Waupaca group seeks nominations
By Angie Landsverk
Waupaca area residents are invited to nominate their neighbors for the Great Neighbor Shout-Out.
“People will nominate their neighbor for something they’ve done – a simple kindness,” said Patsy Servey, the adult services librarian at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
Neighbors may be nominated for such things as shoveling snow for others, sharing tools, helping out during emergencies, keeping an eye on children in the area, taking time to talk and watching pets or taking mail in when a neighbor is away.
Children and adults may be nominated.
Nomination forms and ballot boxes will be at Dayton Town Hall, Farmington Town Hall, Green Fountain Inn, ThedaCare’s hospital and clinic in Waupaca, Waupaca Area Public Library/City Hall lobby, Waupaca County Courthouse, Waupaca High School, Waupaca Learning Center, Waupaca Middle School and the Waupaca Recreation Center.
Servey said the hope is to have the nomination forms and boxes out by Saturday, March 14.
People may also visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/WaupacaGNSO to nominate a neighbor online.
The nomination period ends on May 16.
In June, those who were nominated and their neighbors who nominated them will be invited to a dinner.
When children are nominated, their parents will be invited as well.
“It really is more to be a celebration of people and kindness in the community,” said Julie Filapek.
She is the Neighborhood Partners program leader.
Neighborhood Partners is a program of Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin in Menasha.
“The program has developed over the last decade,” Filapek said.
It is about increasing neighborliness and people coming together to create the kind of neighborhood they want, she said.
She has worked in multiple neighborhoods throughout the Fox Cities.
“The neighborhoods that have emerged from the process have done a lot of neat things – a lot of arts, a lot of food, a lot of potlucks,” Filapek said.
She has talked to hundreds of people about what they think is most important in a neighborhood.
Being connected to their neighbors is what she most often hears.
Now Goodwill is bringing its neighborhood development program here.
It is part of an effort to increase social connectedness in the community.
Social connectedness
Last spring, Waupaca’s Community Health Action Team (CHAT) sponsored a day of learning about how isolation and loneliness affect mental health.
ThedaCare’s CHAT brings together community members who study local health issues and talk about solutions.
The team decided to study social connectedness across the lifespan.
Waupaca’s Social Connectedness Planning Team formed as a result of the discussion.
Servey and Sue Heidemann are among its members.
Last fall, the team sponsored a community read on the topic to build awareness, said Heidemann.
Neighborhood development is the next phase.
Filapek presented information about the Goodwill program at last spring’s event.
There was an interest in how people could become more involved in their neighborhoods, she said.
Filapek said the Great Neighbor Shout-Out is launching the Neighborhood Development effort in the Waupaca area.
ThedaCare is the lead sponsor of the Great Neighbor Shout-Out.
Public and private organizations in the community are also supporting it.
She said the June dinner event will be about recognizing people, sharing what they have done and also celebrating those who nominated their neighbors.
Filapek will also encourage people to get involved in the Neighborhood Development program.
“Within Waupaca somewhere – the location has not been identified – there will be one neighborhood where Goodwill will be working with them to help them connect with one another,” she said.
Over the next few years, other neighborhoods may also get involved, she said.
“What we’re looking for,” Servey said, “is a neighborhood with individuals who want to make a difference. They will have the motivation.”
Filapek said about 90% of those who participate in the program say they make new friends, feel more positive about their neighborhoods and now have additional people to go to if they need help.
The Great Neighbor Shout-Out coincides with Habitat for Humanity bringing its Rock the Block program to Waupaca this May.
“Neighborhood Partners has been in partnership with Habitat and Rock the Block since it started. We try to work in tandem,” she said. “Habitat works on the physical, and Neighborhood Partners works on the social infrastructure.”
Servey said what is exciting is they are not the first ones to work on this, or the only ones to do so.
“I think neighborhood building and social connectedness is long-term work,” Filapek said. “Neighborhood Partners is committed to being supportive of what’s happening in Waupaca.