Morningside Drive overlooks eastern Manhattan. And if you get there early enough in the morning, you can see the stunning, life-affirming sunrise over the treetops of the park. What better metaphor for our network of neighbors who are coming together to form a cadre of volunteers to help sustain our oldest community members? And, according to figures in our last census, there are just nearly 10,000 inhabitants in our twelve block zone. Thus, surely with so many of us living vertically, I think we can consider ourselves a literal village with impunity and, again, a metaphoric one, since we aim to do what is traditionally done all over the world: villages take care of their elders.
The Board of LiLY chose the name Morningside Village for our local program, but as of Thursday, June 25th, 2009, at 6pm, we expect that decision-making for the network will come from those who want to get involved. After talking with neighbors, with community leaders, with agencies, organizations, folks at the colleges, and shopkeepers in the area, I found a great willingness to help make Morningside Village a reality. So, with confidence and great enthusiasm I am looking forward to Thursday and to learning what other human resources exist in our community as we work out the nuts and bolts of our program together.
Irene Zola
