A Small Sign in Davenport: A Parish Story from Davenport, IA

If you were to venture into the neighborhood of Central Davenport, Iowa, just north of the Mississippi River Corridor, you might just notice a sign on your way that reads:

Now Entering The Good Neighbor Project Neighborhood.

That blue and white sign, and the meaning behind it, has a story.

Part of that story is because of Gail and Rick Smith, and a trip they took last spring that changed how their relationship with their neighborhood.

Gail, who was seventy-five, and Rick, who was eighty at the time, drove two and a half hours from Davenport, Iowa to the neighborhood of Lawndale, Chicago to attend Parish Collective’s Inhabit conference. They were intrigued by the gathering, but overall a “little mystified about the purpose” of Parish Collective. 

Reflecting back over the experience almost a year later, Gail said the trip felt like “a great, huge adventure,” and that “at our age, it’s good to do something new.” They felt challenged and inspired by the common sessions and the deep sense of unity that pulled people from different places together.

But mostly, what stayed with them wasn’t just what was said, it was what they experienced in that place.

They talked at length about the community of Lawndale itself: the family who generously hosted them just down the road from the church, the parish pilgrimages led by neighbors, and the witness of a small church generating so much good just by wanting to learn and grow and build alongside their neighbors. 

Something about being there, grounded in a real place, shifted how they saw their own neighborhood.

Away from home, Gail and Rick felt the gentle pull of curiosity toward their neighborhood in Davenport. Upon arriving back to Iowa, the question that kept coming back to them was “What can we do here, in this place?” 

They began to pay attention in hopes of partnering with what was already at work. Soon after, they found out about the Davenport Police Department Good Neighbor Project, a city-wide initiative that focuses on individual needs in different neighborhoods. Realizing their own neighborhood wasn’t a part of the project, they went down to their local police station and came home with a sign.

Now their neighborhood is among the 171 neighborhoods in Davenport participating in the Good Neighbor Project.

But the story isn’t just about a sign. As it turns out, there were people in their own proximity living by the same ethos that emanated from the plenary sessions back in Chicago. What the sign did was help connect people to each other.

There’s no formal agenda for the Good Neighbor Project. As it so often happens,  being the church in one’s place is often ‘choose your own adventure,’ with an important emphasis on being open and curious about who it is you might have the privilege of adventuring with.

Inspired by their time in Lawndale, and realizing “it doesn’t matter what we do, we just wanted to do something,” they started with one idea. Gail and Rick left cards on front doors and gathered their neighbors around Christmas time for a meal. What they realized is that a lot of folks had lived there for a long time but didn’t necessarily know each other. But now, they did.

Knowing your neighbors changes things. 

You’re more likely to wave hello from across the street when you’re rolling out your trash bins, more inclined to ask them if they’ve heard about the latest happenings, and be more interested in connecting when you’ve already had the chance to get to know each other. 

Gail and Rick are planning for more gatherings in the neighborhood as the weather warms up, and continue to marvel in what can happen when small seeds of community are planted. They’ve begun to understand and see their place in a different and deeper way. 

Like how, previously, they invited people to their own church that’s located in a different neighborhood, but now they’ve realized that the distance might serve as a barrier. So they started paying attention to what’s close to home and have made a point to familiarize themselves with the places of worship that are situated in their proximity, including one that’s just a seven minute walk from their house. 

People like Gail and Rick are what shapes the Parish Collective: ordinary people who have felt led to pay attention to their neighborhood and to respond, and to encourage others to do the same. It’s people asking: What might God already be up to in this place?

Or, in their words:“It’s your neighborhood, you make it what you want it to be.”

Now, when you drive through central Davenport, Iowa, you’ll see that blue and white sign. And you’ll know the story of two neighbors who paid attention and decided to begin, even in their seventies and eighties.

It’s never to late.

And that feels like its own sign of good news.

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You can join Gail and Rick at Inhabit again this year! They will be volunteering at the Parish Collective merch table, so make sure to stop and say hello!