A Socially-Distanced Coffee Morning

   It all started the first time we went to our front doors to clap for the NHS. It was still dark and cold outside then, but it was heart-warming to see so many other households out on their doorsteps, too!
It was also amazing to be chatting to close neighbours and over-the-road neighbours that we had lived with for years without exchanging more than a “Good-morning!” nod. It was like discovering a long-lost part of our family, and the Thursday night clapping appointments became very important to us. One night, we jokingly talked about having a street party in the summer and as Easter approached with its amazing weather and lengthening days, we suddenly realised we didn’t need to wait for the summer! Our front gardens were all long and spacious- why not use them for a socially-distanced coffee morning on Easter day?
We decorated our front fence and posted invitations through the nearest doors. The results were remarkable. About seven households came out into their gardens with coffee and Easter eggs: the lady opposite even brought her breakfast out and ate it on her front path! We wandered up and down the street, getting to know a lot of new people over the garden fences. One young man told us he is a musician, who is used to giving concerts, and feeling useless indoors. Someone suggested he could bring his microphone and guitar out into the garden and give a concert for the street! That prompted the setting up of a Street WhatsApp group so that we can keep in touch and organise more socially-distanced events.Despite the trauma and the horrors of Covid 19, we are grateful to see how God is prompting us to use it to further his plan of universal fraternity.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Lesley

Becoming a closer community

Our street has 29 houses in it. Before the lockdown we knew only about 8 neighbours properly, but in the last 3 weeks that has all changed. A Parkfields support WhatsApp group started to help where there was need, also working out how, together, to support the ones without WhatsApp. At first, we met on Thursday nights as we came out from our homes to applaud our amazing NHS, and each week we drew closer. We began to know who had birthdays and anniversaries, then Easter approached. We had the idea of baking biscuits and making a small parcel and card for each household; on Easter Saturday our little team was busy!
Our early risers got the little parcels out before 7am. They were anonymous, but word soon went round, the community grew closer! On Easter Sunday afternoon I was in the (lucky to have one) garden, and a neighbour called through the hedge. She said they were so sad not to have been able to see their grandchildren on Easter Day, but finding the gift outside the door made the day special again. We talked for a long time, maybe this person doesn’t outwardly adhere to a particular faith, but said ‘I think God works in mysterious ways; we are becoming a community again. I think this difficult period is building something new and we can never go back’. In the evening there was a knock on the door; it was a neighbour with flowers from her garden and a card. She also wanted to know if this was the Focolare house. She talked of hope for the future, and how much it meant to find ‘wonderful doorstep surprise cookies’. She has also now joined the WhatsApp group. In this ‘desert’ time, we see the new shoots coming up!
Heavenly

Sarah