How it used to be

Thank you everyone who prayed for the Normandie/Brighton/Halldale Neighborhood Association last night. We had a really wonderful meeting. Fourteen adults and four kids gathered in our living room. Our senior lead officer was on vacation but we looked at the crime report together and talked about ways to improve policing on our blocks. One possibility is to stock a fridge at our local park with sodas and snacks, encouraging officers to come do their paperwork here!

God answered our prayers for a gathering that more fully represented the community here. Last night we had three attenders who spoke primarily Spanish, and our neighbor Ms. Eti provided translation for them. Please continue to pray for our group to work well together bilingually. Among the other attenders we had a good mix of bilingual Latin Americans, African Americans, Anglos and our housemate Heather representing for Chinese-Americans.

I think the most significant part of the meeting came after our discussion of crime, policing and upcoming local development projects. Our neighbor Louis, who has lived on Brighton for decades, shared about a recent interaction with a family at the end of his street. He had initiated a conversation with a young boy and the parents reacted with a lot of wariness. The conversation in our living room went something like this-

Louis: Back when I was a kid it was so different. Everyone knew everyone, and we all looked out for each others' kids.
Sandra: I think the closest we've come to that was the Harvest Carnival this year. That got everyone out doing something together.
Ana: I think getting together here tonight is a good first step.
Louis: But there's a lot more people who need to be here!
Ana: Well, what if we throw a potluck and invite everyone to come get to know each other...

So on September 14th our block club will be serving up hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and ice cream for anyone who wants to come. We were so encouraged by the group's eagerness to build a new kind of community here, and we're excited to see what will happen in September. Please keep praying for all of us who are part of this endeavor!