By Tim Gamble
Want community? Many preppers do. And you probably already live in one. Your neighborhood. Doesn't matter if that neighborhood is an apartment building in the Big City, a group of townhouses in a small city, a bunch of homes with white picket fences in a small town, or a cluster of homesteads in a rural county. You already have neighbors that you can form into a community. Here are some tips to find and build community right where you live:
You have to play the hand your dealt. It is not a perfect world, and no neighborhood is perfect - mine included. But your neighborhood is where you live, for better or worse, so you might as well make the best of it. Sitting around wishing for things to be different is counterproductive.
You don't need everyone. Not every neighbor is going to be like-minded, or even friendly towards your efforts. That's okay. You don't need to get every single person in your neighborhood on-board with your plans. Its not all or nothing. There will always be a few malcontents you will never be able to reach. Ignore them and build community with those you can. Some community with some folks is better than no community at all.
Knock on doors. Or at least wave at mailboxes. In other words, you have to take the first step. Waiting around for your neighbors to come to you won't work. Go. Introduce yourself to them. You don't have to tell them your a prepper when you first meet. Just meet them. The preparedness conversation is something you'll want to slowly work into the relationship.
Avoid religion and politics, especially in the early stages. Basic preparedness doesn't depend on religion or politics. You don't need to be of a certain religion to store food and water. You don't need to have a certain political viewpoint to learn first aid. You don't need to have the exact same religious or political views to encourage and help your neighbors.
Don't talk prepping, at least at first. The preparedness talk can come later, for now simply get to know your neighbors. Find out what you might have in common. As things progress, you can start dropping prepper lines and see how they respond.
Form a Neighborhood Watch. It can official (working with your local police, posting signs, etc.) or informal (exchanging phone numbers and agreeing to keep an eye out for strangers or anything else suspicious in the neighborhood). The point is for you and your neighbors to get to know one another and to start watching out for each other. You can build from there.
Have a community yard sale. We have been doing this in our neighborhood for a few years now. About twice a year we'll get together and advertise a community yard sale. Not every household participates, but many do. Even many of those that don't participate in the selling walk around looking at what others are selling. Curiosity gets them out of their house. I've actually met several neighbors this way that I otherwise never would have met.
One by one. Two by two. Everyone doesn't have to get together at the same time. A neighborhood-wide barbecue may be too much to put together, but you can host a barbecue maybe once a month and invite one or two neighborhood families over. Barbecuing not your thing? Try a Game Night instead. Or a Movie Night.
Advance slowly but surely. Turning your neighborhood into a community is a one-step-at-a-time activity. Get to know each other. Then work on building friendships with those who seem willing. Then start talking preparedness with those that seem receptive. It is a gradual process.
Building community is about more than just preparedness. Preparedness for some future crisis might be your ultimate goal, but it cannot be your only goal, otherwise you'll scare people off. Community is about building friendships and relationships of trust. Community is about watching out for each other, encouraging each other, and helping each other. The cold fact is that you are extremely unlikely to get your neighborhood converted into a 100% prepared for doomsday survivalist community. But the more of a community that you're neighborhood is, the better off you'll all be if and when the SHTF.
You have to play the hand your dealt. It is not a perfect world, and no neighborhood is perfect - mine included. But your neighborhood is where you live, for better or worse, so you might as well make the best of it. Sitting around wishing for things to be different is counterproductive.
You don't need everyone. Not every neighbor is going to be like-minded, or even friendly towards your efforts. That's okay. You don't need to get every single person in your neighborhood on-board with your plans. Its not all or nothing. There will always be a few malcontents you will never be able to reach. Ignore them and build community with those you can. Some community with some folks is better than no community at all.
Knock on doors. Or at least wave at mailboxes. In other words, you have to take the first step. Waiting around for your neighbors to come to you won't work. Go. Introduce yourself to them. You don't have to tell them your a prepper when you first meet. Just meet them. The preparedness conversation is something you'll want to slowly work into the relationship.
Avoid religion and politics, especially in the early stages. Basic preparedness doesn't depend on religion or politics. You don't need to be of a certain religion to store food and water. You don't need to have a certain political viewpoint to learn first aid. You don't need to have the exact same religious or political views to encourage and help your neighbors.
Don't talk prepping, at least at first. The preparedness talk can come later, for now simply get to know your neighbors. Find out what you might have in common. As things progress, you can start dropping prepper lines and see how they respond.
Form a Neighborhood Watch. It can official (working with your local police, posting signs, etc.) or informal (exchanging phone numbers and agreeing to keep an eye out for strangers or anything else suspicious in the neighborhood). The point is for you and your neighbors to get to know one another and to start watching out for each other. You can build from there.
Have a community yard sale. We have been doing this in our neighborhood for a few years now. About twice a year we'll get together and advertise a community yard sale. Not every household participates, but many do. Even many of those that don't participate in the selling walk around looking at what others are selling. Curiosity gets them out of their house. I've actually met several neighbors this way that I otherwise never would have met.
One by one. Two by two. Everyone doesn't have to get together at the same time. A neighborhood-wide barbecue may be too much to put together, but you can host a barbecue maybe once a month and invite one or two neighborhood families over. Barbecuing not your thing? Try a Game Night instead. Or a Movie Night.
Advance slowly but surely. Turning your neighborhood into a community is a one-step-at-a-time activity. Get to know each other. Then work on building friendships with those who seem willing. Then start talking preparedness with those that seem receptive. It is a gradual process.
Building community is about more than just preparedness. Preparedness for some future crisis might be your ultimate goal, but it cannot be your only goal, otherwise you'll scare people off. Community is about building friendships and relationships of trust. Community is about watching out for each other, encouraging each other, and helping each other. The cold fact is that you are extremely unlikely to get your neighborhood converted into a 100% prepared for doomsday survivalist community. But the more of a community that you're neighborhood is, the better off you'll all be if and when the SHTF.
(This is a repost of a 2018 article I wrote, with a few minor changes.)
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Great Post.
ReplyDeleteMy family live on a Cul-de-sac (5 houses total). Each plot of land is acre and a half. After living here for 20 years (3 families have lived here the whole time), we're all friends. We do have an informal Cul-de-sac Watch. One neighbor is retired and keeps an eye on the places while everyone else is at work. Living in Florida, if you don't have even basic Emergency Preps, you're an idiot. 4 out of 5 families are members of the NRA/GOA. What's weird 3 out of the 5 families kinda have Prepper specialties. I have the Garden/Chicken/Construction/Fishing & Hunting skills. One has the Mechanical/Electronics skills and the other has the Medical skills.
Sounds like you are in a pretty good spot, community wise!
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