So part of my job is to promote this idea of "Neighboring" in the community that I'm serving. Essentially, the premise is that in low-income communities volunteerism is not often exhibited through one-day beautification events or alternative spring break groups, but by neighbors helping neighbors when needed. This type of volunteerism often isn't recognized or rewarded as being a true foundation for building community. "Volunteering" may not necessarily resonate with local residents, perhaps due to its association with out-of-town philanthropy or maybe due to it's association with court-ordered community service. My job is to try to tap into residents' motivations for neighboring and come up with ways for them to use their talents and skills on a broader scale to transform their neighborhoods.
This idea of neighboring has caused me to reflect on examples I've faced in my own life. The most recent one occurred just yesterday morning, when I made a request for a pick-up truck via Facebook so I could donate my futon for a Boys Hope Girls Hope fundraiser. I received a few responses: one friend suggested U-Haul, another offered his mini-pick-up, and a third expressed that he would have offered if he had one. The second respondent came through, and he graciously drove to my house from Metairie, helped me load his truck, and then dropped off the futon at the Boys Hope Girls Hope house. As someone who is now living off of a volunteer stipend, I don't necessarily have the luxury of renting a truck as I did with my Shell salary. So this simple act of helping out a friend in need really resonated with me and made me reflect on what volunteering means. Although my friend technically did "volunteer" to deliver my futon, Iwould not necessarily have seen it as such -- the term that most immediately came to mind was "helping out" and now, "neighboring".
This experience coupled with an article that offers a reflection on contacts versus friends then led me to think about social capital and my own struggles to identify those who are truly my friends versus those who are mere acquaintances. During my discernment on whether or not to leave Shell, I really struggled with the prospect of potentially losing social capital that I had gained through my networks established there. I had already felt a loss of connection with my JustFaith group after program completion, which subconsciously set the precedence of what to expect if I terminated my employment with Shell. A lot of it was due to personal insecurities and lack of faith in my friendships, and it manifested itself in some rather self-destructive behaviors, which I am thankful have not surfaced since I made my decision to accept my AmeriCorps offer.
In Fr. Mark Mossa's reflection, he alludes to situations in which:
"a person whom we may have thought only an acquaintance or whom we hesitated to let get to close to us for some reason, really came through for us in the way a friend should (and maybe in a way other “friends” failed to)."I found this especially to be the case during my discernment process. Although some people that I thought that I could have depended on weren't present, some surprising friendships developed out of the whole experience (and I think other friendships deepened, as well), and I am so grateful that those people were in my life during that time. I don't think I would have gotten through it without you all.
This journey has thus brought me one step closer to having faith in God regarding social capital. Ultimately, what brought me peace in deciding to give up such a lucrative job for a service position is the trust that no matter what happens, God will bring someone into my life who will support me. He or she may not always be the person that I want it to be, but will be the person that I need.
Transitioning these reflections to my present situation, there have been mixed perceptions regarding residents' bank of social capital in the neighborhood I'm serving. Although there are little pockets of networks throughout the neighborhood, I get the sense that many people are somewhat on their own, and the "barn-raising" mentality seems to be lost. One resident told me that decades ago, people were very well networked in the neighborhood. Over time, residents move away for various reasons, and older residents have not necessarily made an effort to reach out to newer ones (and vice versa). For only a fleeting few months, I experienced an induced fear and isolation of not having a network to depend on. I cannot imagine what it feels like to live day in and day out struggling to make ends meet and doing it alone. I'm hoping that somehow over the next 10 1/2 months, I can contribute to the movement to create a community where people do not face this isolation. It's bad enough that people live in poverty, in neighborhoods rife with blight and crime -- why should it be made worse by them going through it alone?
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