Tonight, John and I walked over to a neighbor’s apartment building. Let’s call him Al. We rang the downstairs bell three times, as planned, entered the building with our key, collected the mail, rode up in the elevator, and let ourselves in with the other of the two keys that his wife had made for us before she left for a long distance trip. “Hi, it’s us,” John called out as we walked down the long hall of the apartment towards the dining room where Al was enthroned behind a large dining table strewn with reading and writing materials, a decanter of water, a phone, t.v. remote, radio, back-scratcher, several small bottles of medicine and more. Behind him against the wall sat an …read more of the MV Blog entry 
The Morningside Village Thing

In the past weeks, Morningside Village has become a reality. And, we continue to attract a number of partners, like Law & Order SVU, which sent us a monetary gift after filming on our blocks; the Bank Street College (610 W. 112th Street), which is providing space for our large Village meeting on September 16th (6pm), and the West Side Market, offering special services to seniors, like in-store escorts and free delivery with purchases of $25 or more. Banco Popular is providing other services as is the Village Copier. Our list is growing.
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Thanks, Mr. K!

This week volunteers in pairs began visiting residents of our local nursing home.   One great part about this neighborhood project is that you don’t need to waste time traveling to enjoy an enriching volunteer experience.  For example, …read more of the MV Blog entry 
Traveling Near to Travel Far

This past week, I talked individually with almost each new person who had attended our June 25th meeting, getting acquainted. And, I also met with numerous other neighbors who are now a part of our “happening” program. It was heartening to find people with so much to offer, including one generous volunteer who pledged $1,000 to help pay for our insurance, a telephone line and more.
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“Alive!”

And so on June 25th our project was officially inaugurated with a small community meeting. Of course a few of us had been busy with research, partner-building, and other activities for months, but a week ago the network of neighbors was born. In the course of an hour and a half, we found that some of our senior neighbors and care-givers voiced specific needs, like the need for house-cleaning in exchange for English language lessons, the want of a computer, or the need for a worry-free respite from care-giving. We found that …read more of the MV Blog entry 
Summer, Best time for Neighborhood Organizing

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.
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After Two Months of Groundwork…It’s Happening