When Katie and I moved back from Huntington Beach California this past fall, we felt we were to pick up a few pieces of our prior lives in Lancaster, but also allow a few to fall where they may. One of those pieces that we felt pulled towards, was our involvement in the lives of our neighbors in the city. Before we moved away three years ago, we were involved in the Southwest neighborhoods of Lancaster, with an urban community initiative we helped run called Friends of Crystal Park. We began to dream new ideas to be intentional with our neighbors. One of those ideas was #iheartlancity, which I pitched to our friends Matt Wheeler and Ryan Braught, of Veritas. They loved the idea as much as we did.
The idea? Find creative ways to encourage our neighbors and ourselves to be intentional and purposeful with the relationships we hold with our neighbors and to spot light the artisans and organizations making a difference in our daily lives as a city. Lancaster isn’t Philadelphia, New York or Camden New Jersey, but it’s not absent of haunting problems either. We as a country are continuing to walk through declining economical situations which is leading to a increase of poverty, violence and hard times for all Americans, including those within Lancaster City. Honestly, the words of Plato from ‘Republic‘ had began to ring with weight in my ears; “For indeed any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another“. I had began to wonder, how can we as a family and as friends, truly reach out from our own place of brokenness and poverty into the lives of our city and make a difference. Where Plato might have been the ghostly haunt of realization, the worlds of Gandhi and Jesus rang with hope and conviction. We believed Gandhi was on to something when he called us to be the change we want to see in the world and that maybe Jesus knew something when he said that there is no greater law then to love God and love our neighbors (as we would love ourselves). What does this mean for us, we thought. What would it mean if we were intentional about our relationships with our neighbors. What if we would help our neighbors who were in rough spots, what if we truly knew the people living in the doors next to us. What would happen to our neighborhoods and ultimately to our city if many of us transformed our neighborhood relationships with an intentional purpose? We would like to think that poverty would decrease, violence would decrease, vandalism would diminish and we would be able to walk through cultural and economical challenges together. We would be a stronger city.
Before we even pitched it to anyone, we dreamed of having singer/songwriter Denison Witmer as part of our kick off event, which was to be a free concert for the city we love. After years of concert promotions, I had seen him play a dozen times, but somehow never hosted him. Katie and I love Denison Witmer, especially the Carry the Weight and Philadelphia Songs albums. He is originally from Lancaster and dealt lyrically with many common themes. As we hit him up on twitter, he put us in touch with his agent and before long we were working on a concert together.
As the planning process progressed, Denison’s song ‘Carry The Weight‘ really hit a cord with me and coincided with the original vision of our project. There is a line in the song that says; ‘Carry the weight of your neighbor, Carry the weight of a stranger, I’m not afraid to say I don’t know what to do‘. So many times we are presented with the realness of someones struggle, and honestly, we don’t know what to do. Sometimes we look at situations that are oppressive to people and we don’t begin to know where to step in and offer an hand. However, we can’t back down because of our lack of know-how, in a time of need.
A few years ago, I had the chance to sleep many times on the streets of Philadelphia, to get to know the homeless population. I didn’t know how to help them or better their lives, but I was able to sit there with them and be intentional about my relationship with them. I like to think that alone, made a difference.
So, Lancasterians who love Lancaster City, please come out January 28th 2012 at 7pm to join together as neighbors. We are hosting a free concert with Denison Witmer (think James Taylor or Cat Stevens) in the Community Room above Prince Street Cafe. Matt Wheeler will also be performing. (Concert Information Here)
I guess we just envision that doing these events together will provide a place to unite as friends, be encouraged to be intentional about our relationships with our neighbors and have a hopeful place to escape in a trying and hard time.
I personally, would love to see you there to experience the music of Denison Witmer and to just shake your hand and hear your story.
Ps. And now you know a little more about www.iheartlancity.com; a collective of friends, organizations and artisans asking the question ‘What would our neighborhoods look like, if we were more intentional with our relationships with our neighbors?
Adventurous coffeeholic from Lancaster, PA. 
