w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 18 ,2 02 0 | 4 Donna Ferguson start- ed learning about pro- grams and services avail- able to neighbourhoods like hers when she was out on a walk with her dog a couple years ago. She and a neighbour first sought to bring some colour along a local walk- ing path and were connect- ed with a city program to help them plant a pollina- tor patch. Through that, Ferguson said she soon started taking notice of the many local neighbour- hood Facebook groups she never knew existed. At a public meeting ear- lier this year, she connect- ed with a city staff member to help her get started on one for her neighbourhood in the area of Conestoga Mall, between Davenport Road and Northfield Drive, dubbed the Foxhunt Neighbourhood of Ward 4. So far, since starting the group close to the start of the pandemic, more than 115 people have joined. "I don't want to say it's just Facebook, but it does feel like there's a friendlier vibe going on in the neigh- bourhood," said Ferguson. "It could be a combina- tion of just everything and the weather, but you see people out and people are saying 'hi' more and talk about what they see on the Facebook page." "It's opened up conver- sations and you find things out in the neighbourhood you didn't know," says Fer- guson's friend and neigh- bour, Jean Pollock. The city is hoping to help people do the same thing in other areas, espe- cially those not currently covered by a neighbour- hood association or where membership may be "fledgling," according to Amy Ross, the city's neigh- bourhood development co- ordinator. Ross said the city's Hey Neighbour! block connec- tor program is part of the neighbourhood strategy approved by city council but wasn't originally scheduled to be imple- mented just yet. "We certainly have real- ized that folks are really relying on having people nearby that they're able to reach out to, or connect with for comfort or basic needs, or just someone to have some practical con- versation with, whether that's online or on the phone or over the fence," Ross said. "Our real goal is to help really build up some of those connections so peo- ple are engaging and inter- acting in ways that are meaningful to them, and certainly with the talk of a second wave (of COVID-19) it will be very important to have those links estab- lished." For Cheryl Fries, the online group has alleviat- ed anxiety about talking to new people. "It's nice to get out and meet your neighbours, but I'm kind of a homebody so it's great for me," she said. The Foxhunt Neigh- bourhood page brings peo- ple together socially - the group started by doing a neighbourhood scavenger hunt - but also because it's a source of information, Ferguson says. "A big thing lately on the Facebook page around here has been the coyotes, so there's been a lot of com- munication like 'Did you know this?' "When this pandemic is all over, some people say they want to get together and have a barbecue." Ferguson suffered a brain injury in a car acci- dent and knows well the importance of community support that's needed to prevent isolation. "I know for me I've kind of been dealing with a little depression about life and society myself lately, so it's about how we can provide some uplifting stuff to our neighbourhoods," she said. "This just makes me smile." Ferguson noted that al- though Facebook connects people virtually, flyers posted around the neigh- NEWS 'THIS JUST MAKES ME SMILE' HEY NEIGHBOUR! BLOCK CONNECTOR PROGRAM HERE TO HELP BILL JACKSON bjackson@torstar.ca The City of Waterloo is hoping to bring neighbourhoods together with a new program. Torstar file photo See - page 5