A Feeling Of Community

Since the home invasion on Friday night, I've been talking more to my neighbors.  Some of them were interviewed by the police officer and came to talk to me.  Some of them weren't informed so I wanted to tell them what happened to me so they would be aware that our neighborhood is not the kind where we should leave our doors unlocked.  I found out a few things in my neighborhood discussions. One is that a surprising number of my neighbors are home during the day.  And many of them were outside on Friday.  They didn't see or hear anything suspicious with one exception. I found out that a couple boys were hanging around on the street near my house collecting money for the Anoka High School football team.  The boys were not wearing Anoka clothes and did not have any official team documents - only a plain white envelope.  One neighbor gave them $10.  This is suspicious because they weren't wearing team colors, didn't have any documents, and this isn't football season.  In May a student wouldn't even know if they were on the football team yet.  The neighbor who gave them money is planning on talking to the police about what she observed. Another thing I learned is that my neighbors care about me and are looking out for me. That feeling of community alone is worth $100.  The guy next door is going to add a cross bar to the service door of his garage.  He plans to weld a couple hooks and put a 2x4 board across the door.  He offered to build one for me as well.  I took him up on his offer and said I would give him some free range eggs in exchange.  I really feel better now.