Your Community Needs YOU!

What does it mean to be a part of the community?

According to Oxford Languages, the definition of “community” is “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals”.

To create this sense of fellowship, we must work collectively toward the same goal. What every community need is to

• Care for its people,
• Keep our streets clean,
• and create an environment for future generations to thrive.

But where do we start?

Caring for the people of our community

It’s easy to allow the distractions of controversy to divide us amongst the people who live right next door to us. We may often find ourselves walking by a familiar face, smiling, and saying “hi, how are you?” … only to just continue walking without waiting for their response. But what if we really took an interest in how someone was doing? How long would it take for you to stop and listen? Imagine someone taking a couple minutes to reconnect with you, and how that would make you feel. The easiest way to care for one another is just to engage each other.

Once you have mastered the art of engagement, it’s time to take it a step further:

• Volunteer at a local community center, church or non-profit organization,
• Donate clothing to a shelter before dropping items at a big box, profitable business,
• Attend events that are raising money that gives back locally,
• or research other non-profit organizations that you can donate monetarily if you don’t have the ability to give your time.

Clean up our Neighborhoods

Have you ever heard a child ask, “What does it mean to adopt a road? Does that mean we can own a street?” Adopting a road is one of the many ways you can take advantage of keeping our streets safe from pollution. You may also consider:

• Changing your waste habits to a more environmentally friendly approach. Reduce, reuse, and recycle is the smartest way to make that change.
• Love our space coast beaches? Me too! You can easily bring a reusable grocery bag to collect litter from our shores while you are enjoying a nice stroll with your toes in the sand.
• Make a bigger impact by reaching out to local organizations that are researching ways to protect our lagoons, preserve our wildlife, and/or creating ecofriendly enhancements.

Help our Future Generations to Thrive

We must practice what we preach. If you have ever been a parent of a teenager, you’ll agree that it seems like our kids may not want to do anything what their parents may say. However, we are leaving more of an impact on our youth than we may even realize. Just like we did, our kids will typically end up mirroring the same habits we have. So, let’s be sure to imprint positive, and impactful acts of kindness and caring for one another on the future of our community.

The old saying “it takes a village to raise a child” is more relevant today than ever. With changes to our economy, we are seeing more and more multi-family homes. We are also seeing that people have shifted their work schedules to accommodate the economic price increases. This means we need to support one another when it comes to caring for our young people and caring for our elderly too.

I am an active board member for Aging Matters and weekly driver for Meals on Wheels. Since my time being involved, I have encouraged my colleagues to come once a month to pack meals for the elderly and children who are unable to receive a hot meal every day at home. It brings me such joy to be able to meet with the seniors on my route each week, engage them in conversations and to know they are okay. For some of them, my visit may be the only time they receive attention from outside their homes and doctor visits.

Another organization I’m passionate about is The Haven for Children. The office I work for, Realty World Curri Properties, hosts events throughout the year raising money to support children who have been either abused, neglected, or abandoned, and are replaced into loving homes that are supporting their education and livelihoods.

These are just a few of the many local organizations that are giving back to our community. I challenge you to find one that best suits your interests and lifestyle, even if it’s something you are doing on your own, or with a collective of likeminded people to get involved in making a difference in your local neighborhood.