Love Your Neighbor Metro Richmond
There are over 500,000 regular church attenders in Metro Richmond. Imagine the impact the Church could have if all of us committed to caring for our neighbors during the COVID crisis! Scroll down and register to adopt your block and find resources to help you neighbor well.
*Note- Churches shown on this map are those in the For Richmond network who have assigned a COVID-19 Response Staff to work with the members of their congregations and collaborate with other churches to respond to the needs of our communities. To join in these efforts, a church leader may click here- https://www.forrichmond.org/covid19-response.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Sign up below to Adopt Your Block. Enter your contact information and which church you’re a part of.
Step 2: Choose a level which you are able to participate.
Bronze- Take 15-20 minutes and pray for the households on your block. Simple, but powerful. Scroll down the page to see a sample prayer for people on your block.
Silver- Pray, but also reach out to your neighbors introducing themselves and offer to help if possible. Scroll down to see a sample email you can use.
Gold- Take it one extra step. Include in the email that you’re a part of a church that has some resources to help people and that your church is also connected to a broad network of churches and government agencies. If you can’t help your neighbor, you can tell your church’s COVID-19 Response Staff and see if others can help by working together.
Step 3: If your church doesn’t yet have a COVID-19 Response Staff, let them know they can sign up here- https://www.forrichmond.org/covid19-response. We’ll notify your church’s COVID-19 Response Staff of your participation, so that they can support you.
Sample Email or Letter to Neighbors
Hello,
My name is Jack Smith, and I live at 1407 Graymalkin Lane with my wife Jill and our two kids. I hope you’re doing okay in these uncertain times.
I wanted to let you know that we would like to offer help in any way that we’re able. That might look like picking up prescriptions at the drugstore for people over the age of 60. That might look like meeting on the sidewalk (at a safe distance) for a conversation and some social interaction for people feeling isolated. Or perhaps it might look like directing you to resources we know of for things that we can’t personally help with.
We’re connected to a church, which is in turn connected with a broad network of hundreds churches, non-profits, and government agencies across the city that is working together to share resources to help those in need. If we’re not able to help you personally, we can reach out to others in our network to see if there’s a way we can find help. We can’t promise that we can meet every need, but we can do our best.
My phone number is 804-123-4567. Please feel free to call me day or night if there’s an emergency, but I tend to go to bed early, so I’d prefer to receive calls before it gets late. On a personal note, I enjoy growing vegetables in my garden, playing board games, and walking the wooded trails in Bryan Park. I think we’ll all be seeing more of each other as many of us are working from home, so I look forward to saying “Hi” across the street in the weeks to come.
Jack
Sample Prayer
Lord,
I ask that you would bless my neighbors Joe, Cindy, and their two kids. I pray that you would keep them healthy both physically and mentally. I pray that you would provide financially for them and meet their material needs. I also pray that you would meet their spiritual needs, making yourself known to them, and giving them your peace, which surpasses all understanding.
Father, I pray that you would protect their marriage, and that you would use this time to grow the bonds of love stronger between Joe and Cindy as a couple and among their entire family. We pray that they would experience joy, even in the midst of fear.
God, I thank you for providing me with the house that I live in. You knew that I would become neighbors with Joe and Cindy. I ask that you would use this time to help us become more than neighbors. Help us become friends. Help me not to fear reaching out to them, and if there are ways that they ask for help beyond what I can do, help me to connect them with my church and my church’s larger network to help them.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Tips on How to Love Your Neighbor
Social Distancing is necessary in light of the threat of the coronavirus and COVID-19. Let’s embrace these measures for the sake of our neighbors whose immune systems aren’t as strong. Loving Our Neighbors is also important and we thought we would throw out a few ideas to inspire you to love well in the midst of uncertainty:
1. Make a list of your neighbors – the neighbors on your block and the folks in your broader network. Take 5 minutes to think about who might need your help right now.
2. Do you have a 65+ neighbor? Call, text, or knock and keep a safe distance and ask if they need anything – groceries, a prescription refilled, a good book to read to pass the day.
3. Do you have a nurse, doctor, EMT or a first responder in your life? Mow their lawn while they’re at work. It one less thing for them to think about and a simple way to show you care.
4. Do you have working parents with school-aged children who need childcare support now that schools are closed? Offer to watch their kids for a day. Ask other neighbors if they would be willing to help too.
5. Do you have a sick neighbor that is quarantining him or herself? Call or text to find out what they might need and leave it on their doorstep so they can access it without exposing you to sickness.
6. Do you know someone in a nursing home or hospital who no longer is allowed to have visitors? Give them a call and let them know they’re not alone.
7. Do you have neighbors or friends who struggle with anxiety? Check in on them and encourage them to embrace self-care strategies like limiting social media and news consumption. If they are open to prayer, pray with them.
8. Do you know a family that struggles with food insecurity? Share some of the groceries you picked up for own family.
9. Do you have Asian-American neighbors? Many are experiencing a lot of ignorant comments and racism right now. Talk to your kids about why that’s wrong and if you hear others saying racist things, gently but firmly confront it.
10. Are you a block captain or an admin on a neighborhood message board? Use your existing network to reach out and see if there are neighbors in need.
In all these things, pray, and experience the peace that surpasses understanding.