Neighbor to Neighbor continues kindness, peace initiative amid political conflict
LUCAS COUNTY – Throughout the political season you may have seen the bright green Love your Neighbor signs in front yards around Lucas County. These signs by Neighbor to Neighbor represent kindness and neighborly love, despite conflicting political views.
Neighbor to Neighbor is a non-partisan and nondenominational 2024 election year peace initiative by St. Michael’s in the Hills Episcopal Church. The organizational initiative is promoting Intentional Acts of Kindness Week leading up to the general election, which ends tomorrow.
Neighbor To Neighbor’s next event, “We Are Still Neighbors,” will be at the Enrichment Center of the Glass city Metropark on Sunday, Nov. 17, following the conclusion of the 2024 general election. To sign up, go to We Are Still Neighbors.
Carol Nichols, a member of St. Michael’s and a leader of Neighbor to Neighbor, said regardless of the election turnout, we are still neighbors, and the simple supper event is aimed to bring the community together as a collective.
Alongside the meal, the community will be discussing the future of the Neighbor to Neighbor program in Toledo and brainstorming solutions to community tensions.
“People really are hungry for this kind of thing,” said Nichols. “It has been a bright light for many of us during this very stressful political season.”
Neighbor to Neighbor campaigned Intentional Acts of Kindness Week from Oct. 29 until Nov. 5, but it was ultimately up to the greater Toledo area to commit acts of kindness and share them with the organization on their Facebook or Instagram pages to be featured.
Nichols said Toledo embraced the initiative completely, and even Neighbor to Neighbor helpers and members of the organization’s congregation St. Michael’s are being intentional about promoting acts of kindness.
Nichols said she spearheaded the idea for the initiative in January because she was bothered by the major political divide in the community.
“This political divide has been hammered into our heads for the past 10 years,” she said.“We really wanted to push back against that because we really are just neighbors and we may vote differently, but we want to be able to live together in peace and to recognize and treat each other with kindness and respect.”
Nichols added that it is important to be kind all days of the year, but Neighbor to Neighbor is specifically asking people to be mindful of their treatment of others during this difficult political season because elections tend to cause a divide in communities.
According to the Neighbor to Neighbor website, The City of Toledo, The Village of Ottawa Hills and The University of Toledo have declared Intentional Acts of Kindness Weeks, recognizing the need to increase the focus on kindness.
The initiative was supported by more than 40 donors, including Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Lourdes University, The Village of Ottawa Hills, The Multifaith Council of Northwest Ohio, and others.
Wade Fulkerson, a voter from east Toledo who visits the polls regularly, says through his political experiences that it’s important to be kind to others with different political views.
“To me, I believe that we should treat everyone as equals,” said Fulkerson.
Despite having opposing views than some of his family members on the major candidates, he says every vote matters and that he encourages registered voters to go out and cast their ballots on election day.
“It’s our choice to decide who we let in and who we don’t,” he said. “We have a choice and I encourage you to vote even if you don’t like either candidate.”
The “We Are Still neighbors” event, in collaboration with the MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio, is a simple supper of pasta, salad, bread and dessert, to be served to the public on a first come, first serve basis.
For a few ideas of kind gestures, visit the Neighbor to Neighbor’s website.
