Community Corner

New Charlestown Neighbor Brigade Seeking Volunteers

With 40 chapters across the state, the nonprofit organization provides a network of support when needs arise in the community.

Anyone who has ever experienced a serious illness or tragedy knows just how hard it can be to accomplish even the simplest daily tasks, from cooking dinner to driving the kids to practice to getting to a doctor’s appointment.

But what if there was an army of volunteers at the ready to help when things got rough?

Charlestown residents Ann Gildea and Melanie Kelly want to create just that.

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The two recently started a local chapter of the Neighbor Brigade, a group of volunteers ready to help out when someone in the community is in need. Since launching the group in March, they have already gathered a list of 55 volunteers, with a goal of reaching 100.

“We think Charlestown is the kind of community that this is perfect for, because it’s always been a community of neighbors helping neighbors,” Kelly said. “We’re not trying to pretend like this is some new idea and concept, but what it does do is make it organized and automated. People want to help other people, and it’s a way to make it easy to do that.”

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Started in 2010 by Wayland resident Pam Washek, the nonprofit Neighbor Brigade has since expanded into 40 communities across the commonwealth, including a chapter in New Hampshire. Charlestown is the second Boston neighborhood to join up—West Roxbury also has a chapter—and it is the most urban chapter in the group, Kelly said.

Both Kelly and Gildea have benefitted from unofficial neighbor brigades in the past—Kelly during a personal bout with cancer and Gildea when her sister in Maryland was diagnosed with cancer.

Gildea and her relatives spent several months traveling back and forth to help out at her sister’s house, but it was the automatic response from neighbors that really struck a chord.

“What would we have done without her neighbors, who kind of organically on their own did what Neighbor Brigade is doing now—organized themselves without even asking us,” Gildea said.

After the experience, Gildea decided she wanted to someday organize a similar network of volunteers. She later learned about the Neighbor Brigade and had the idea to start a local chapter. But with work and other business, “it just became a distant thing in the back of my mind, that I was absolutely going to do it—someday,” she recalled.

Kelly had known Washek years ago and after her friend passed away in December from cancer she learned more about the Neighbor Brigade.

Members of the same Charlestown book group, Kelly and Gildea got to talking and realized they had the same desire to help. Both have lived in Charlestown for about 25 years and consider the neighborhood their home.

As Gildea put it: “I just felt more connected here than anywhere else in Boston.”

They began to build a bank of volunteers and to spread the word about the organization so that people would know where to turn for assistance.

To become a volunteer, people can visit the Charlestown chapter page at neighborbrigade.org and sign up using the online form. All registered volunteers must be 18 years or older and must submit two references, which will be checked by the chapter leaders. Those who want to help out children or elderly residents must also pass a CORI check.

There is no cost to sign up, and the program is all volunteer. When a need comes in, Gildea and Kelly as chapter leaders will notify volunteers by email, and people can sign up to help as they can—agreeing to cook meals, drive people to appointments, pick up prescriptions or otherwise.

Having a large group of volunteers at the ready is especially helpful in preventing volunteer burnout.

“Most cancers are not a one or two month thing—it can go for 6 months or more—so this model allows people when they have the time to help, and when they’re too busy they don’t have to sign up,” Kelly said. “There’s no pressure from us to sign up. We do the best we can.”

The Neighbor Brigade is also flexible when helping those in need.

“When we get the need in we can be as open or as confidential as the recipient wants us to be. Everybody’s different. We’ll meet with them or a representative of theirs to figure out what do they need, how can we be helpful,” Kelly said.

For more information about the organization, or to sign up as a volunteer or submit a local need, visit neighborbrigade.org. Follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/neighborbrigade.


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