Block Party USA zooms - and Costco & the U.S. Surgeon General!
- Dec 12, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 20
Dear Community, Play, Human, and Fun Enthusiasts!
A big welcome to all of our new Block Party USA subscribers! We now have neighbors from 43 states (and multiple countries!) signed up. Together, each in our own neighborhoods, streets and buildings, we will create connection, community and a life worth living. We are only missing Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming! Please let me know if you reside in one of those states and/or please share our mission with friends and family in those states. Would love to get to all 50 states by year end.
Just because the weather is colder and wetter in many states, doesn’t mean you can’t make neighborhood gatherings happen! Please join me over zoom today at noon ET or next Tuesday, December 17 at 3pm ET to learn more, find out how to make it easy, and ask some questions!
Block parties have many benefits – be the one to make the difference. For you, for your family, and for your community!
Block Party USA December Zooms/Office Hours
Thursday, December 12 from 12:00pm-12:30pm ET
Tuesday, December 17 from 3:00pm-3:30pm ET
Meeting ID: 820 0975 1912
Zoom Meeting Link:
ICYMI
Super thrilled to be included in the December issue of Costco Connection Magazine! With a whopping circulation of over 15.4 million, grateful to get the word out coast-to-coast about the incredible power of block parties!
A block(buster) idea
Two years before COVID-19 ended social gatherings, Vanessa Elias first noticed the effects of people feeling disconnected from each other. Returning to the U.S. after living in London, Elias observed how American children seemed overscheduled yet lacked genuine playtime. She saw a divisive political landscape drive neighbors further apart.
Elias, a mental health activist, organized a block party weekend in her hometown of Wilton, Connecticut, to spark conversations between neighbors and reveal commonalities that might unite them. “The surgeon general says loneliness is just as dangerous to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day,” Elias says. “That’s powerful.”
A total of more than 1,200 residents attended 40 block parties in Wilton that weekend. It’s become an annual tradition and inspired Elias to launch Block Party USA (blockpartyusa.org), which helps neighbors hold simple micro-local gatherings to help reduce social isolation and encourage kids to play. Today, neighbors in 35 states have signed up, finding guidance in Elias’ Zoom calls. “I see my role in the world as helping people build community within and outside their homes,” Elias says. —Nancy Robbers
"The surgeon general says loneliness is just as dangerous to your health
as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That’s powerful.”
— VANESSA ELIAS
Mental Health Activist
Grateful to have Block Party USA recognized and included as a resource for the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy’s "Recipes for Connection" initiative!
The effort outlines how you can build social connection through gathering over food on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website!
C'mon America, let’s build community and connection one block – and one bite – at a time!!
