The Arbor Good Neighbor House (AGNH) is a thriving hub of activity located at 2509 McDivitt Road. It is fulfilling its mission of connecting neighbors and providing common ground for community interaction. AGNH activities are expanding and reaching more and more people. You could be one of them! Current partners include: Memorial UCC, Creek Day School, Madison Refugee Union, Open Doors for Refugees, Common Wealth Development, Good Neighbors Personal Essentials Pantry, Jewish Social Services, The African American/Jewish Friendship Group, and the Community Garden.
A sampling of recent activities at Arbor Good Neighbor House includes:
- Holding two Repair Cafes where people can bring in household items that need fixing to get fixed at no cost by volunteer “fixers” who like to use their skills in a fun and casual setting.
- Providing a venue for Jewish Social Services to hold their periodic International Markets featuring crafts and treats from around the world.
- Hosting an Easter Egg Hunt for a group of children from Arbor Hills
- Hosting the Arbor Hills Neighborhood Association Annual Meeting
- Offering meeting space for Open Doors for Refugees, Jewish Social Services, The Madison Refugee Union, Brave Conversations (a groups that gathers to engage in brave conversations about the crisis in Israel and Palestine), Returning Peace Corp Volunteers and others. Does your group need a meeting or event space? Check the website at agnh.org for info on how to make a room reservation request. Or contact the Executive Director, Peter Morris, at [email protected] or 608-271-1955.
- Hosting a benefit concert for AGNH featuring Common Chord and Nelson Graham. This concert attracted several hundred people and was received with great enthusiasm.
Our Personal Essentials pantry continues to serve hundreds of households by providing personal and household hygiene products. Number of households served continues to grow. Stop by some Friday morning between 10 and 12 and you will see a room full of diverse people and hear multiple languages being spoken as people socialize and enjoy coffee, lemonade and muffins as they wait for their supplies.
Our expanded and improved Community Garden will provide fresh garden-raised food for our Good Neighbors Personal Essentials Pantry guests and others. Want to rent a plot for a nominal fee? Contact Ron Heinrich at [email protected] or 608-515-3288.
We love stories and one recent one illustrates what we think is so special about AGNH:
A neighbor in Arbor Hills learned about our Repair Café and is bringing a rototiller to be repaired and then donated to the Community Garden. Once fixed, it will be available in time for gardeners to prepare their plots for this year’s planting season. A Win-Win-Win situation! The rototiller escapes the landfill. The neighbor feels joy in donating something needed. New connections are formed at the Repair Café, and the Community Garden gets a much needed rototiller to help produce fresh food for Essentials Pantry guests.
In all these ways (and more to come!) AGNH serves our neighborhood and our community. Arbor Good Neighbor House is an amazing resource for all of us!