DCentric

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While in the process of learning more about local charities and non-profits this week, I spoke to Terri Freeman, President of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region as part of my research; I wanted to share part of her interview with you, because I think it illuminates a strategy for addressing one of the larger issues this blog was designed to explore– gentrification and the neighborhood tensions that come with it. I was merely asking Ms. Freeman for her take on “How to Help” this holiday season, but as she was speaking, I thought about how her words were just as relevant with regards to the changes that are remaking this city, block by block:

In addition to the five organizations you can give to or volunteer with, I would also suggest that people consider doing something nice for people in their own neighborhood. Be neighborly. If there are elderly people in your neighborhood, bring them something to eat (or help them with shoveling snow).

Believe it or not, in every neighborhood, there is probably somebody who can definitely use your help. You never know who might be watching what you say to somebody and the impact it can have on them.

I’m thinking back to several years ago when it was Christmas eve, and it was snowing. We were hit with Christmas spirit and decided to go caroling in the neighborhood…boy oh boy, did people look at us like we were aliens! And I think that’s because we have gotten away from doing those kind of community activities.

Either we are incredibly generous to non-profits– and don’t get me wrong…I think that’s wonderful, we can’t do enough— or we do a lot of giving to our own families. After all the gifts are open, I think, “Oh my, this is so over-the-top”. But that middle piece may be once you go beyond your family and say, “These are my neighbors. And this is one time of year we ought to be able to enjoy each others’ company, but I think we’ve gotten so far away from that. As I go in to this season, I am not focused on stuff, I am focused on how I can be helpful to people in my family, and outside of it, too. Experiences, not things are what I will remember. My kids still talk about that time we went caroling. Such experiences go a long way.

A lot of people want do more…they just don’t know where to start. It’s easy to start with friends and neighbors…and it’s better to do any little thing than nothing at all.

I read your comments and emails and I know it’s not as “easy” as being “neighborly”. But I also speak to residents who have been here for a generation or three, and I know that more than resentment over dog parks and bike lanes, or fears that they are being pushed aside, what hurts is the disdain (which, to be accurate, flows both ways). Will everyone start singing “Kumbaya”, if we shovel each others’ walkways? No. But gestures like that are what sustain a neighborhood, and create a community…and the holidays provide a natural opportunity for extra niceness, don’t they?