In honor of National Good Neighbor Day on September 28th, we asked neighbors from across the country to recognize and say thank you to the people who give back to their local community, in ways both big and small. Throughout the last few weeks, nominations for Nextdoor’s Good Neighbor Awards have poured in from passionate neighbors who had incredible stories to tell. It was difficult, but we managed to narrow down the hundreds of submissions to our finalists!
Click through the gallery below to see their pictures and hear their stories, and cast your vote below to name the first-ever Nextdoor Good Neighbor Award winner!
For years, Sarah Davis and her teenage sons have been quietly helping to clean up their elderly neighbors’ yards. From stealthily shoveling driveways and sidewalks, to cleaning up fallen trees, Sarah and her sons have inspired positive change in their neighborhood: now, most of their neighbors go and do the same without being asked.
Clancy Harrison has been described as an incredibly busy mother of two who dedicates her free time to helping others in the community. From raising thousands of dollars in donations for a foster child to volunteering to feed 70+ families a week through a local food bank, Clancy has positively impacted those who live around her. This past summer, she organized a weekly class to teach young children about healthy eating, giving them fresh produce and simple, healthy recipes for them to take home.
Without a doubt, Farrell Kenimer has brought joy to his community. An 80-year-old retired widower, Farrell stays connected with his neighbors and is constantly looking to make new acquaintances. In fact, he threw his own 80th birthday party in his backyard and invited the entire neighborhood to attend, proving that no one is ever too old to make new friends and throw an awesome party.
The 500 Block MacDonough Street Association in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY has continuously shown a dedication to the growth and enrichment of their community. From block watch programs to reduce crime, to planting new trees and advocating for the reduction of their carbon footprint, to organizing many celebrations (Easter Egg Hunt, Earth Day gathering and the 57th Annual Block Party) just to name a few. This community shows the power of knowing your neighbors and continues to institute programs to strengthen their community such as emergency preparedness training, Thanksgiving dinner for seniors, and the 47th Annual Brownstoners House Tour are coming up this fall.
Lisa Ford opened a free, mini library in the Brock Pointe neighborhood outside of Chattanooga, TN. She provides free books, CDs, and DVDs to her neighbors and surrounding community while promoting lifelong reading to all who visit.
Several of Tim Sigle’s neighbors wrote in, describing his tireless efforts to connect their neighborhood and keep the community safe. From helping to organize pet adoption drives, to planning community block parties, and even stopping burglars in the act when he spotted them breaking into his neighbor’s home, Tim has been described as the kind of neighbor that “every neighborhood needs.”
When a gang of teenagers were setting fire to fields just outside of their neighborhood, as well as leaving dangerous litter, including cigarettes, broken glass bottles and other trash on the walking trails of the Hedrick Estates neighborhood, Tom Boughton took action. Fed up of seeing the neighborhood space being abused and destroyed, Tom rallied his neighbors and planned a large clean-up of the trails, removing the broken glass and litter, making the trails safe for children to walk to school and neighbors to enjoy walking their dogs, and to show the gang that the neighborhood noticed – and cared – about their property. Thanks to Tom’s hard work and organization, neighbors quickly came together to protect and clean up the neighborhood.
Great job!!
I wish I had known about this contest. I fully believe I have the most AWESOME neighbor! Ron Bryan mowed and trimmed my yard every single week during my husbands year long deployment to the Middle East. He also began growing his beard out the day my husband left and vowed not to shave it until my husband was home safe. Mr. Bryan said he and his wife would feel offended if I refused to let them help me. They said they felt it was THEIR duty to do something for my husbands and my sacrifice, that they wanted to do something to ‘give back’ to us. They both had major surgery during that year and took turns mowing while they we’re recuperating. They are TRUE Americans who know what sacrifice and patriotism truly are!
Sheila,
As a military spouse too I understand how blessed we are when our neighbors offer a helping hand especially when our spouses are deployed. Your neighbors are truly great!
Sounds like Ron deserves some kind of special recognition! Thanks for letting us know about what he has been doing!
I thinks it’s great what she has done
Good Luck 500 MacDonough ST. Block!
Sweet, sweet couple who meant so much to my awesome nephew!!
Great job!!
Great job Dee!!!!
Thank you Linda 🙂
What a lovely Blessing you are:)
voted for Clancy! 😀
Such a sweet thing to do!!!
Thank you for serving our community!
Congratulations Dee. If there’s prize money, can we split it… Enjoy!
Good Luck
Clancy is an awesome woman! Such a giving person <3
I want to congratulate all the people that made it to the finals. You and Your neighborhoods are already winners. You all make the places we call home a better place to live. Keep it up and others will follow.
I plan on spending all the money $2000. on charities here in Palm Springs. I will ask the neighbors for their ideas on who to donate it to as well.
Here are some I am thinking about.
Well in the desert (This group helps feed the Homeless and hungry)
Palm Springs Animal Shelter (Help find homes for the animals that need help to love a human)
Meals on Wheels (Help feed the people that can’t leave their home and those that have little or no money to eat 3 meals a day.)
The LGBT Centers Food Bank ( Giving out food to people that have no or little money to buy food.)
Roy’s Resource Center (Helps the homeless with shelter and teaches them how to get off the streets and into a home to live.)
Pay for PS High School kids that are 18 yrs old to take the CERT training. (Pay for High School Kids to learn what to do in the event of an emergency.)
I know I am not the only person in Palm Springs that deserves to win this award. IF I win it is for all the people that volunteer and do acts of kindness as good neighbors.
Dee rocks!
Thank you Kari 🙂
As a finalist, I am so honored to be among everyone here! I also want you to know I will build a community garden with the money. As a volunteer Food Pantry President, I serve 70 families each week and I would love to serve fresh produce to help minimize childhood hunger and obesity. Once learning of this nomination, I started putting the wheels in motion. I have land secured; Wyoming Valley Montessori willing to run student led projects and write them into their curriculum; & the University of Scranton will provide an intern to help manage the garden. I can guarantee the money will create a sustainable solution and will continue to give back in our community. Please help me fight childhood hunger and obesity. Thank you for your consideration.
Congrats to all the finalists! I was proud to nominate Tom Boughton for this award & thanks to Nextdoor.com I am proud to call him my neighbor and friend. This site has really brought our neighborhood together and after using Nextdoor for 2 months I personally know and communicate with over half of the people in our community (I’ve lived here for 2 years by the way and only knew one neighbors name up to that point).
Tom has been fighting the gang problem in our little corner woods single handed for quite some time – but with his leadership and the help of Nextdoor.com we were able to communicate, come together and take back our trails! So excited and honored to have my story about a great person be among the finalists!
All the stories are great and it’s so encouraging to have them shared! Just being involved in such a positive thing as this contest makes everyone a winner! I don’t even know if Tom knows I nominated him – he is very humble and hard working and genuinely just cares about people and doing what’s right and what needs to be done.
Tom is truly the definition of “a good neighbor”. Good Luck Mi Amigo!
Thank you Nextdoor.com and than you Tom Boughton!