While many states are seeing signs of spring come March, Denver is entering its snowiest month of the year. And with snow, comes shoveling — something that by law needs to be removed within 24 hours of the white stuff coming down to make for safe walkways throughout town.
(Miss the background on what the Love Your Hood Challenge is all about? Check it out here.)
Shovel Your Neighbor's walk.
Grab a coat and a shovel and head out to shovel for a neighbor! Have kids? Bring them too. It’s a great energy burner for those wintery days and it’ll help instill the value of serving others — double win!
While the act of kindness towards a neighbor alone is great, shoveling their walk provides an added bonus: a chance to meet new neighbors.
While capturing photos to promote this challenge, we were able to shovel for a few of our neighbors. We knew a few of the neighbors who we shoveled for, but not everyone. As we shoveled a sidewalk across the street, a man popped out to see what noise his dog was alerting him to. He noticed we were shoveling, was super appreciative and asked if he could pay us. Of course we declined, but said we’d love the chance to meet him instead! We shoveled our way up to his door and chatted for a while. Come to find out we have both lived in our homes for a decade! I (Jen) was cringing with embarrassment that it had taken so long for us to meet. But I was grateful for an excuse to be there and the chance to finally meet him. It was a great reminder that it is never too late to get to know the people you live closest to!
Alternatives
In case you live in a place that has more sand than snow, or you’re not physically able to get out, here are some other ways to still join in this challenge:
- Climate a problem? Hose off their dock, sweep a bit, or do something else to clean up a neighbor’s walkway when snow isn’t in your picture.
- Physically not possible? Let it be your challenge to ask for help this month. There are so many people that would actually love to help out a neighbor, if only they knew what they could do! You can always thank them with a hot cup of cocoa or glass of iced tea!
Bonus Challenge
Read a book or listen to a podcast about neighboring to get your mind in the game. A few ideas to pique your interest:
- The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon
- Neighboring podcast
- How to Neighbor message series by Craig Groeschel of Life Church
