Arbor Good Neighbor House and Creek Day School Open House/Fundraiser

media release: On Thursday, May 28, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m., Arbor Good Neighbor House and Creek Day School, 2509 McDivitt Road, Madison, are holding an open house/fundraiser to highlight the community building taking place at this South Madison neighborhood necessity.

“A lot of great things are happening at Arbor Good Neighbor House. People are sharing resources, making friends and finding fulfilling ways to get involved. We hope you’ll come and learn about some of the programs and groups that are cultivating community at AGNH,” said Peter Morris, executive director of Arbor Good Neighbor House.

The list of participants includes Joining Forces for Families, Patchwork Union, Open Doors for Refugees, Arbor Hills Neighborhood Association, Arbor Community Garden and the Good Neighbors Personal Essentials Pantry.

Plans for exciting changes to the layout of the AGNH building to create the next chapter of this living hub of early childhood education, mutual aid, community gardening and cross-cultural friendship will be shared during the open house.

Arbor Good Neighborhood House is a reimagining of Arbor Covenant Church from a 50-year-old congregational asset to a community asset in the Arbor Hills and Leopold neighborhoods. At AGNH, community can come together to share talents, educational opportunities and ideas to strengthen the place where we live and work. AGNH is 100% volunteer run.

AGNH has served as home to Creek Day School for over 50 years. At Creek Day School, a diverse population of 25+ children attend the year-round early childhood education where curiosity is celebrated, relationships are prioritized and every child is seen and known.

The Good Neighbors Personal Essentials Pantry has been located at AGNH since 2013 and is a collaboration with Memorial UCC in Fitchburg and Good Shepherd Lutheran church in Madison. Laundry detergent, diapers, menstruation care products, toilet paper, personal care, cleaning supplies and other items not covered by SNAP benefits are distributed weekly at no cost to local families facing challenging times. Recent statistics show that GNPEP had a total of 1,966 annual household visits, an average of 31 visits per week, a 40% increase over the previous year.

The Arbor Community Garden with 16 plots that were first tilled over 30 years ago, offers space for neighbors to grow their own vegetables and meet new friends on the grounds of AGNH.

Quarterly, a Repair Café is held at AGNH where skilled volunteers repair or mend broken or torn items to continue the usability of the item rather than ending up in the landfill. The next Repair Café is scheduled for Saturday, June 20, 2-4 p.m.

“The programs housed at AGNH, the essentials pantry, the preschool, the garden, Repair Café, the gathering spaces are not isolated services. They form a network of connections,” explained Peter Morris. “Neighbors who come as strangers become collaborators. The interwoven quality is not accidental, it is the result of a sustained, intentional commitment to building not just services, but relationships.”