Good Neighbors Interlaken launches community help program

By Tahlia Fischer tfischer@fltimes.com

INTERLAKEN — Being a good neighbor is coming back in style thanks to residents who are giving community engagement a helpful nudge.

With fewer spaces and places for village residents to get to know each other, one rural village in the Finger Lakes is launching a network in hopes of bringing its community more closely together.

About a year ago, the Interlaken Community Action Group began inroads to create opportunities for residents to come together by creating a series of public events for the community. Good Neighbors Interlaken is a new group within the ICAG that aims to help residents find neighborly help with a single phone call — and all for free.

Frank Becker, one of the coordinators of GNI, recognized that before the internet and online services, community members used to get their business done in person. Neighborly help arose more or less organically. These days, with less business activity on the streets of the village and less opportunity for neighbors to get to know each other, the organizers of GNI realized they could change this situation.

“In the past, one of the great things about small towns was that everybody knew everybody,” Becker noted. “There were places to go to interact like coffee shops, bakeries, or barber shops. A lot of those places have disappeared. And, especially for people who are getting older, there may be fewer opportunities for them to get to know new people. Good Neighbors is really an attempt to create a renewed spirit of neighbors helping neighbors.”

What if a resident needs a ride to a doctor’s appointment? How about someone needing help with a light bulb but can’t climb a ladder? What if a tree came down in a neighbor’s yard? What if a community member needs help with household technology or paperwork? What if help could be a phone call and one neighbor volunteer away?

GNI is launching a solution that members hope will, in the short run, offer help to those in need. In the long run, coordinators Becker and Jennifer Carnacchio hope the group helps residents connect in ways that foster new friendships and lasting community connections.

“All of this started for me because I have a good friend of 45 years who lives in a rural village in England, not unlike Interlaken,” Becker said, noting his friend became involved with a Good Neighbors program and that he has learned much from her and is applying that model for the benefit of Interlaken residents.

How it works

Just how does the program work? Residents who want to participate to receive help start by signing up with GNI. There is a single number they will call to get a dispatcher; for the time being, Becker will serve as that dispatcher. The dispatcher will have a list of volunteers, times they are available, and the kinds of help they can offer. The dispatcher will reach out to volunteers who fit the bill and coordinate the connection.

The list of tasks volunteers might offer could include light yard help, transportation, a friendly visit, handy tasks around the house, help with a pet, or assistance with technology. While one could wonder if the dispatchers or volunteers might become inundated, Becker has learned from his friend in England that this is not the case.

“Volunteers don’t have to worry that they will end up mowing someone’s lawn for three hours every week or something like that,” Becker said, elaborating that the network exists to help with needs that arise here and there.

The good neighbors program is meant to be free, Becker added, noting that regular lawn work or house work are services that would be contracted by other business entities outside the group’s volunteerism structure.

“My whole goal, and this is based on my friend in England, is to do this very inexpensively,” Becker said.

Becker said he will be using a free service called Google Voice for the dispatch number. No participants will be charged for services.

He found that he can use Google Voice phone number system to have a single dispatch number that can ring through to any assigned dispatcher’s number. If one dispatcher has to leave town or take time off, the new dispatcher will be reachable through the single Google Voice number.

GNI is working on getting social media pages up and running. In the mean time, members are spreading the news through community events and community hubs like Friends of the Library and the local historical society.