A Gift for her Neighbors on "Good Neighbor Day"
Stafford resident hopes to create a sense of community for her neighborhood and herself with a special project.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
When ten residents of Skyline or Deep Run in the Hartwood district of Stafford collect their mail today, they’ll find envelopes addressed “To my neighbor.”
Inside each is a $25 gift card to 6 Bears and a Goat Brewing, as well as a typed note.
“September 28 is National Good Neighbor Day,” the notes read. “I am one of your neighbors … and I want to celebrate with you. Through this gift, I hope to motivate others to share the neighborly spirit by getting to know those who live among us.”
The cards are signed simply, “Your neighbor.”
For the neighbor behind these anonymous gifts, the endeavor she’s calling “The Skyline Project” is a way to help herself feel more a part of the community. She moved to the Hartwood area of Stafford five years ago from suburban Florida to get married and said it’s taken her time to feel connected.
“It feels very rural here,” the neighbor told the Advance. [Editor’s note: Since the point of the Skyline Project is anonymity, we are not using her name.] “I’ve always lived in places that were very suburban and I could walk places. Here, you don’t really get to know your neighbors. I was actually surprised to see how many people live on my street, according to maps.”
Without children, it can be hard for adults to feel connected to a new place without the shared experience of having kids in school together, she said.
Recently, the neighbor picked up the book This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place you Live by Melody Warnick.
Warnick writes about the same experience of struggling to connect to a new place. She vows to fall in love with her new home, no matter what. She researches “place attachment”—that sense of having put down roots—and talks with people about what draws them to a new city and what makes them stay.
Then, Warnick applies what she learned to her new home of Blacksburg, Virginia.
The Stafford neighbor started doing the things Warnick recommended—eating at local restaurants, shopping at local boutiques—and inspired by the book, she came up with the idea for the Skyline Project.
She selected 6 Bears and a Goat as the business she would support because it is local to Stafford, as well as being veteran-owned and military friendly.
When she explained what she wanted to do, the business was eager to participate and gave her a 20% discount on the purchase price of the 10 gift cards.
“We chose to participate in the project for Good Neighbor Day because we believe in fostering a strong sense of community,” said Lindsey Heppner, director of marketing and brand development for 6 Bears and a Goat. “It’s important to us to give back, connect with our neighbors, and create a positive impact together. Building relationships and supporting one another is what makes our community thrive.”
The neighbor said she isn’t signing her name on the notes because that isn’t the point of the experiment.
“The message is, ‘In these divisive times, I just want to share a gift with you, and I hope that you’ll enjoy it and take it for what it is, and that when you’re out and about, you remember your neighbors,” she said.
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