What is the name of your neighborhood?

Ridgefield

How long have you lived in your neighborhood?

4 years

Tell us about your neighborhood.

I enjoy living here.  It is very quiet and people mostly stay to themselves.  Neighbors are wonderful and kind and we look out for each other.  We even have a neighborhood website where we keep everyone informed on what’s going on.

What successes have your neighborhood and community had?

We have gotten our neighbors interested in healthy living using the resources we have through the project we started as well as their own personal devices focused on healthy eating and exercise, among other topics.  We have held multiple meetings to provide information and people have received t-shirts.

Through this project, we have also painted a healthy mile trail in the neighborhood and started a girl trek team for women to walk together and relate to each other.  We have even raffled off TOPS (Taking off Pounds Simply) memberships.  TOPs is good because they look at people as a whole person so the goals they individually create with you is holistic.  Once we no longer have the matching grant, we plan to continue the work and keep people encouraged.

What are some concerns that you still have in your neighborhood?

I wish the community would come together more.  There is only one primary function annually and more events would create more opportunities for people to get to know each other as individuals.  I am also getting concerned about the violence.  More people have been breaking into cars and garages recently, but postings on our neighborhood websites informs us of what is going on, how provides us with tips on how to stay safe. For instance, there have been break-ins via people’s garages. The website provided us with information and tools to prevent this, with ways to secure one’s garage from the inside and outside, so that it cannot be accessed illegally.

What advice would you give to other community members?

Know your neighbors.  Know your communities.  Know what is going on.  Everyone is from different races, cultures, ethnicities and background and neighborhoods should be and can be like a big family.  Knowing who lives in your neighborhood can be a blessing in many different ways.

Other community members should get on board with their own associations and get involved to benefit the community as a whole.

Do you have any upcoming opportunities for other people to get involved?

Continue to encourage others to get involved in the Health E-Communities through the website, flyers and the meetings that provide resources, encouragement, and tools to get our community and other outside communities to live a healthy life.  We have our next meeting on December 16^th that people can attend.