Mighty Neighbourly has played an important role in Chestermere over the past few years. Coordinated by local community members, Mighty Neighbourly began as a simple dream to enthusiastically welcome new residents of Chestermere with a hand-built crate full of helpful information and goodies to share. But more than that, Mighty Neighbourly hoped to fan the flames of a growing neighbour-focused culture in our city, demonstrating that hospitality and generosity are core values that we all share. Today Mighty Neighbourly has welcomed over 200 new families to Chestermere and continues to grow.
Recently, students and teachers at Prairie Waters Elementary school partnered with Mighty Neighbourly to help kids reflect on what it meant for them to be good neighbours. Adopting the twitter hashtag #mightyneighbourly, students from Kindergarten to grade five have been posting their ideas and activities online. Together they also set up a graffiti board to collect ideas and together they decided how they could be “Mighty Neighbourly.”
Grade one students planted wildflowers and spruced up their garden while grade five students created a community improvement day and washed cars, cleaned up garbage, and put on a community play to talk about the importance of outdoor play. On their school blog website, grade three students posted their tips for becoming neighbourly, and they came up with some great ideas:
Make your neighbour pie – Emma
Tell them to have a nice day, if they say “Hi” to you – Ethan S.
If your neighbour is having a bad day, cheer them up by giving them some flowers – Tiana
You could give them a decoration for their house if they just moved in or if they’ve been there for a while (inside or outside decoration) – Lorelei
If they have too many boxes and they don’t enough room for recycling, maybe offer to recycle some of the boxes for them if you have room – Kyle
Tell them to come and chat – Sartaj
Help them carry their things into their house (when they’re moving) – Preston
Draw them a picture when they move in – Wince
Don’t litter on their lawn or pick-up any garbage that you see on their lawn – Alexis
Say “can you please come over” to see how they are doing – Kiranpreet
You are going to Tim Horton’s and order a coffee for the person behind you. They still live in the same neighbourhood as you – Alex
Play with them and be friendly – Porter
Ask them if they want to come over for dinner – Eithan W.
Jennifer Friske, who was a coordinator of this initiative, said that she hoped that this Mighty Neighbourly focus would “inspire others in the community to get out, get to know their neighbours and help out where they can to make Chestermere a warm, welcoming and caring place for everyone.”
If these bright students at Prairie Waters Elementary School are any indication, Chestermere is fast becoming a Mighty Neighbourly city, indeed.
