Can you tell us about a time when you practically cared for a neighbor? What impact did it make? 

When we first met Ms. M, she kept mostly to herself. She would walk to her door, occasionally look our way, and give a little smile, and that's it. But the moment that she met our two-year-old daughter, Sophie, she absolutely fell in love with her, and she completely changed.

One day I was at an event setting up centerpieces with flowers, and I told my husband, “Hey, honey, I don't know why, but when I look at these flowers, I feel like I need to give them to Ms. M.”

He thought it was a great idea. We got a card and wrote a note that said we appreciated having her as our neighbor and we just wanted to give her these flowers. We knocked on her door and she didn't answer, but we left it at her doorstep with the note. 

She knocked on our door that same night, and she was in tears, just bawling. She shared with us that her husband of 50 years had recently passed away and that the bouquet of flowers and the note meant more to her than we would ever know. That moment sparked a relationship between us. 

Now, we give each other Christmas gifts. We have had the opportunity to cook dinner for her. We've helped her with her groceries. It's opened the door to an organic and sweet friendship that we continue to build upon.

Wow! That's an amazing story. What are some other ways you've found to care for your neighbors?

Tim, a college student, came to an event, and one of the first things he saw was the food. He grabbed two servings, and as we talked with him during the event, he began to share his financial situation. Between paying for school and housing, he was barely making ends meet. 

He's very strict about spending, and he told us that he usually tries to stick to eating noodles because they’re affordable. Hosting events is a way we can care for him, and sometimes, we’ll just take him a homemade meal. 

How do your neighbors respond to the type of care you've shown?

When people live in a place where they feel cared for, they want to live there longer. Caring leads to resident retention.

At the end of the day, everybody wants to love where they live.

When you can love where you live and know that you are cared for and seen by people, that makes the biggest difference. 

That's the beauty of being an Apartment Life Coordinator; you are given a platform for building community. You serve as a bridge to bring people together. Every time we host an event, we’re able to connect new residents to the community based on their interests. At our last event, there was a gentleman who liked chess. We connected him with another gentleman who liked chess. And now they play together. 

When you care for people, it creates a chain reaction. Some of our other neighbors in the building will now ask us, “Hey, how is Ms. M doing?” Another neighbor shared that they helped Ms. M get back into her apartment the other day when she was struggling. Our neighbors have collectively begun to care for Ms. M now because they see others doing it. It’s such a sweet thing.

You never know the chain reaction you can trigger by simply caring for your neighbor.

This interview was pulled from Episode 207 of the Apartment Life Leadership Podcast and lightly edited for clarity. For more coordinator stories and interviews, you can follow along at apartmentlife.org/podcast. Follow @aptlife for updates on new episodes and upcoming content! If you enjoy listening, leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. We can't wait to hear from you and hope this podcast serves as a helpful resource.