On a recent sunny afternoon at Cadbury Commons, an assisted living facility in Cambridge, Aileen Callahan tossed a cornhole bag across the patio. The facility’s staff joined in a game of hopscotch in the community garden. Some elementary students from schools down the street were invited to join as well.
Callahan, who has lived at Cadbury Commons for four and a half years, said she appreciated how the event brought everyone together. “It causes a really good feeling of community, plus being part of something and enjoying it,” Callahan said.
The gathering kicked off Massachusetts’ recognition of National Good Neighbor Day, celebrated annually on Sept. 28. Gov. Maura Healey signed a proclamation recognizing the holiday in Massachusetts for the first time and urged residents to participate. Organized by the Massachusetts Coalition to Build Community & End Loneliness, there are events planned in 30 towns across the state, with an aim to help people connect more with their community.
“Let’s try to create an atmosphere [in] our communities, our neighborhoods where people feel that they’re seen, that they’re heard, they’re cared about,” said Sandra Harris, founder and co-leader of the coalition and state president of AARP Massachusetts.
Last year, the U.S. Surgeon General released a report warning about the impact of isolation on public health. The report links loneliness to a greater risk for conditions like cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression and anxiety.
The report found highest rates of loneliness among people with “poor physical or mental health, disabilities, financial insecurity, those who live alone, single parents, as well as younger and older populations.”
The coalition encourages anyone to organize or host their own event in their communities, and reach out to their neighbors. This weekend, Greater Ashmont Main Street in Dorchester is hosting a volunteer cleanup project; Fairhaven is encouraging people to sign up for their Intergenerational Pen Pal program; local libraries are hosting puzzle nights, picnics and game days; and the Lawrence Farmers Market is setting up “conversation stations” to encourage people to chat.
The Massachusetts Coalition to Build Community & End Loneliness was formed as a task force in 2019, with a focus on helping older adults across the state feel less isolated. More than 190 members — all volunteers — and more than 100 state organizations are now involved. Last year, the coalition hosted a virtual summit on National Good Neighbor Day. Their goal this year was to expand with in-person events across Massachusetts.
The pandemic added new urgency to address social isolation, as well as the surgeon general’s report, according to Harris.
“I think that COVID just pulled back the drapes … [and] exposed all the lonely people,” Harris said. “Also at that time, we began to really see the research that shows the loneliness in young people.”
The coalition has been organizing more programs focused on the “bi-directional benefits” between younger generations and seniors.
That intergenerational perspective will be part of Millbury’s celebration. On Sept. 26, the town is hosting a Good Neighbor Day dinner at the Asa Waters Mansion. About 80 guests, mostly members of the local senior community, will be served by high school student volunteers.
“It’s intergenerational on many levels,” said Juliette-Marie Somerset, a co-chair of the policy working group on the coalition who also works at Millbury Housing Authority.
Somerset says that when she is at the local senior center, she sees the shared bond between the high school workers and seniors.
“Isolation and loneliness is not just for the aging or seniors. The teenagers experience loneliness and isolation with the digital society that we live in,” Somerset said. “The screen becomes your connection, and all of a sudden, you lose your social, human connections and skills.”
Harris hopes that the first official Massachusetts Good Neighbor Day will encourage people to think about how they can connect with people from different backgrounds all year.
“We know … communities of color, we know LGBTQ, we know caregivers, are very lonely, right? We know young mothers, with babies, are lonely,” she said. “So we have tried to be very all-inclusive and we invite everybody to the table because, you know, if we’re going to live as a community, we have to care about each other.”
