I'd initially intended on continuing the theme I discussed last month—about asking yourself what you'd do to feel more alive if two or more neighbors joined you—but I'm sharing part of my friend's LinkedIn post instead:
“…if you don't already know your neighbors, reach out now. We know many of ours and have a text thread and those relationships are invaluable at times like these.”
The “times like these” she's referring to are times of emergency: Her town was hit HARD by storms spawned by Hurricane Helene.
Extreme weather isn't going anywhere any time soon.
But by the time it's forecast to hit, it's too late to start collecting phone numbers of neighbors you can join forces with.
Even if you don't live in an area at special risk for extreme weather events, “everyday” emergencies happen everywhere all the time:
Recently, my neighbor called to ask if I was in. I was. She asked if her 12-year-old son who was at home alone could come over to my place because their apartment was full of noxious fumes. Yes, he could.
That couldn't have occurred on the spur of the moment.
It could occur because the mom and I had each other's phone numbers and a relationship: she knows me well enough to entrust me with her son, and he knows me well enough to feel comfortable hanging out on my sofa.
And had they needed to spend the night until the fumes dissipated, we could have made that happen too.
How did we get to that point?
In fairness, it took time, but it started with a hello, exchanging small gifts, then telephone numbers, then favors.
“…if you don't already know your neighbors, reach out now.”
You could even use extreme weather as a starting point for approaching people. For example, you could leave notes under neighbors' doors saying, “I'm starting a WhatsApp group for extreme weather situations. Wanna join?”
I once invited my neighbors to supply emergency contacts and was surprised by how many did. In my case, I sent the invite using email addresses I got in response to my flyer promising to share relevant neighborhood news.
Once I made the emergency contact list, I gave it to the president of my condo's homeowner's association.
I'll confess that I was inspired to do this it out of self-interest:
I was new in Georgia and living alone. Had something happened to me on a Saturday, my family couldn't or wouldn't have been notified until I didn't show up for work on Monday, and I didn't like the thought of that.
Me, I have this thing about wanting someone close by to know what's going on with me, and having a neighbor or two to call when stuff goes sideways.
If you do too, it's your task to do something about it.
