Be the Spark in Your Neighborhood With a Small Investment of Time and Energy

 

Kurt Kaiser's song "Pass It On" has stuck with me since childhood. That song includes the phrase, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.”

I've always believed that one of my purposes in life is to be a spark – to light the fire that inspires others – and that theme runs through much of what I do.

The idea of passing it on or being a spark has been applied to many other topics. More recently, for me, the spark applies to neighboring.

In 2022, the Greene County MU Extension Council agreed to provide mini-grants for neighborhood events in order to provide a spark. We were trying to jumpstart a local neighboring movement. Ultimately, the council provided $5,000 for 18 different neighborhood projects.

I checked in with some of those projects recently to see if the spark has helped to light other embers and what inspiration the work has provided for others.

DOWNTOWN SPARK

“The whole experience has been quite magical. Crazy what a bunch of sunflowers in downtown can do,” said Alyssa Lindsay, a resident of downtown Springfield.

Lindsay originally turned an empty downtown lot into a sunflower garden in 2022. Then, in 2023, the garden had to move. MU Extension helped fund both gardens and offered horticulture and soil advice.

But Lindsay was the spark that made the project happen.

Lindsay said she saw downtown businesses sharing updates on the sunflowers on social media, which prompted people to walk downtown, take pictures, and even shop.

“There were daily posts on Instagram tagging us while posing at the sunflowers, which was so great to see everyone enjoying and being excited about them,” said Lindsey.

She says seeing posts like "they bring light and joy to the area" or "brightened up my day,” made the work worthwhile.

The project also seemed to unite people. Lindsey began with an idea but accomplished it with the help of many volunteers who planted, watered, and built fences. She now has long-term partnerships with the Drury Think Green student organization and Optimal Health Acupuncture,

The top benefit of the sunflowers is that it gave downtown residents something pretty to look at during walks. But the flowers also helped soak up water runoff during rains, provided a backdrop for photographers, and benefited tons of bees and yellow finches.

“I may be the leader of this project, but the community as a whole is what makes this sunflower garden happen,” said Lindsey. “I think the effort helped to provide a sense of place and belonging downtown too.”

SPARK FOR LADIES

One Springfieldian approached MU Extension about providing some startup monies for a Bunco group for neighborhood ladies. After an initial meeting to discuss, I approved the funding.

One year later, the organizer wrote me: “I feel like making small connections, like with a Bunco group, makes more people invested in the neighborhood.”

Although this grant recipient prefers to be unnamed in this article, she reports seeing new connections and neighborhood benefits.

“Just from that little Bunco group I started with your help, we had around 12-13 volunteers help with our neighborhood’s 4th of July event this year when the same four or five people have put it on in the past,” she said.

FESTIVAL SPARK

Grant funds helped to underwrite some of the costs involved with the Brentwood Neighborhood Association putting on a business festival in their park.

Brentwood Neighborhood Association president Mert Seaton says the festival had an immediate impact because attendees got to learn more about local businesses and discovered some businesses they didn’t know existed.

But the spark he and other neighborhood event organizers provided has done more than create a one-time event.

“Our business festival made more people in our neighborhood aware of the neighborhood association,” said Seaton. “And some of the non-active neighbors are now major participants in the neighborhood because they saw some of what we could accomplish.”

OVER 55 SPARK

Carolyn Burnett is the Portfolio Manager for Humble Abode Properties which owns the Ingram Mill Villa’s 55+ community. She inquired about a mini-grant to re-develop a community vegetable garden inside the complex.

The complex received some horticulture advice as well as a guide on successful community gardens. The funds helped to repair the raised beds.

“The grant made it possible for us to reopen the vegetable garden,” said Burnett. “The garden gave other residents a reason to get outside, to walk to the garden to gather fresh vegetables and herbs, meet new neighbors, and create friendships around the shared experience of gardening.”

SPARK OF INSPIRATION

Entire neighborhood association boards can also be a spark.

In 2022, the Greene County MU Extension office sponsored a new Inspiration Award at the Neighborhood Organization Volunteer Awards (NOVA) awards hosted in December by the City of Springfield and Community Partnership of the Ozarks.

The Inspiration Award goes to a neighborhood association that inspires others to create lasting positive change.

The 2022 winning association set an inspiring example of what a neighborhood association can accomplish. Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association created a resource that allows residents to view development, real estate, crime, and nuisance data. They successfully organized and hosted a family-friendly event in partnership with several organizations known as Dirt Day. And they engage many volunteers for their annual neighborhood clean-up day.

“We're so grateful to have received this award. It is a recognition for all of our volunteers that make things happen in Woodland Heights,” said Becky Volz, association president.

BE THE SPARK

Other grants helped to restore picnic benches in a neighborhood park, organize the first cookout and gathering of neighbors since the COVID lockdown, and begin a neighborhood kids parade that is in its third year and has inspired other neighborhoods to do organize parades.

In your neighbor, be the spark. Among your immediate neighbors, be the spark. In your community, by the spark. It only takes one to get the fire going.

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Does this article make you interested in taking the Engaged Neighbor pledge? Five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge online at http://engagedneighbor.com.

Contact the blog author, David L. Burton at dburton541@yahoo.com.