Two Steps Forward: Meet Vince Baugher

Meet Vince! He is a chiropractor in Denton, TX and is very passionate about bringing his neighbors together. At the beginning of the pandemic, Ian (our Faith-Based Program Director) started recruiting volunteers in Denton to form “neighborhood pods,” hyperlocal coordinations of immediate neighbors that could take care of each other during the pandemic and beyond. Vince was one of the Denton locals who took this idea most seriously and has shared some incredible neighboring stories over the years. As North Texas emerged from its third business-as-usual stopping winter freeze in three years, Vince shared with us some reflections on those days in late January. We have added extra context to his words in italics when necessary.

Texas does not invest in snow plows, so a few days of below freezing temperatures and some sleet grinds everything to a halt.

What to do to take advantage of this weather snap and these shut down days? 

For several years now, Vince has knocked on all 40+ doors on his block, exchanged phone numbers with each house, and frequently planned events from block parties to scavenger hunts to get neighbors connected. While many neighbors have been enthusiastic about this work, they still often talk about it as “Vince’s thing.” Vince has never wanted to be in charge, or the one who has to start everything, so Ian suggested that instead of sending texts or reaching out to every neighbor individually, he start some sort of group communication -a WhatsApp group, phone tree, email chain, etc. That way, not all of the communication has to go through him.

Ian (at The Neighboring Movement) had suggested that maybe it’s time to go ahead and create a messaging group. I’ve been hesitant because the couple of times I sent out big group texts I got zero replies, but I usually get quite a few replies when I do individual texts. I told him I had been thinking about taking that plunge soon. And I promised him that whatever the next request for help was, I would try to have someone else fulfill it rather than me. So yesterday morning when a text came in requesting dog food (we don’t even have a dog), I knew it was the right time. I used that as the excuse to launch the WhatsApp group, and she got her dog food within minutes after that!

#SuccessfulLaunch

But how to take physical advantage of being snowed in?

No snowball fights this year, with it being almost completely ice. So we fell back to an old fave of ours: baking brownies for neighbors (okay, in this case blondies). Our kiddo, Taj, baked enough for about a dozen and a half homes. My wife, Tessy, was afraid of slipping and falling, so I went out for half an hour on my own first, scraping stepping places along the sidewalk for her. 

And it just so happened that one man, a father of two or three young children who had seemed pretty standoffish to past efforts to connect, was spinning his wheels trying to get his car up into their driveway. So I walked over and offered to help. He was very reluctant, but I could tell he actually did need the help, so I insisted and got him up into his garage. 

I noticed he had a flat end spade that I figured would work much better than my old shovel for my task. And I remembered what Ian had said about asking for help sometimes even if you don’t need it as a great way to build a relationship with a neighbor. So I asked to borrow it, and he happily obliged.

Slip, slide, and slosh along, and we got the blondies all delivered. As we were just about finished, a man greeted me from across the street who I didn’t recognize. Sure enough, he has lived here for nine years! When I told him my name, he immediately recognized it as “the one who does stuff for our neighborhood.“ I told him about the WhatsApp group and he readily gave his contact information. 

Then finally, when I went to drop off the shovel, the first man’s wife answered, and was really grateful for my help, and for our past efforts for the community. I decided to go ahead and bring up the WhatsApp group, and she also was happy to be a part of it.

I’m so grateful for these several confirmations of our efforts! 

Next step: hand out flyers on the “eight front door project“. (I already sent out a teaser text to everyone about it a few days ago.)

Vince and his family!