Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing a candidate from a local fellowship program to see whether she might like to spend her year working with DHC. She asked me one of the best questions I think I’ve ever been asked by an applicant:
What makes you excited about the work you do?
I had a pretty ready answer, and as Friday morning unfolded, it occurred to me that I was living out the very response I’d given her. Feels worth sharing, if only as my own gratitude practice.
On Friday, I was up and out of the office, leading as a neighbor.
First thing, coffee in hand, I met up with our Community School of Davidson TRADES students and their teacher at The Bungalows. Their extraordinary mentor Joe Grainda, founder of Grainda Builders, had already arrived, and was organizing tools and a makeshift site office on top of his tailgate.
The crew’s first assignment of the school year: tear down old, vinyl dumpster corrals and a deteriorating shed to make way for residential-scale trash service and an outdoor gathering and fitness area for DHC residents.
We’re three years into this partnership with CSD, and the crew streamed off the bus with purpose. Returning students were busy stepping into leadership roles, setting the pace for students who are new to the course. Bearing witness to students as they take charge of their learning is its own privilege.
As the hammers started swinging, I headed on to my next two stops: meeting with West Davidson homeowners, who had invited us into their homes to talk about our Neighbors’ Hands repair initiative. Alf Badgett, lead volunteer in this dynamic partnership with Davidson’s faith community, joined me at both homes to listen, take notes, and start making a connection.
Every Neighbors’ Hands project is fashioned as a partnership between a homeowner with an unresolved repair, maintenance, or safety concern and neighbors who can offer the skills to address it. As projects move forward and relationships develop, word spreads among neighbors who reach out and invite us in. We’re committed to making sure that Neighbors’ Hands nurtures the seeds of trust those initial invitations sow.
Building trust with and between neighbors is as much a restorative endeavor as the no-cost, no-strings repairs Neighbors’ Hands aims to make. In the process, a dialogue takes shape that often touches on family histories and the stories we all carry about what makes a house a home. Snacks and meals are prepped and shared. The resulting sense of common ground and shared purpose helps the work projects take on an almost festive air. And each introductory visit—like the ones I made Friday—carries so much promise about what we all stand to gain.
Home visits finished, I looped back to The Bungalows, hoping to catch the CSD crew before they called it a day. I arrived to find our property manager and more than a handful of residents, sweeping porches and sidewalks, chatting, laughing, and taking the measure of the activity underway at the far end of the lot. Once again, I could see the feelers going out and the connections taking root. The boys may be focused on building a pergola, but it’s the community-building they’re doing along the way that feels irreplaceable.
And so went the rest of the day. A tour of the neighborhood with a foundation employee who wanted her own chance to take in the view from Sloan Street. Drop-ins and drive-bys from DHC residents and neighbors who just wanted to say “hi” or check in. Even as storm clouds started to gather and thunder began to rumble in the distance, the events of the day radiated light.
Am I energized by the sense of belonging and purpose that comes from leading an organization predicated on the act of being neighborly? You bet I am!