Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 by
Michael •
Rob Filitor, an AmeriCorps State Volunteer for Champlain Housing Trust, had an idea… help people to give some community service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to benefit their own neighborhood, or another one nearby. So he approached Front Porch Forum and we worked out a couple options. If you’re local to Chittenden County, Vermont, consider this:
1. People ask how to make their neighborhood forum successful… it’s straight forward. Tell your neighbors about it and ask them to sign up and use it! Several Front Porch Forum members will be fanning out across their own neighborhoods and towns to distribute flyers door-to-door on or around MLK Day (Jan. 15). You can do this in your area too! Members can download a neighborhood-specific flyer at http://frontporchforum.com… click the Pitch In link.
2. A group of AmeriCorps State Volunteerss will be walking across downtown Burlington and the Old North End distributing FPF flyers door-to-door, and they’re looking for other folks to join them on this national day of community service. If you’re interested, please RSVP to Rob Filitor (rmfilitor_AT_gmail_DOT_com) by Jan. 13. They will meet at Radio Bean on N. Winooski Ave. at Pearl St. in Burlington on Jan. 15 at noon.
Since Rob’s notion, I’ve heard more tales today:
3. The dean of Rock Point School is lining up high school students to distribute flyers across the New North End of Burlington on or around MLK Day… that’s thousands of households!
4. A member spoke to a group of retirees at the Charlotte Senior Center yesterday about Front Porch Forum and was surprised by the enthusiastic response… this use of the internet appeals to more than just the young and tech savvy apparently.
5. The superintendent of a local school district told me she plans to hand deliver copies of a local newspaper story about Front Porch Forum to the houses in her neighborhood next week when she walks her pooch each morning.
And there’s more that I never hear about… at least not directly. I got a call from a nearby Post Office reporting that Front Porch Forum flyers were showing up in mailboxes… that’s a no no (unless each piece has postage affixed). Not sure who did that. And a friend reported getting a flyer on her windshield on the other side of the county… wasn’t me. Wow! This is getting downright contagious. Thanks to the dozens (hundreds?) of local folks who are spreading the word… let’s keep it rolling! The people who join, the more valuable the service becomes for everyone.