Three months later, three times bigger! Tuesdays Together

January 21st was our first Tuesdays Together and three months later what began with 25 neighbors is grown to more than 300 neighbors in the Wheaton area,participating in mutual support and accessing services that our resources partners offer.

First Tuesdays Together, three months ago.

The mutual support tool has demonstrated our neighbors that by meeting and knowing our neighbors and supporting each other we can accomplish great things.

Three months later, three times bigger!

Thanks to Catholic Charities and many resources partners these three months have been of great support for our neighbors and their families. Many neighbors have accessed health services, food stamps, rent assistance and found jobs thanks to our mutual support.

We will keep on door knocking, having our neighbors circles and using mutual support  as tools to engage our neighbors to each other.

See you TUESDAY!

Ready, Set, Action Plan!

Last Saturday was our last Saturday session of Gaithersburg Neighbor Corps and we came up with an exciting action plan for the group to move forward together!

Judy, Sabina and Betty having fun brainstorming

After discussing our passions and what we care about and looking at the vision we had made at Session 3, we brainstormed different action steps that would address the issues we cared about and bring us closer to our vision for a better Gaithersburg.

The action that we came up with was to use the Neighborhood Service Center to hold our Neighbors for Neighbors meetings that have been happening every Thursday for about 4 months and once a month hold a small Neighbors Exchange! The Exchange will be about only one topic (either health care, employment, emergency services, etc.) and participants from Neighbor Corps will be responsible for door knocking to bring new people in. Some participants will also be resource partners for specific topics or will bring in an expert to provide information or answer questions.

Participants also shared their feelings about the group and how it has helped them feel more connected, heal some past pain, and just make them more empowered to lead others. See below for some other comments on what participants learned while doorknocking!

Won’t you be my neighbor?

After a flurry of doorknocking on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, Neighbor Corps held their Neighbors Exchange at the humongous Upper County Community Center last Wednesday night.

Almost all of the 25 Neighbor Corps participants were there, greeting new people, setting up food or the room, or making sure people felt welcome. We had about 25 new people show up as well!

What made it really special was for the doorknockers to see the people that they met door-knocking! George had knocked on Tasha’s door and while she wasn’t in need of services, as she was already receiving health care assistance from the county, he asked her to come to share her story of how it was working for her, and she showed up!

Then, Paula and Sam, a resident of Mineral Springs neighborhood, really connected in the health care circle. Sam had discovered that he could get his expensive prescription medications much cheaper in Canada than here and shared his information with the group. He and Paula then had a great conversation about health care reform.

Another connection that was made was when a Hispanic woman met with JoAnn Barnes because she had heard incorrect information that if she was receiving services and was a single mother, the government could take away her kids! Luckily, by talking to JoAnn, she got the right information and was very relieved. You could see by her grateful smile that a burden had been lifted off her shoulders!

Since we only had time for everyone to sit in one circle, many people were asking, “when’s the next meeting?” Tim announced to the group that the Gaithersburg Neighbors for Neighbors meets on Thursday nights at St. Martin’s Church and invited everyone to join us there. And 6 people showed up the next day!

What did you think about the Neighbors Exchange?

Knock knock! Who’s there? It’s Neighbor Corps!

Two Saturdays ago, for Gaithersburg Neighbor Corps, we went out doorknocking for the first time as a group!

Some people were a little nervous about talking to strangers-how would they react to someone knocking on their door? Would they be willing to talk to us or would they just slam the door in our faces?

We paired up and went to Mineral Springs, Parklane Apartments and townhomes, Camp Hill Square and Emory Grove Village to talk to people about their concerns and to invite them to our Neighbors Exchange at the Upper County Community Center.

We ended up knocking on over 200 doors and had about 65 one-on-one conversations!

When debriefing afterwards, our doorknockers were amazed at how receptive people were and how openly they shared their lives with them. There were still some language barriers, even though we tried to have at least one Spanish speaker and one English speaker together, but overall everyone had fun!

So next time you hear a knock on your door, how will you respond?