To the Women of Dean Street: I would like to invite you to an evening of fellowship in my home on April 23 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. My hope is that we can get to know each other better. It would be nice to connect a name with a face and learn more about our neighbors.

This was Kathy Z.'s first step into building relationships with the women in her cul de sac.

"After losing my husband last year, I was feeling negative effects of living alone. Although I had a "hello" relationship with several neighbors, I didn't feel a friendship with any of them. As suggested in the book, The Art of Neighboring, that we read together for the December Spectrum Church gatherings, and as I felt God leading me, I decided to have a get together with some of my neighbors.

I zeroed in on 12 homes and invited the women to meet at my house one evening for two hours. But then I began to worry. Would they come? Would we have enough to talk about? I can tell you now that the results were super positive. Seven women came with wonderful snacks. I compiled contact lists for everyone, we planned a garage sale, talked about a July 4 party, got to know more about each other, and said how we needed to do it again. When I mentioned something about my church, one of my neighbors excitedly said, 'I'm a Christian, too!' As we get together in the future, I pray there will be opportunities to share our faith with one another.

The results of that evening made me ask myself why I hadn't done it before. I feel confident that I can now call some of my neighbors, 'friends.' I hope to make that circle larger in the future. And now I no longer have the feeling of being isolated."