“Sometimes it's about changing the perspective!"

 Today we are celebrating our Animator (community organizer) Clarissa Carrillo, who is located in Liberal, KS. She is part of our Community Animator Network program. She recently presented at the county commissioners with her team to propose using the local activity center for a cultural festival at no cost. Spoiler alert: they were approved! Clarissa shares her experience below: “Sometimes it's about changing the perspective!Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you are missing or lacking everything you need or ever wanted? Have you ever felt that your town or city would be so much better if you only had X or Y?One of my favorite quotes by Oprah Winfrey says, "If you look at what you have in life, you will always have more; if you look at what you don't have, you will never have enough." This quote takes me back to the mission of the Neighboring Movement, look and explore what you already have within you and your own backyard/community. You have an abundance of talents and neighbors with skills and passions that you can discover and connect! Sometimes a conversation can be the beginning of something extraordinary for you and your community.I live in a smaller community, where I constantly hear people say if we only had this or that, we would be better and happier. I have to confess that this was my way of thinking before, too. I had never looked at things from the perspective of let's look at what we already have and start there. Whether you live in a big or small community, we all have neighbors. We all have skills and are passionate about something. And sometimes we might say, "oh no, I'm not good at anything," but the key question here is, what moves your heart? Now, allow yourself to have this conversation with yourself, and take a baby step to learn more about your neighbors.One extraordinary gift in my community is diversity; we have neighbors with different cultures, traditions, skills, and love for different things, and we all live in the same community. However, even though we live in the same neighborhood, we feel like we live in different worlds! And often, we fear what we do not know! Sometimes, the more you know about your neighbor, the better your neighborhood becomes. Remember that if you explore and learn more about what you already have, you will have more!I had the fortune to connect a group of people passionate about bringing people together, connecting neighbors, and working together for the community's common good. Our small group is now planning a Cultural Festival that we hope to celebrate on October 15. This wish was inside my heart for a while, but planning without my group's help wouldn't have been possible. At times, I feel tired and overwhelmed by what I already have going on, and ideas and wishes can seem and sound impossible. However, I have learned that we have neighbors who have energy, gifts, skills, and passions who want to make wonderful things happen, too. Our group started with a conversation that I had with one of our team members, and our team grew from one to two to nine team members that began planning a Cultural Festival. One of the first steps was securing the location for the festival; we already had a place in mind, but the challenge was getting permission to use the site and getting the cost waived. The building is part of our county, so our group had to present with the County Commissioners. I'm horrible at filling out forms, and I often get nervous giving these types of presentations, but our team has many different talents and skills. One team member filled out the form, and another team member presented for our team, and the rest of us were there to show support and were ready to speak and help. I have to admit that I was very nervous the entire time. Part of me felt that everything was going to be okay, but my heart and mind kept running nonstop, thinking of all the possible things that could go wrong! It was finally our turn to present, and all my fears disappeared when the commissioners looked excited about the idea of our event, and all of them said yes to allow us to use the building for no cost!This group of neighbors from my community is now my support; we lean on each other. Our mission is to highlight a gift that we already have in our community. We hope that by highlighting this gift, we will connect more neighbors, learn more from each other, celebrate what we have and double what we already have!”