

We all spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to get in shape in order to lead better lives. Isn't spending a few hours a month also worth the effort to improve where we live? Won't you consider becoming active in your association or forming one to work on behalf of you and your neighbors?

All of these efforts make me proud to live here. Of course, I'd prefer having a beach cottage and a mountain cabin but at least we now have streetlights.