Neighbors Helping Neighbors

By Dan Freihofer, Chair, CommunityCare of Lyme

Shared 5/8/24

As CommunityCare of Lyme is recognizing May as both Older Americans Month and Mental Health Month, I’ve got a “twofer” story to share:

I’m still feeling the glow from Saturday’s Day of Service!  After a tasty breakfast with fellow volunteers, my neighbor John Chew and I headed out to complete three separate “heavy lifting” tasks for Lyme residents: moving Adirondack chairs and other furniture from winter storage back to the porches and decks. The work was quick and satisfying – much more so than moving my OWN porch furniture – and I got to catch up with some Lyme neighbors in the process!

As a transplanted Midwesterner, I often find myself wondering about New Englanders’ reluctance to ask for help, especially as we age.  “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”  “I don’t want to be indebted to my neighbors.”  “I’m a proud Yankee!” We all know the feeling …
From what I’ve heard, others who participated in Lyme’s Day of Service (on either end of the transaction) came away with the same sense that I did: helping neighbors with small tasks, or picking up trash from the side of the road, is a win-win proposition. It makes us stronger and more connected as individuals and as a Community, it makes us better appreciate the simple needs of those around us, and it puts a big smile on our faces!
Lyme’s Day of Service happens one day a year, and it shows what’s possible when we both offer and ask for help. CommunityCare of Lyme is available year round – to ask for a couple of extra hands or to find an outlet for your own energy and desire to be useful.
I hope you’ll join in – in Lyme or wherever you may be. Neighbors helping neighbors makes aging in community both possible and enjoyable.
Call me, if you need a hand. And don’t be surprised if I call you.

Every Wednesday, CommunityCare of Lyme lifts up a wellness topic, embracing the widest possible definition of individual and community well-being. We include local and national resources, individual and group programs and practices, and personal stories, videos, or songs that have something to teach us all. We are always seeking guest contributors! 

If you have a wellness-themed topic you would like to share or learn more about, please reach out to shelby@cclyme.org

Shelby Wood
Manager of Volunteer Participation
CommunityCare of Lyme
Shelby@cclyme.org
802-468-7776 (cell)
603-795-0603 (CCL office and help line)