By Max German
Special to The Reporter
I am not from Dorchester. I’m a yuppie. I moved here six years ago when I was in my last semester at Boston College. But since then, this place I love has become my home – a community where I know my neighbors and feel part of something bigger than myself.
When I think about why Dorchester has turned from a place where I lived, into a place where I feel at home, it all revolves around a decision I made to get involved further in the neighborhood. I began volunteering at the Mary Ann Brett Food Pantry in the basement of St. Margaret’s.
I did this because I have always believed in being of service and so this felt like a small way to give back a few hours of my time during the week. I showed up thinking that I was ready to do my small part and help people who needed it. In return, I gained a community that I would have never expected, and didn’t anticipate the meaning that it would hold in my life.
I formed wonderful relationships other volunteers, who represented the best of Dorchester’s diverse vibrancy. I came to see the same streets I walked past every day, differently. I no longer passed them absent-mindedly but knew who lived there, knew about their families, what they did for work, and what the neighborhood meant for them. I began to feel a sense of ownership and connection to Dorchester.
Since then, I’ve gotten involved in numerous ways in the neighborhood. Most recently it was coaching Little League baseball, which wrapped up in mid-August. With all the chaos and frenzy that modern life holds, standing at McConnell Park with the breeze coming off the harbor and watching the sun fall behind the gas tank became a much-needed respite from the day. All of this has deepened the connection I feel to the place and the people of Dorchester.
One of the fortunate things that I have come to see about living in the city’s largest neighborhood is the sheer number of opportunities for getting involved – civic associations, community organizations, sports leagues, church groups, food pantries, to the Boys and Girls Club. For pretty much any cause or issue that one feels passionate about, there’s a way to get involved in the community around it.
And so, I urge my fellow yuppies, transplants, wayfarers, and bystanders to get involved. Not only does it make the place where we live and our community stronger but it also broadens your perspective while yielding some pretty unexpected opportunities in return. In doing so, this place where you live might just become a home for you as well.
