Project background: Hosted a BBQ for our neighbors, several of which are suffering from medical issues or have had recent loss within their family. The intent being to provide an environment where our neighbors can socialize in a relaxed and friendly environment and to help with the grieving process by creating a supportive environment where individuals can connect, share experiences, and have a good time.
We took care of providing all of the food, yard games, and wood for the fire pit to give everyone the opportunity to socialize in different settings; table, via yard games, or around the fire pit.
Planning: one of the challenges with planning such an event is trying to organize around everyone’s schedule, particularly those who are working shift work and are gone for 10-14 days at a time and only home for a couple of days. We selected June 22nd as it was the only summer weekend we were anticipating the majority of our neighbors and our children to be home so everyone could participate. The gamble was if a forest fire started as our son works for BC wildfire and is on an Initial Attack team. As luck would have it, everyone was home (new new fires were reported), the weather was good (enough) and we were able to execute as planned.
Feedback: Feedback from our neighbors was very positive. Everyone appreciated the opportunity to network, to enjoy a lovely meal together, and to foster stronger bonds among our neighborhood.
Note – the attached photo is from the end of the evening while sitting around the fire pit. Our elderly neighbors had already headed home for the evening and I, frankly, forgot to take photos of the dinner and games because I’m a guy and terrible at such things LOL.
