By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Barbara Brunner wants neighbors to be, well, neighborly.
That means everything from getting together for cookouts, going Christmas caroling, knowing which neighbor might be willing to share their mowing or shoveling or sewing skills, and reaching out when there is a birth or death.
“We need to help each other and be there for each other,” Brunner said. “We need to do community together.”
Brunner has hand delivered letters broaching the topic of forming a neighborhood group in a section of Bowling Green’s 4th Ward. She recently held a meeting with others interested in the idea – along with City Council members Jeff Dennis and Bill Herald.
Though she started out informally calling the group a neighborhood watch program, Brunner stressed that the purpose is not to spy on neighbors, policing the streets, or being responsible for anyone else’s property.
“It’s not policing your neighborhood. It’s just being neighborly,” Brunner said.
Brunner has experience in unifying neighborhoods. In 1998, she hand-delivered letters to about 150 homes in an area of Newark, Ohio. She started a one-page newsletter with information on places to turn for help or shared recipes.
“I got a huge response,” she said.
As a divorced mom with three children, facing homelessness at one time, Brunner knew the value of neighbors helping each other. The group became established and continued to grow, with social events that led residents getting to know people who lived down the block or a few streets over.
“I look back on that and I think, wow, that was really good,” she said.
Now, Brunner would like to try the same concept in Bowling Green. But the response has been slow in the section of the 4th Ward bordered by Wooster Street on the south, Haskins Road on the east, Conneaut Avenue on the north, and the area of Wood County Hospital on the west. After delivering letters to about 70 homes, the initial response was disappointing, she said.
“I hope more will get involved,” she said. “I expect this to blossom, but it’s going to be slowly. I think once they stick their toe in – they’ll jump in.”
At the first meeting of the group, Brunner explained the purpose of a neighborhood program:
- Getting to know neighbors who are elderly, living alone, dealing with illness or lacking necessities – then offering to help.
- Socializing together, at events like block parties, cookouts, holding holiday decorating contests or yard sales.
- Preparing for emergencies, like loss of power, big storms or home damage.
- Sending out monthly newsletters and holding monthly meetings. The newsletters could cover community events, inform people of recent crime in the neighborhood, and list a contact person at the BG Police Division. The letters could also offer gardening tips and recipes, and names of neighbors willing to mow, sew or babysit.
- Developing a “caring committee,” to distribute baskets welcoming new neighbors, deliver food for families facing funerals, new babies, weddings or other special events, and sending cards or flowers to neighbors.
Brunner’s efforts are fueled by her desire to link neighbors, and also by news coverage predicting pandemics, food shortages, and possible blackouts.
“I know it’s very needed,” she said. “This is needed all across America – just to know your neighbor.”
The newly formed 4th Ward group has been dubbed “Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” but Brunner said that name may change.
So far, every street except one in the designated area has a volunteer “captain,” who can be contacted by residents on that particular street who need help.
Brunner has collected surveys from the residents listing their ideas for the group.
“I will do what I can to make it happen,” she said.
