|
Guess who's coming to dinner
The Intelligencer
Our Towns
Sunday, January 5, 2003
Written By Mark E. Jolly
For months, about a dozen people have been gathering weekly in Jeff
and Barbara Smith's Buckingham home to plan a dinner.
They're not preparing for a wedding or a benefit or a family reunion. They're
not getting ready early for Thanksgiving '03. In fact, they're not even going to
eat this dinner together.
Since September, they have been meeting regularly to think of ways to promote
what the General Assembly has officially proclaimed Invite a Neighbor to Dinner Day.
"Everybody has those neighbors they wave to but don't really get to know,"
said Jeff Smith, explaining whom he hopes people will host for the new holiday. "The
idea is to promote tolerance and compassion and understanding. There are no real
hard and fast rules, but we would encourage people to invite somebody you've never
really gotten to know. Who knows what new relationships could get spawned out of
this?"
Smith said the idea for the day, the second Saturday in January, arose from a
desire to do something constructive following Sept. 11, 2001. On a practical level,
it could foster closer relationships among neighbors and, by extension, closer communities.
But Smith sees a symbolic, and slightly nostalgic, aspect to it as well.
"It is a celebration of the values that make America a great place to live,"
he said. "Growing up, we always had an open door and a kind heart. We've progressively
gotten farther and farther apart."
For their first Invite a Neighbor to Dinner Day, the Smiths are taking their own
advice, inviting a neighbor they know, but not very well. Young children and different
schools kept the Danilos and the Smiths from spending much time together for the
past eight years or so that they've lived in the same development. The new holiday
provides a good excuse to suddenly try something outside the established routine.
"We've all just been busy. You just don't have time; you don't think about
going next door," Mariette Danilo said. "I'm very thankful they invited
us. I'm thankful for the opportunity to get to know them better. It's just amazing
how you could live so close to somebody and not have the opportunity to appreciate
it."
Danilo said she thinks the day gives people a way to let someone know they are
valued and noted that it is just as necessary to send that message to neighbors as
to family or friends.
The idea has attracted a good deal of interest, with media coverage ranging from
Princeton to Las Vegas, and inspired 10 or so people enough to come to the Smiths'
house every week to help. One of the organizers drives up from Delaware County for
the meetings. The group has worked on a variety of things, mostly focused on getting
the word out, like distributing fliers at grocery stores, talking to legislators
and media, and setting up a Web site.
There's more to be done, like the suggested menus portion of that Web site, but
for now organizers might have to content themselves with preparing their own dinners.
Then they can start back in on the promotions with a whole year to work with.
|
