IN IT TOGETHER
Neighbors have been gathering during pandemic to support one another
The bowed heads on Briarwood Drive are back outside after a short winter break.
Despite the cold weather hiatus, the Amity Township neighborhood group that meets weekdays for prayer looked out for one another since the coronavirus pandemic reached Berks County.
It all started about a month after the COVID-19 shutdown last year when residents on the street in the Amity Gardens development started stepping outside for a breath of fresh air and friendly exchange.
On weekdays at 4 p.m., they waved and called greetings to one another from the safety of their front yards.
“In the beginning, it was the only social interaction we had, so it was crucial then,” resident Jackie Stamy said, crediting her neighbor Betty Clark with organizing the afternoon greetings.
Clark said she got the idea from a news story about residents of another community banding together, going outside and greeting one another. She called her
neighbors on Briarwood and suggested they do the same. It was an opportunity to get reacquainted, check in on one another and exchange news.
Some neighbors were dealing with health challenges, the loss of loved ones or other problems, and within a few weeks, the meetings evolved to include prayer, Clark said.
As restrictions loosened, the neighbors began meeting in Stamy’s driveway, although they are careful to maintain a safe distance from one another.
“I have little ones, so we figured it was easier to coral my children if we met in my driveway,” said Stamy, a mother of twins, a boy and girl, 3; and a younger boy, 2. “Everyone has the understanding, ‘You make it when you can.’ “
Some residents, like Ellie Wagner, 80, who has difficulty walking, join the group in spirit.
“I pray with them from my kitchen window,” Wagner said. “I look out and see them gathering, and it gives me a good feeling.”
When Wagner’s husband died last month, the group surprised her with Easter flowers and a basket of home-baked goodies.
It wasn’t the first time the friendly neighbors delivered care packages of comforting treats. Recipients since Christmas include the recently bereaved, those caring for sick or disabled loved ones and others dealing with medical issues of their own.
“I help deliver the cookies,” Jim Hopper, another neighbor, said. “The people who receive them are so appreciative.”
Clark said she is hoping the idea will catch on and spread to other neighborhoods in Amity and beyond.
“We’ve become friends, not just neighbors,” she said.