In a month of meeting neighbors, an estimated 3,000 Cantabrigians gathered across 31 different events to share meals, send letters, watch movies and even connect with cats. It was all organized by the Cambridge Peace Commission in the name of connecting people across the community.
This year was the first time activities were dispersed over an entire month. The Peace Commission has in past years held Meet Your Neighbor day and Meet Your Neighbor week. It moved to the longer schedule in part because this September was punctuated by a national holiday and multiple holy days.
The conclusion was a colorful block party turned community gathering that even a nor’easter couldn’t tame and the first ever Cambridge Cat Tour.
Many of the events aimed at helping residents connect with people they may not otherwise have the chance to under the theme Stories We Share: The Courage to Connect, said Saffana Anwar, executive director of the Peace Commission and one of the primary organizers of the month’s events.
“Especially when the whole ICE situation came around, I think that interest [to connect] came into play,” said Anwar. Foreign-born residents make up nearly 30% of the population in Cambridge, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than double the national average.
Ten city departments collaborated to host events at different times of day, in different locations and with different expectations for socializing, to make them as accessible as possible.
To incentivize attendance and city exploration, participants were given a passport to collect stamps in, which also included challenges to host events in their own neighborhoods.
At a snail mail workshop co-hosted Sept. 23 by the KiOSK in Harvard Square, people shared their stories of being new to Cambridge and seeking community as those gathered wrote postcards to loved ones or someone far away. “People were making such beautiful connections and they were coming from all over,” said Lizette Sta. Maria, program manager at the Peace Commission.
The King Open School hosted a screening on Sept. 20 of “A Man Named Otto,” a movie about a grumpy widower forced to interact with the eccentric new family next door. Before the movie, attendees and volunteers gathered in the cafeteria to have a catered lunch and discuss how well they really knew their neighbors. Some saw the gathering by happenstance and stopped in to see what was going on, others came to get their MYNM passport stamped. Sana Firdous came because she was invited by Anwar, her literal neighbor. Firdous brought Akanksha Vasantp, a friend new to Cambridge.
After the movie, one woman was crying tears of joy. She thanked organizers, saying the film stirred emotions about being a good neighbor.
Small things make somebody a good neighbor, Maria said, “Like, seeing someone on the street and saying hello to them … not being a stranger.”
Maria and Anwar hope the neighborliness they witnessed at events will continue, with the community taking the lead to keep the momentum going and continue hosting their own events. Anwar said she felt during the month she saw how Cambridge had become more of a home for many people.
“Everybody has a story,” Anwar said. “Not that many people think about it, but I think pilgrims were also immigrants. It’s a story that does connect to all of us.”
A stronger
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