[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Q3Sa4lzNs&w=560&h=315] Dawn shared her story of the impact Mount Olivet is having at Parkside apartments. Last year a small group of Mount Olivet members wanted to connect in community with our neighbors living in the apartment buildings just behind us. Over the year they've hosted events at Parkside and here at Mount Olivet in an effort to help foster community within the apartments, and a neighborly relationship between Mount Olivet and Parkside.
Dawn had never been to Mount Olivet last January when she attended one of our first potlucks at Parkside. She has since joined the Good Neighbors team and has become the go-to community event organizer at Parkside. Her involvement has helped build relationships between apartment neighbors who didn't know each other previously, and to grow the community bond between Mount Olivet and the residents!
Not shown in the video is her relaying the experiences of many people at Parkside who find themselves lonely and yearning for community. Dawn sees hope in the faces of the people who now recognize her in the hallways and stop to ask when the next community supper or bonfire is coming up. The Good Neighbors group isn't at Parkside to recruit new members or bring them to church; they're living the idea of being community together.